The GMC has published a new version of their core guidance, Good Medical Practice, which sets out the standards the regulator expects of all doctors. At Medical Protection we are working to help members understand some of the most significant changes.
One small but not insignificant change that we want to flag up relates to your indemnity requirements. The GMC’s new guidance now requires you to ensure:
The good news is that the vast majority of doctors already comply with these new requirements.
These changes do nonetheless underline the importance of ensuring you are protected from claims for all areas of your practice, that you regularly review your protection, and that you provide all the information required by your indemnifier.
Don't wait for your renewal to come around. As a not-for profit organisation, we need all members to give us the most accurate information they can when it comes to their specialty, their scope of practice, and earnings. This ensures we can provide the best protection possible for every individual, by understanding more about their risks. The easiest way to ensure the amount you earn is correct in your membership details is to use your projected gross revenue from the work you require us to indemnify.
To update your details, simply log in to MyMPS to change your membership information online or give our Member Services team a call on 0800 561 9000.
We say yes to over 99.5% requests for assistance that we receive that meet our qualifying criteria. Unfortunately, however, from time to time when claims come in we do find that members have not fully declared the details of their work and their salary, and that can cause problems.
For example, a private practice consultant declares £50,000 in income, when they’ve actually been earning over £100,000 for the last year. This means they have been doing more work (and incurring more risk) for the hours declared. Therefore, when it comes to a claim being made against them, it is possible that we might not be able to assist, as they were not properly indemnified for the volume of work. If this was a large claim, then it could put a lot of their assets, including their house and car, at risk.
We understand how busy you are as a healthcare professional, and it can be easy to forget to update your details and keep your membership information correct, but just taking a few minutes to double check your subscription matches your work can make all the difference when it comes to your protection.
As a mutual we bring you and other healthcare professionals together in a common purpose: collective protection against the risks involved in clinical practice. Being a mutual means your needs are at the heart of everything we do. We take mutuality seriously because it’s our commitment to you, not just today, but for as long as you need us. We put every pound back into the fund, so that we can continue to provide the quality of protection you need and deserve.
By pricing for the long-term, we maintain a strong mutual fund so if our members face complaints or claims, we’re in a good position to take on the financial burden they bring. It’s the reason we don’t need to impose financial limits or require you to pay excesses. We can take care of all the legal costs and compensation payments down to the last pound.
Dr Rob Hendry, Medical Director at Medical Protection, says: “It is important to ensure your membership reflects the scope and scale of your practice accurately, so you are fully protected. It’s all about contributing fairly to the mutual member funds, so you can rest assured that you can request assistance from our experts if you need to.”