A fracture, nerve damage, a brain injury or pain that won't settle can change the course of a claim. For people in Kanwal, this page explains how the NSW scheme draws the line between threshold and more serious injuries, and what whole person impairment measures. It is general information. Your own doctors' findings, and the insurer's decisions about them, are what count.
Central Coast · Serious injury compensation
Serious injury? Injury compensation lawyer, Kanwal
Your doctors describe the injury. The scheme's rules decide what that means for your claim.
Postcode: 2259
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After a serious injury near Kanwal
If Gosford Hospital or Wyong Hospital admitted you with a serious injury, ask for the imaging and specialist reports as well as the discharge letter. They carry the most weight later. A serious injury can make every trip to Wyong a major effort. Claim help can stay at home, where the check is done by phone and online and documents can generally be signed without travelling. If a serious injury means you need changes at home, or help getting around the Central Coast Council area, write down what you need and why. Treatment and care needs are part of what the insurer considers under the scheme.
- Region
- Central Coast
- Postcode
- 2259
- Nearest public hospital
- Wyong Hospital
- Distance to Wyong
- ~6 km
- Local government area
- Central Coast Council
Threshold injury, or something more serious?
Think of this as a map, not a verdict. It shows the kinds of injury usually treated as threshold, and the findings that may take an injury beyond it. Only the medical evidence in your own claim can place you.
Usually treated as a threshold injury
- Sprains and strains of muscles, tendons or ligaments
- Whiplash-type neck pain with no nerve findings
- Bruising and soft tissue swelling
- A psychological injury the scheme classes as threshold
- Statutory benefits generally up to 52 weeks, for accidents from 1 April 2023
May be more than a threshold injury
- Nerve damage confirmed by a doctor
- A full or partial tear of a tendon, ligament, meniscus or cartilage
- A fracture, which is generally not a soft tissue injury
- A brain injury, or a diagnosed psychological condition beyond the threshold category
- Damages may be possible if another driver was at fault and you weren't mostly at fault
General information, not legal advice, and not medical advice either. The insurer decides on the medical evidence, its decision can be reviewed, and time limits apply.
Serious injury, in the scheme's language
Two measurements do most of the work when an injury is serious. One is the threshold line, which separates soft tissue and some psychological injuries from everything else. The other is whole person impairment, a percentage that describes lasting impairment. Between them, they affect how long statutory benefits can run and what a damages claim, if you have one, can include.
Read next:Threshold vs non-threshold injury
When an injury limits your work for years
Earning capacity compares what you could have earned without the injury with what you can realistically earn now. For a tradesperson with a damaged shoulder, or an office worker with a brain injury, that gap can be large and long-lasting. Record every change to your working life: hours, duties, roles you can no longer do. Those facts sit alongside the medical evidence.
Read next:Statutory benefits vs damages
The threshold line and what takes an injury past it
From 1 April 2023, the scheme uses the term threshold injury, which replaced the old term minor injury. A threshold injury is generally a soft tissue injury, a threshold psychological injury, or both. Soft tissue here means muscles, tendons, ligaments and similar tissue. Nerve damage is excluded, and so is a full or partial tear of a tendon, ligament, meniscus or cartilage.
Which side you're on matters. For accidents from 1 April 2023, statutory benefits for a threshold injury generally last up to 52 weeks. For accidents between 1 December 2017 and 31 March 2023, the limit was 26 weeks. If your injury is more than threshold and you weren't mostly at fault, benefits can generally continue for longer, and a damages claim may be possible.
Check the date of your accident
The threshold rules and benefit periods depend on when your accident happened. Check which rules apply to your date before relying on any general statement.
Read next:Threshold injury disputes
Is your injury serious enough to get advice?
Serious injuries are where legal advice most often earns its place, because the stakes and the rules are both higher. Even so, not every serious injury claim needs a lawyer at every stage. Here is a general guide.
Often worth talking to a lawyer
- Another driver was at fault and a damages claim may be possible
- You have a psychological injury as well as a physical one
- An impairment assessment is coming up, or you disagree with one
- A pre-existing condition is being blamed for your symptoms
You may not need one
- The insurer accepts the injury is more than threshold and benefits are flowing
- The injury has settled with no lasting effect on your work or daily life
- You want general scheme information that CTP Assist can give
Serious injuries need coordinated care. Ask us about doctors and allied health who understand CTP claims, from the Certificate of Fitness to ongoing rehabilitation and psychology.
Not quite your situation?
