Dr Raeburn Forbes

Medico-Legal Experience

Dr Raeburn Forbes has been a Consultant Neurologist for over 20 years in a general acute hospital and private clinical practice. He began his expert witness work in 2023 and completed the Cardiff University Bond Solon Expert course, which included excellence in report writing, courtroom skills, and cross-examination. He is also a member of the Ulster Medico-legal Society and attends their meetings regularly for medicolegal CPD.

Dr Forbes is instructed by both claimants and defendants in clinical negligence, personal injury, industrial, tribunal, condition and prognosis, and breach of duty. He has covered a wide range of reports throughout his time as an expert witness, including, but not limited to, Functional Neurological Disorder (FND), Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI), strokes, epilepsy, and vestibular issues.

He has particular specialist knowledge of migraines, dystonia, hemifacial spasm (HFS), and brain injury and has completed many reports on these topics. Dr Forbes is renowned for his structured and CPR-compliant reports, and has a report turnaround time of 4-6 weeks.

Dr Forbes has provided oral evidence in court on one occasion and continues to be available to provide evidence in court when required.

Dr Forbes has extensive experience in cases associated with:

Personal injury and clinical negligence relating to:

Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI):
- Mild/subtle/severe
- Post-traumatic headaches
- Post-traumatic amnesia
- Post-concussive syndrome/symptoms
- Faints/seizures
- Numbness
- Tingling
- Tremor
- Vertigo
- Weakness
- Balance difficulty
- Visual symptoms
- Fatigue
- Memory problem
Head injury/blunt force trauma:
- Loss of consciousness
- Intracranial bleed
- Brain contusion
- Skull fracture(s)
Strokes:
- Ischemic
- Hemorrhagic
- Transient Ischemic Attack (TIA)
Functional Neurological Disorder (FND)
Peripheral nerve injury
Dementia
Epilepsy
Motor Neurone Disease (MND)
Cerebral bleeds
Dysfluency
Hemifacial spasm
Extrapyramidal disorder
Vestibular issues
Dizziness – Mitochondrial disorder
Fibromyalgia
Foot drop
Spastic paraplegia
Inflammatory radiculopathy
Myasthenia gravis
Hypoxic brain injury
Guillain-Barré syndrome
Chronic Inflammatory Demyelinating Neuropathy (CIPD)
Somatoform disorder
Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)
Asperger’s syndrome
Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD)
Dystonia
Spinal injury
General neurology
Cluster headaches/migraines
Cushing’s syndrome
Lumbar puncture
Multiple Sclerosis (MS)
Parkinson’s disease

Dr Forbes appointment availability is approximately 4 – 5 weeks and report turnaround is 4 – 6 weeks.

Clinical Experience

Dr Forbes has been a Consultant Neurologist for over 20 years. He has delivered a busy acute, ward liaison and virtual clinic service with the majority of his work in general adult neurology, and a sub-speciality interest in headache and migraines.

Dr Forbes has published extensively in several sub-specialist areas, including neuroepidemiology, Multiple sclerosis (MS), motor neurone disease (MND), epilepsy and health economics. His post-graduate training included postings to neurosurgery, neurorehabilitation, stroke and a tertiary centre in patient care. Dr Forbes is a recognised expert in lumbar puncture and acute headache and has authored two Cochrane Collaboration systematic reviews. In his current clinical practice, he provides injection procedures for chronic migraine, dystonia and hemifacial spasm.

Dr Forbes served on the Board of The Irish Institute for Clinical Neuroscience until 2021 and

served on the Association of British Neurologists’ Standards and Services Committee until 2022. In

2023, he served as President of the Irish Neurological Association, hosting a joint meeting in Belfast with the Association of British Neurologists at the International Conference Centre in May that year.

