OPUS Medico Legal
About me
Dr Mike Drayton is a Consultant Clinical Psychologist and experienced expert witness with over 28 years’ experience in personal injury, clinical negligence, and employment-related psychological injury cases. He provides independent expert opinion on diagnosis, causation, prognosis, functional impact, and treatment recommendations.
He is HCPC registered, a Chartered Psychologist, and holds the Bond Solon Expert Witness Certificate from Cardiff University Law School. He has a Doctorate in Clinical Psychology from the University of Birmingham and a first degree in Psychology from the London School of Economics.
Dr Drayton prepares clear, well-reasoned reports that directly address the questions in the letter of instruction. His reports are written in plain English for solicitors, counsel, and the court, rather than in technical language intended for other psychologists. He aims to provide firm, balanced opinions and realistic recommendations that assist the court.
He is frequently instructed in cases involving trauma, adjustment disorder, anxiety, depression, chronic pain, serious injury, workplace stress, bullying, harassment, obstetric trauma, loss of role, and reduced quality of life. He has particular experience in cases where causation is complex, where there are pre-existing psychological vulnerabilities, or where medical, psychological, and situational factors interact.
His clinical background includes senior work in NHS specialist personality disorder services and psychiatric intensive care, where he assessed complex psychological presentations, trauma histories, risk, and rehabilitation needs. He has also trained emergency responders and personnel working in hostile environments in trauma, resilience, and decision-making under pressure.
Dr Drayton’s approach is independent, proportionate, and evidence-based. He has experience preparing reports for claimants and defendants and understands the need for clear reasoning, careful consideration of alternative explanations, and recommendations that are clinically realistic.
“This [psychological assessment] had been carried out, on joint instructions, by Dr Michael Drayton, a consultant clinical psychologist, whose report is dated 26 October 2006. Dr Drayton also gave evidence to the judge.
In my judgment, his report is an impressive piece of work. The thoroughness of Dr Drayton's work is demonstrated, in my judgment, not just by the length of his report and the detail which it contains, but also by the range of issues which he discussed with those whom he was assessing. Thus, in the report on the mother, in addition to undertaking psychometric testing and reporting on the results, Dr Drayton reports on the detailed discussion he had with her about the relationships he had with the fathers of her children.
There are also headings dealing with domestic violence; contraception; the mother's understanding of the reasons for SA being taken into care; her history of self-harming and overdosing; her understanding of her parenting difficulties; her attitude to social services; her experience of a previous, non-residential assessment; her perception of SA's needs; her perception of her own need for therapy; her experience of sexual abuse; her personal history, including her childhood and education; her history of employment and drug abuse; and her mental state”.
L (A Child) and H (A Child) [2007] EWCA Civ 213. Case No: B4/2007/0335
IN THE SUPREME COURT OF JUDICATURE, COURT OF APPEAL (CIVIL DIVISION) Royal Courts of Justice Strand, London, WC2A 2LL.
Date: 14/03/2007
"Dr Drayton’s report was measured and considered, as was his evidence in the witness box”.
Magistrate’s summing up, Wolverhampton County,
December 2004.