- Hurt at work, or in a crash while you were working? That is usually a workers compensation claim first, which is a different scheme from CTP. Tell us what happened and we can point you to the right help. Free claim check
- If you want to know what compensation can include and when it is paid, the car accident compensation page sets out the whole package. Car accident compensation in Kanwal
- If the question is still which sort of claim you have at all, start with the compensation lawyer page before going further. Compensation lawyer in Kanwal
- If the insurer has already decided your injury is threshold and you want to challenge it, the CTP claim denied page sets out the steps. CTP claim denied in Kanwal
When whole person impairment is measured
In a serious injury claim, impairment often comes into focus well after the crash, once treatment has run its course. The Personal Injury Commission handles medical assessment where the insurer and the injured person disagree. If you think an assessment is wrong, the steps to challenge it are set out separately, and the deadlines are short, so act promptly.
- Whether the injury has stabilised
- How complete and current your medical records are
- Changes in your condition since the last report
Read next:Insurer medical examinations
WPI: the percentage behind serious injury claims
People are often surprised by how technical WPI is. It is assessed under guidelines that rate specific impairments, such as lost movement in a joint, and express the result as a whole-body percentage. More than 10% is the key line in CTP claims, because damages for non-economic loss, meaning pain and suffering, are only available above it. Loss of earnings doesn't need that level.
An assessment above 10% opens damages for non-economic loss and changes some timing rules as well. But many people with genuine, lasting injuries are assessed at 10% or less. That doesn't mean the injury isn't real, or that there is no damages claim. Economic loss, such as lost earning capacity, can still be claimed where the other conditions are met.
Read next:Can I claim damages? Quick check
Mental health after a serious crash
Serious physical injuries often bring a psychological toll: sleeplessness, anxiety, depression or trauma symptoms. These can be part of your claim in their own right. Tell your doctor how you're coping, and ask about psychology if it would help. Whether a psychological injury is threshold or more is a medical and legal question, and the insurer's decision on it can be reviewed.
Read next:Psychological injury after a crash
The evidence a serious injury claim needs
Serious injury claims rest on medical evidence gathered over time: hospital records, imaging, operation reports, specialist opinions, and treating doctors' notes that track your progress. Your own records add the human detail. Start collecting early, keep everything in date order, and make sure each doctor knows about all your injuries, not just the one they're treating.
- Operation and specialist reports
- Every Certificate of Fitness, in order
- Reports from a treating psychologist or psychiatrist, if any
- Any impairment assessment, and your response to it
Read next:Gathering medical evidence
Free claim check
Serious injury? Talk to us before the next decision
An injury that's worse than first thought can change your claim. A short, free conversation can show you what to ask next.
Frequently asked questions
Not always. Whether scans are needed is a medical decision, and many injuries are diagnosed by examination. Where your doctor recommends imaging, it can show things an examination can't, such as a fracture, a tear or signs of nerve compression, and that can affect how the injury is classified. Keep copies of every imaging report, and don't arrange scans just for the claim.
It could. Tingling, numbness or weakness can sometimes point to nerve involvement, and confirmed nerve damage takes an injury outside the threshold definition. These symptoms can also have other causes, so it's a question for your doctor, who can decide whether tests are needed. Describe the symptoms precisely, note when they started, and make sure any diagnosis reaches the insurer.
Usually, yes, because most whiplash is soft tissue injury to the neck. But not always. If a doctor finds nerve damage, or a full or partial tear of a tendon or ligament, the injury may be more than threshold. Symptoms like arm pain, numbness or weakness are worth describing to your doctor. The insurer decides on the medical evidence, and its decision can be reviewed.
Generally, yes, for the worsening the crash caused. A pre-existing condition, like arthritis or an old back injury, doesn't stop a claim, but the insurer may argue that some of your symptoms would have happened anyway. Clear evidence helps: records of how you were before the crash, and how you've been since. Tell your doctors about the earlier condition rather than leaving it out.
More than one person may. Your treating doctors can give opinions, the insurer may send you to a doctor it chooses, and where you and the insurer disagree about the degree of impairment, a medical assessor at the Personal Injury Commission can decide it. Timing matters as much as who: an assessment made before the injury has settled can understate it. To challenge an assessment, see the CTP claim denied page, and act quickly because the deadlines are short.
Tell every doctor about it, even if it seemed mild at first. A brain injury isn't a soft tissue injury, so a diagnosed brain injury is generally more than threshold. Symptoms such as headaches, memory problems, fatigue or changes in mood can take time to show and are easy to put down to stress. Record them, and ask your GP whether further review is needed.
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CTP Lawyer is not a law firm. This page is general information, not legal advice; the independent lawyer you speak with can advise on your own situation.