Dr Nicholas Taylor

Consultant Forensic Psychiatrist and expert witness in criminal and civil cases, approved under Section 12(2) of the Mental Health Act 1983, and Medical Director of Forensic Psychiatry Experts.

About my work

I have been a Consultant Forensic Psychiatrist in Leicestershire since 2007. After 25 years in the NHS, I now work in private clinical practice and as an expert witness in civil and criminal cases. I am the Medical Director of Forensic Psychiatry Experts, a group of consultant forensic psychiatrists who provide expert witness work across a wide range of cases.

My expert witness work covers criminal cases, personal injury and clinical negligence, and takes place nationwide.

Fitness to plead is one of the most common reasons I am instructed. I run pritchardcriteria.uk, a practitioner guide to fitness to plead and the Pritchard criteria in England and Wales.

I have a particular interest in the quality of expert witness reports and am a co-founder of Obiter Review, a rapid and cost-effective proofreading service for expert reports.

In my private clinical practice I assess and treat adults remotely by video, with conditions ranging from anxiety and depression to complex PTSD, personality disorder and drug and alcohol problems.

NHS career

From 2020 to 2023 I was Clinical Director at Arnold Lodge, a large and complex NHS medium secure hospital in Leicester with over 100 beds. I had overall responsibility for clinical care and for professional and managerial leadership across its three pathways – male mental health, personality disorder and women’s services. During that time the hospital’s CQC rating improved from “Requires Improvement” to “Good”.

I had worked at Arnold Lodge as a Consultant Forensic Psychiatrist and Responsible Clinician since 2007. For many years I was also a visiting psychiatrist to prisons across the Midlands, including Category A prisons.

From 2012 to 2020 I was the East Midlands Training Programme Director for Forensic Psychiatry, responsible for the training of doctors specialising in forensic psychiatry across Leicestershire, Northamptonshire, Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire and Lincolnshire, including placements at Rampton Hospital. I founded the National Forensic Psychiatry Training Programme Director Group at the Royal College of Psychiatrists and was part of the small team that wrote the current UK curriculum for higher training in forensic psychiatry.

I have worked across a wide range of mental health services, including specialist personality disorder services and services specifically for men and for women. I was the Responsible Clinician for one of the three Women’s Enhanced Medium Secure Services in England.

Awards

I received four NHS Clinical Excellence Awards, which recognise consultants who contribute most to safe, high-quality care and the improvement of NHS services. I was also awarded a prize for Excellence by Health Education England for developing and leading, for over 15 years, the largest forensic psychiatry outreach scheme in the world, which involved hundreds of medical students and doctors from over 50 countries.

Qualifications and memberships

• MB ChB, University of Bristol, followed by psychiatric training in the West Midlands and higher training in forensic psychiatry
• Master of Laws (LLM) in the Legal Aspects of Medical Practice, Cardiff University
• Fellow of the Royal College of Psychiatrists (FRCPsych), elected 2023
• Approved under Section 12(2) of the Mental Health Act 1983
• Member of the Executive Committee of the Royal College of Psychiatrists’ Private and Independent Practice Special Interest Group
• Member of the Expert Witness Institute and the Medico-Legal Society

Early in my career I spent six years as a Surgeon-Lieutenant in the Royal Naval Reserve, including as Medical Officer aboard the submarine HMS Turbulent during forward deployment, where I qualified as a Submarine Officer.