Medical indemnity insurance Medical indemnity insurance

Whether you’re a self-employed healthcare technician, physiotherapist, dietician or dental hygienist, our medical indemnity cover includes public liability, medical malpractice and professional indemnity.

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Why do you need medical indemnity insurance?

Claims of medical negligence against healthcare professionals are on the rise, and the repercussions can be extremely serious, including disciplinary proceedings, medical malpractice inquiries and hefty legal and compensation costs. Medical malpractice cover cann 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 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
  • Get a quote in four minutes, or fully covered in ten.

Who is this cover for?

Our medical indemnity insurance is designed for self-employed carers, nurses or healthcare technicians.

We can cover a broad range of specialists, including (but not limited to):

  • Audiologists
  • Biomedical scientists
  • Childcare professionals
  • Complementary therapists
  • Dental hygienists
  • Dental technicians
  • Dieticians
  • Nutritionists
  • Occupational therapists
  • Paramedics
  • Pharmacists
  • Pharmacy technicians
  • Physiotherapists

What is included in medical indemnity insurance?

1

Medical malpractice

Medical malpractice insurance, sometimes known as medical indemnity insurance or med mal insurance, is specialist cover for healthcare professionals' and allied heath professionals. It covers legal and compensation costs in relation 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
2

Professional indemnity

Professional indemnity insurance is often mandatory for healthcare professionals. It provides protection in relation to claims for financial loss caused by your errors or omissions.

For example, if you were to inadvertently incorrectly measure a client for specialist tailored equipment, which resulted in them being unable to use or return the equipment, professional indemnity insurance may be able to recover this cost.

3

Public liability

Public liability insurance offers financial and legal protection in the event that 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 to clean or replace the carpet.

4

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
5

Cyber cover

As an optional extra, you'll be able to add cyber insurance to your policy. 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 training

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?

1

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.

2

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.

3

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?

There are some treatment exclusions to our medical indemnity insurance. You won't be able to buy this cover if you perform any of the following:

  • Aesthetic or cosmetic procedures
  • Teeth whitening without the prescription form a General Dental Council registered dentist
  • Medical services to professional sports individuals or elite athletes
  • Birthing, obstetric or fetal scanning
  • Surgery (other than the removal of non-cancerous moles, skin tags, cysts, milia or warts)
  • Any diagnostic services over the internet including prescription of drugs over the internet
  • Spinal joint manipulations
  • Treatments relating to clinical trials
  • Duties for a 111 or 999 service provider other than an advisory role for medicine
  • Management or as a direct referral from a 111 service provider
  • Out of hours or remote services without access to a General Medical Council registered General practitioner or a General Dental Council registered dentist at all times

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' and allied heath professionals. It covers legal and compensation costs in relation 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 a number of factors, including the area of healcare you work in. Because we offer cover on a monthly rather than annual basis, you're free to adjust your level of cover as necessary and won't be any charged fees. Just make sure you let us know at least 30 days in advance.

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.

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.

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