Stroke Medicine; Geriatric Medicine; General Internal Medicine Expert Witness – Dr Neil Hunter
Consultant Physician

Dr Hunter accepts medico-legal instructions from both Claimant and Defendant solicitors in matters falling within his clinical expertise in Stroke Medicine, Geriatric Medicine and General Internal Medicine.

He accepts Clinical Negligence and Personal Injury instructions. His combination of current consultant practice across stroke, geriatric and general medicine is particularly relevant where a case requires assessment of the recognition, investigation, management or consequences of acute stroke, TIA or associated medical illness.

Within Stroke Medicine, his clinical background is relevant to cases concerning acute and hyperacute stroke assessment, suspected TIA, thrombolysis, thrombectomy pathways, secondary stroke prevention and rehabilitation. His expertise can also be relevant where the timing and appropriateness of assessment, referral or treatment are in issue. Where thrombectomy is concerned, his profile should distinguish his role in clinical assessment, decision-making and the thrombectomy pathway from personally performing the endovascular procedure unless the latter is specifically confirmed.

His Geriatric Medicine practice provides additional experience relevant to the assessment and management of older patients, including patients with acute illness, rehabilitation requirements and multiple co-existing medical conditions. His General Internal Medicine work provides further experience of acute medical assessment and management.

The authority underpinning Dr Hunter’s opinion includes his current NHS Lothian consultant practice, Honorary Senior Lecturer role at the University of Edinburgh, membership of its Cerebrovascular Research Group and involvement as a local principal investigator in clinical trials concerned with secondary stroke prevention.

Dr Hunter has worked as a Consultant Physician with NHS Lothian since 2019 and practises in Stroke, Geriatric and General Medicine. His consultant practice includes work at the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh and involvement in acute and hyperacute stroke care, general medicine and the care of older people.

His stroke practice encompasses the assessment and management of patients across the stroke pathway, from acute presentation and hyperacute treatment through to rehabilitation and secondary prevention. He has a particular clinical interest in thrombolysis, thrombectomy pathways and the rapid assessment of patients with suspected transient ischaemic attack.

Dr Hunter also practises in Geriatric Medicine, including the assessment and management of older patients whose care may involve acute illness, rehabilitation and multiple interacting medical problems. Alongside his stroke and geriatric work, he participates in acute General Internal Medicine.

This combination of Stroke Medicine, Geriatric Medicine and General Internal Medicine provides Dr Hunter with experience relevant to complex patients in whom acute neurological disease, rehabilitation requirements, ageing and co-existing medical conditions overlap.

Dr Hunter’s principal clinical interests are Stroke Medicine, Geriatric Medicine and General Internal Medicine.

Within Stroke Medicine, his practice encompasses acute and hyperacute stroke assessment and management, transient ischaemic attack, stroke rehabilitation and secondary stroke prevention. He has particular experience of clinical decision-making around thrombolysis and thrombectomy pathways and the rapid assessment of patients presenting with suspected TIA.

His work in Geriatric Medicine includes the medical care and rehabilitation of older people, while his General Internal Medicine practice includes participation in the acute medical take and the assessment and management of patients presenting with acute medical illness.

Dr Hunter’s existing professional information records his role as Clinical Lead for TIA Services within NHS Lothian. This role is relevant to the organisation and delivery of rapid-access assessment for patients with suspected transient ischaemic attack.

His clinical and research work also places him within NHS Lothian’s wider stroke service and the University of Edinburgh’s Cerebrovascular Research Group.

Dr Hunter is a member of the University of Edinburgh’s Cerebrovascular Research Group. His research activity is principally focused on stroke prevention, antithrombotic treatment and cerebrovascular disease.

He has served as the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh principal investigator for OCEANIC-STROKE, a Phase III study investigating asundexian, a factor XIa inhibitor, for prevention of recurrent ischaemic stroke in patients following acute non-cardioembolic ischaemic stroke or high-risk TIA.

He was also local principal investigator for AXIOMATIC-SSP, a Phase II study investigating factor XIa inhibition with milvexian for secondary stroke prevention following ischaemic stroke or high-risk TIA.

His wider collaborative research includes work concerning intracerebral haemorrhage and antiplatelet therapy, including the RESTART research programme.

Dr Hunter’s published and collaborative academic work reflects his interests in cerebrovascular disease, stroke prevention and clinical education.

His University of Edinburgh research profile records research output from the RESTART collaboration, including peer-reviewed work examining antiplatelet therapy following intracerebral haemorrhage. He has also contributed to collaborative research concerning intracerebral haemorrhage and has published work relating to medical education.

His research activity complements his current clinical practice in Stroke Medicine and his role within the University of Edinburgh Cerebrovascular Research Group.

Dr Hunter is an Honorary Senior Lecturer at the University of Edinburgh. His existing profile records that he has been a course organiser and lecturer for postgraduate Internal Medicine teaching since 2019 and also teaches medical, nursing and allied health professionals.

His clinical teaching is supported by active consultant practice across Stroke Medicine, Geriatric Medicine and General Internal Medicine and by his involvement in cerebrovascular research.