Medical indemnity insurance
Whether you’re a self-employed healthcare technician, physiotherapist, dietician, dental hygienist or building a medtech app, our medical indemnity cover includes public liability, medical malpractice and professional indemnity.
Be quote confident. We'll beat the price of any like-for-like quote. T&Cs apply.
Why do you need medical indemnity insurance?
Claims of medical negligence against healthcare products and professionals are on the rise, and the repercussions can be extremely serious. You could face disciplinary proceedings, medical malpractice inquiries and hefty legal and compensation costs. Medical malpractice cover can enable you to defend yourself and cover the costs involved.
Medical indemnity insurance, otherwise known as medical malpractice insurance or med mal, covers medical and healthcare professionals — including medtech professionals — for claims alleging a mistake or negligence in the course of their duties.
- Three key covers under one policy
- Option to add cyber insurance
- Choose up to £5m of cover
- Hassle-free claims and UK-based customer support
- Adjust your policy any time, without fees
Is your business raising and scaling?
Our specialist brokers provide custom cover for high-growth tech companies with complex risks — from web3, fintech, medtech, blockchain, VC firms, SaaS and more — whether you're at seed stage or IPO ready.
Who is this cover for?
Our medical indemnity insurance is designed for self-employed carers, nurses or healthcare technicians as well as more complex tech firms delivering medical software for professionals and the public.
We can cover a broad range of specialists, including (but not limited to):
- Beauty therapists
- Healthcare assistants
- Carers
- Doctors
- Nurse practitioners
- Complimentary therapists
- Physiotherapists
- Medtech and healthtech firms
What is included in medical indemnity insurance?
Medical malpractice
Medical malpractice insurance — sometimes known as medical indemnity insurance or med mal insurance — is a specialist cover for healthcare professionals and allied heath professionals. It's designed to cover legal and compensation costs related to negligent practices resulting in accidents such as bodily injury, medical expenses and property damage.
Some of the risks that are covered by medical malpractice insurance include:
- Delayed diagnosis
- Delays in referral
- Missed diagnosis
- Physical or mental harm to a person under your care
- Incorrect treatment
- Prescription errors
- Failure to provide a sanitary environment
Professional indemnity
Professional indemnity insurance is often mandatory for healthcare professionals. It's built to provide protection from claims for financial loss caused by your errors or omissions.
For example, suppose you were to inadvertently incorrectly measure a client for specialist-tailored equipment, which resulted in them being unable to use or return the equipment. In that case, professional indemnity insurance may be able to recover this cost.
Public liability
Public liability insurance offers financial and legal protection if someone is injured or their property damaged accidentally by you while you're working.
For example, if you were to visit the home of someone in your care and spill something on the floor damaging their carpet, public liability insurance may cover the cost of cleaning or replacing the carpet.
Additional extensions
Within your medical indemnity cover, you'll also be covered for the following:
- Good Samaritan acts
- Loss of documents
- Breach of professional confidentiality or defamation
- Libel and slander
- Inquest costs
These extensions have the same exclusions and limitations as the main medical indemnity policy.
Cyber cover
As an optional extra, you'll be able to add cyber insurance to your policy at an extra cost. Cyber insurance may sound irrelevant to you as a healthcare professional, but it's actually for any professional holding personal, medical or financial data about clients (e.g. patient data such as name, date of birth, diagnoses, condition etc.).
Whether you're storing this type of data on a smartphone, computer or in cloud-based storage, cyber insurance offers financial and specialist support in the event of a data breach.
Once you've completed a quote, you'll be able to view a summary of cover. Please always refer to your policy documents for full details around exclusions, terms and limits of your customised cover. Read our guide to understanding your policy documents.
Be quote confident
We're big on fairness. So if you find a lower price for a comparable quote, we won't just match it — we'll go one better and beat it.
So even better than apples to apples, apples to better apples. We're talking Galas to Braeburns.
As you'd expect, T&Cs apply.
Medical indemnity insurance claim examples
Insurance claims are different for every health professional, but here are a few examples of claims where you could be liable:
Delayed referral
After an appointment, you forget to refer a patient to a specialist, leading to a delay in the patient's diagnosis and subsequent treatment, causing more health issues.
Improper guidance
A client tries out some physiotherapy training that you showed them during a session for their bad back. They end up slipping a disc, resulting in further damage.
Missed diagnosis
During some routine patient observation checks, you fail to notice changes in a particular patient's condition, leading them to become even more ill.
