What is Medical Malpractice Insurance?
Medical Malpractice Insurance protects you against claims alleging negligence or a breach of professional duty, which result in a negative impact on your patient whether from medical treatment or advice. This can include misdiagnosis, injury, delays in referral, physical or mental harm or abuse.
It is a legal requirement for anyone offering professional regulated medical, healthcare or veterinary services in the UK.
Robust Medical Malpractice Insurance will protect you against financial loss and reputational damage that may occur as a result of a claim against you and covers legal fees, costs associated with defending the claim and any compensation that may be payable.
We can arrange Medical Malpractice Cover for medical practitioners, surgeons, dentists, and GPs even if you have a claims history. We have partnered with a carefully selected panel of A rated insurers, to allow us to offer insurance solutions that will provide complete peace of mind.
As an independent commercial insurance broker, we provide impartial advice so you can be confident that the medical malpractice cover we recommend will meet your needs.
To speak to an expert adviser, please call 01480 272727, or complete our enquiry form.
You can find answers to your FAQs below.
The benefits of Medical Malpractice Insurance
If you are a medical professional, you are already aware of the importance of having insurance cover to protect yourself financially if a claim is made against you. When arranging your insurance there are typically two approaches you can take. The first approach, taken by many medical professionals, is to join a defence organisation such as the Medical Defence Union. These organisations will typically include discretionary cover within their annual membership fees. The alternative is to take out a Medical Malpractice Insurance policy directly from an insurance company or arrange it through a specialist broker.
There are some crucial differences you should be aware of before making your decision. In the following video, we explain each type of cover and look at their pros and cons.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why do I need Medical Malpractice cover?
As a provider of professional healthcare services in any sector, you will endeavour to provide appropriate care, treatment and relevant. However, if an alleged claim is made against you, perhaps because of a misdiagnosis or incorrect treatment or advice, it’s important to have the right cover in place to protect you.
Having appropriate insurance cover in place will provide you and your patients with the reassurance that if something does go wrong, a resolution can be arrived at to the satisfaction of all parties, with as little disruption to your business as possible.
Defending an allegation of negligence or abuse can be costly and without suitable cover in place, could result in loss of income, assets, reputation and ultimately your livelihood.
We provide Medical Malpractice Insurance for doctors, doctors’ surgeries, vets, veterinary surgeries, care homes, and healthcare professionals. We also arrange dentist indemnity insurance.
Find out more about insurance for dentists here.
Who should have Medical Malpractice Insurance?
Medical Malpractice cover is essential to anyone providing professional healthcare services including doctors, nurses, physiotherapists, healthcare professionals and even vets.
If you operate a private practice or take on any private work, you are legally required to have Medical Malpractice Insurance.
If you work under an NHS England or Wales contract, you will be covered for clinical negligence claims arising from primary care work by the state backed indemnity scheme which started on 1 April 2019. But this does not cover Good Samaritan acts (helping someone in an emergency situation) which could leave you open to risk, so it worth considering additional cover to ensure you are completely protected.
What are the benefits of Medical Malpractice Insurance?
- Peace of mind for you and your staff
- Provides reassurance for your patients
- Protection against financial loss in defending a claim
- Allows your practice to continue to operate during a claim
How much Medical Malpractice Insurance cover do I need?
The level of cover that you require will depend on your circumstances and the nature of your business.
We get to know our clients and fully understand their exposure to risk. This allows us to tailor our advice to your requirements so the medical malpractice cover we present will be just what you need. Having the appropriate level of cover in place will provide you with freedom from worry, so you can get on with what you do best – caring for your patients.
Please note that any policy that you do take out will only cover you for situations that arise after the cover is in place. It will not provide you with protection against issues that started before you took out the policy.
How can I buy Medical Malpractice Insurance?
You can arrange Medical Malpractice Insurance without fuss, with us! As an independent commercial insurance broker, we are completely impartial which means the cover we suggest will be just what you need for now and the future.
And because we only partner with A rated insurers, you can be assured of a market-leading policy from a trusted provider.
Medical malpractice insurance may be just one of a number of insurances you require, so by speaking to an experienced member of our team, we can create a tailored insurance programme to incorporate them all. You can call us on 01480 272727 or send an email to us at enquiries@barnesinsurancebroker.co.uk
As a Barnes Commercial client, you can also take advantage of our risk management hub. This invaluable service provides you with access to a suite of e-learning courses in areas such as health and safety, complete with recognised certification, which count towards CPD.
Find out more about how we can help you to manage risk.