Publications

Forbes, RB. McCarron, M. Cardwell, CR. Efficacy and Contextual (Placebo) Effects of CGRP Antibodies for Migraine: Systematic Review and Meta-analysis. Headache 2020;60: 1542-1557
McCarron, M. O. Clarke, M. Burns, P. McCormick, M. McCarron, P. Forbes, R. B. McCarron, L.V. Mullan, F. McVerry, F. A Neurodisparity Index of Nationwide Access to Neurological Health Care in Northern Ireland. Front Neurol 2021;12:608070.
Forbes RB. Acute headache. Ulster Med J. 2014;83(1):3—9
Doherty CM. Forbes RB. Diagnostic Lumbar Puncture. Ulster Med J. 2014;83(2):93—102.
Devenney E. Neale H, Forbes RB. A systematic review of causes of sudden and severe headache (Thunderclap Headache): Should lists be evidence based? J Headache Pain. 2014;15:49
Pinnock RA, McGivern RC, Forbes R, Gibson JM. An exploration of ocular fixation in Parkinson’s disease. Multiple system atrophy and progressive supranuclear palsy. J Neurol. 2010;257(4):533—9
Kurian KM, Forbes RB, Colville S, Swingler RJ. Cause of death and clinical grading criteria in a cohort of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis cases undergoing autopsy from the Scottish Motor Neurone Disease Register. J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry. 2009;80(1):84—7
Forbes R. Cost utility of vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) therapy for medically refractory epilepsy an update. Seizure. 2008;17i4):387—88
Forbes RB, Colville S. Parratt J. Swingler RJ. The incidence of motor neurone disease in Scotland. J Neurol. 2007;254 (7}:866-9
Forbes RB, McCarron M. Review of publication bias in studies on publication bias: Systematic review is needed. BMJ. 2005;331:638
Dusoir H. Owens C, Forbes RB, Morrow JI. Flynn PA, McCarron MO. Anorexia nervosa remission following left thalamic stroke. J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry. 2005;76t1):144-5
Donnan PT. Parratt JD. Wilson SV. Forbes RB, O’Riordan Jl. Swingler RJ. Multiple sclerosis in Tayside, Scotland: Detection of clusters using a spatial scan statistic. Multiple Sclerosis. 2005;11(4):403-8
Gray 0. McDonnell GV, Forbes RB. Methotrexate for multiple sclerosis. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2004(2}:Cd003208
Forbes RB, Colville S, Swingler RJ. The epidemiology of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS/MND) in people aged 80 or over. Age Ageing. 2004;33(2):131-4
Forbes RB, Colville S. Swingler RJ. Frequency, timing and outcome of gastrostomy tubes for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis/motor neurone disease a record linkage study from the Scottish Motor Neurone Disease Register. J Neurol. 2004;251(7):813-7
Forbes RB. Colville 8. Gran GW. Swingler RJ. Unexpected decline in survival from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis/motor neurone disease. J Neurol Neurosurgery Psychiatry. 2004;75i12):1753-5
Forbes R, Craig J, Callender M, Patterson V. Liaison neurology for acute medical admissions. Clin Med. 2004;4(3):290
Gray 0, McDonnell GV, Forbes RB. Intravenous immunoglobulins for multiple sclerosis. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2003(4):Cd002936
Forbes RB, Macdonaid S, Eljamel S, Roberts RC. Cost utility analysis of vagus nerve stimulators for adults with medically refractory epilepsy. Seizure. 2003;12(5):249-56
Parratt J, Donnan P. Wilson SV. O’Riordan JO, Swingler RJ. Forbes RB. Multiple sclerosis distribution in northern Sardinia: Spatial cluster analysis of prevalence. Neurology. 2002;59(5)z790; author reply
Gray OM. Forbes RB, Morrow Jl. Primary isolated brainstem injury producing internuclear ophthalmoplegia. Br J Neurosurgery. 2001 ;15(5):432-4
Forbes RB, Colville S, Swingler RJ. Are the El Escorial and Revised El Escorial criteria for ALS reproducible? A study of inter-observer agreement. Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and other motor neurone diseases : Official publication of the World Federation of Neurology, research group on motor neurone diseases. 2001;2(3}:135-8
Forbes RB. Wilson SV. Swingler RJ. The prevalence of multiple sclerosis in Tayside, Scotland: do latitudinal gradients really exist? J Neurol. 1999;246(11);1033-40
Forbes RB, Swingler RJ. An epidemiological study of multiple sclerosis in Northern Ireland. Neurology. 1999;52(1):215—6
Forbes RB. Swingler RJ. Interferon beta treatment for multiple sclerosis. Lancet. 1999;353(9151):496-8
Forbes RB, Swingler RJ. Utilisation and costs of profession care and assistance according to disability of patients with multiple sclerosis in Flanders (Belgium). J Neurol Neurosurgery Psychiatry. 1999;66(2):256-7
Forbes RB. Swingler RJ. Estimating the prevalence of multiple sclerosis in the United Kingdom by using capture-recapture methodology. Am J Epidemiol. 1999;149i11):1016-24
Forbes RB, Lees A, Waugh N, Swingler RJ. Population based cost utility study of interferon beta-1b in secondary progressive multiple sclerosis. 1993;319(7224):1529-33
Forbes RB, Eljamel MS. Meningeal chondrosarcomas, a review of 31 patients. Br J Neurosurgery. 1998;12i5):461-4
Forbes RB. Grant DJ. Mac Walter RS. Cyclical etidronate and calcium carbonate (with citrate) supplementation for osteoporosis unmasking primary hyperparathyroidism. Scott Med J. 1995;40(6};172-8

Venues

Malone Medical Chambers

Belfast, BT9 5LH

Genesis Clinic

Liverpool, L1 9EW

Charterhouse Clinic

London, W1H 2HL

Salford Clinic

Salford, M5 3EY

Physiotherapy Matters

Newcastle, NE3 3LU

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Dr Raeburn Forbes

Medico-Legal Experience

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Venues

Malone Medical Chambers

Genesis Clinic

Charterhouse Clinic

Salford Clinic

Physiotherapy Matters

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