Incorrect prescription
While filling out a prescription for a client, you accidentally write down the wrong dosage. The patient ends up in hospital and wants to claim compensation.
How do claims work?
You make a claim
Log in to your online account and go to the ‘Make a claim’ section. There, you can make a claim directly — there's no need to call us.
We'll ask you for some details about your claim, including a crime reference number (if applicable), the date of loss or claim made against you, type of claim and its detailed description.
In the portal, you can also attach any relevant supporting documentation like proof of loss, proof of purchase, a letter of demand or a statement of claim.
We'll get on the case
Once submitted, your claim will be assessed by our experts.
If the claim is large, we may need more information from you. If it's small, however, our team may be able to settle it within a couple of days (or hours, in some cases).
Either way, we'll keep you regularly updated and you'll be able to see the status of your claim on our customer portal.
Your claim is settled
After it's been assessed, we'll let you know if your claim has been successful or not.
If items have been lost, stolen or damaged, we might arrange for the items to be replaced or make a payment to you.
If you’re liable for something we will assist you with legal support.
What's not included in this cover?
Medical indemnity insurance includes a range of features, but as with all policies, there are some things we cannot cover, which, for example, include:
- The return of fees or charges owed to you for goods or services already provided or contracted to be provided
- Any fines or penalties awarded by any civil or criminal court
- The costs associated with correcting or re-performing your services
- The loss associated with discounts, coupons, prizes, awards or other incentives offered to your customers or clients
- Claims linked to or arising from medical research services or in any connection with medical trials or drug testing
- Any liability arising from a negligent practice which occurred before you toolk out your policy
- Any claim linked to or arising out of the construction, alteration, repackaging, repair, recall, servicing, or treating of any products sold, supplied or distributed by you or the failure of any product to fulfil the purpose for which it was designed or to perform as specified, warranted or guaranteed by you
If you provide any type of treatment, you might want to purchase treatment cover. Learn more about treatment cover. If you want cover to conduct medical trials, reach out to one of our medtech broking specialists who can advise you further.
Medical indemnity insurance FAQs
What is medical malpractice insurance?
Medical malpractice insurance — sometimes known as medical indemnity insurance or med mal insurance — is specialist cover for healthcare professionals, allied heath professionals and complex tech firms that provide healthcare advice or products.
It's designed to cover legal and compensation costs relating to negligent practices resulting in accidents such as bodily injury, medical expenses and property damage.
Do I have to be qualified to buy medical indemnity insurance?
Yes, you need to be fully qualified for your specific profession in order to buy medical indemnity insurance.
What is the cost of medical malpractice insurance?
The cost of medical indemnity insurance will depend several factors, including the area of healthcare you work in.
We understand things can change over time, sometimes in the middle of your policy, so we offer fee-free policy adjustments should your needs change.
Is medical malpractice insurance tax deductible?
Yes. Medical malpractice insurance is an 'allowable expense', which means that it's tax deductible in the UK.
What's the difference between medical malpractice and professional indemnity?
Both medical malpractice and professional indemnity cover deal with mistakes in your work, but the difference between them lies in the reason for the claim. Professional indemnity insurance covers risks involving financial loss, while medical malpractice covers professional risks that result in mental or physical harm.
Professional indemnity insurance can also cover you for claims involving breach of care, confidentiality or dishonesty, which is why both covers are recommended to healthcare professionals.
Is medical malpractice insurance a legal requirement?
Yes. In the UK, all healthcare professionals who want to practice are legally required to have relevant negligence or indemnity cover for liabilities that arise out of negligence. The insurance must cover the costs of compensation awarded to the claiming patient.
What levels of cover do you offer?
During the quotation process you'll be able to select from £500,000 to £5 million cover for your medical indemnity package. You'll also be given the option to add cyber insurance to your policy.
What is cyber insurance?
Cyber insurance may sound irrelevant to you, as a healthcare professional, but it's actually for any professional holding personal, medical or financial data about clients (e.g. patient data such as name, date of birth, diagnoses, condition etc.).
Whether you're storing this type of data on a smartphone, computer or in cloud-based storage, cyber insurance offers financial and specialist support in the event of a data breach.
Can you provide run-off cover?
We can arrange for run-off cover to be added to your policy at an additional cost.
What is run-off cover?
Run-off cover is designed to cover you for any claims arising from work previously carried out after you've stopped working.
Why choose Superscript?
Cover for over 1,000 types of business
Five-star customer service and claims support
Flexibility to adjust your policy without fees
We insure thousands of innovative businesses
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