Hundreds of medical reports for personal injury claims will be delayed following the collapse of one of the country’s largest medical reporting agencies.

E-Reporting Group (ERG) fell into administration on 18 November, leaving 9,000 doctors unpaid for completed reports and pending reports due to be sent to solicitors. Its collapse marks the third failure of a medical reporting agency since April last year.

The British Medical Association (BMA) said it is telling doctors that they are under no obligation to provide reports if they have not been paid.

Premier Medical Group (PMG) chief executive Jason Powell, whose company last week bought part of ERG, said many doctors are not passing reports to solicitors because they are owed up to £100,000 by ERG.

One solicitor affected told the Gazette: ‘One doctor said to me, "I might as well take my reports into the Strand and burn them for all they’re worth."’

Jan Wise, chairman of the BMA’s medico-legal committee, said the value of medical reporting organisations (MROs) should be questioned by solicitors and doctors. ‘If it’s a profits-only business, is that of any use to the administration of justice?’

He suggested that solicitors and agencies enter into joint and several liability so that, if an agency failed, the resulting contract between solicitor and doctor would allow reports to be paid for and delivered.

Powell said special teams from PMG are trying to contact and pay around 100 doctors on ERG’s list for outstanding reports.

PMG also faces criticism for its approach in contacting affected doctors. In an email sent to doctors by PMG, seen by the Gazette, PMG said: ‘Doctors who are considering refusing to undertake any follow-up work despite being offered commercial terms should check with their defence body as there is both a duty to the court (contempt issue) and a duty of care to the patient (GMC issue) having accepted original instructions and taken on the case.’

A source described the message as ‘a heavy-handed way of stopping a haemorrhaging of fees’.

Powell said: ‘We are spending a considerable amount of money in making sure no one suffers.

‘PMG were asked to come into this to soften the impact on the market. Had we not got involved, the potential impact would have been far greater.’

ERG collapsed because it had ‘suffered from funding issues’, according to administrators KPMG. Sources indicated that ERG owes ‘millions’ to doctors, banks and insurers.

ERG was a member of the Association of Medical Reporting Organisations, which represents the biggest agencies in the UK, handling 80% of medico-legal reports.

Last year, two MROs, IMS and Trauma Claims Consultancy, went into administration.

Affected solicitors can call PMG on 0845 600 6738.