GP Indemnity Insurance: Safeguard yourself with our personalised GP coverage.
As a general practitioner, you will see and treat multiple patients each day, encountering various health concerns while providing them with support.
However, being able to adapt your approach in this way can be challenging, especially when ensuring each patient receives the care they need.
GPs also face risks like misdiagnosis or incorrectly recommended treatment on a daily basis. In some cases, you could make an honest mistake and provide incorrect medical care to a patient. Should this occur, the patient may later seek financial compensation through a malpractice or negligence claim.
THEMIS can help protect you from potential malpractice claims both financially and legally. Our GP indemnity insurance can ensure you receive the dedicated support and coverage you deserve.
Apply for GP indemnity insurance here.
Why do GPs need medical indemnity insurance?
From diagnosing simple viruses to recognising when someone needs a referral, GPs face multiple illnesses and conditions every day and may encounter several risks as a result.
Some of these risks include:
● Misdiagnosis: Although GPs take every possible care when diagnosing a patient, mistakes can happen. These can occur for various reasons, including a patient not being honest or transparent about their symptoms, as well as genuine human error. If you misdiagnose a patient, they may receive incorrect or delayed treatment. Both may negatively affect their health and lead to a malpractice claim.
● Failure to notice when emergency help is needed: Many GP clinics will screen patients before they attend appointments to ensure they don’t need emergency help. While this may steer most patients who need A&E away from their GP, some may slip through the cracks. If this occurs, GPs must equip themselves to spot the signs a patient requires urgent care and point them in the right direction. If a patient doesn’t receive urgent care when they need it, life-threatening complications can sometimes ensue and the risk of malpractice claims can increase.
● Complications from prescribing incorrect medication or dosage levels: GPs prescribe different medications daily (like antibiotics and antidepressants), but incorrect prescriptions are a risk. Another is giving the wrong dosage, which can potentially cause complications. For example, patients may seek a malpractice or negligence claim if a GP wrongly prescribes medication or gets the dosage wrong.
● Human error due to high volume of patients: GPs see multiple patients every day. With such a high volume, human error can occur. However, when this happens, patients may decide to raise a malpractice or negligence claim.
As GPs face such risks, having specialist GP indemnity insurance is one of the best ways to safeguard yourself. At THEMIS, we tailor our policies to your exact needs, offering financial protection, legal advice and support to help you focus on what matters most: providing patients with excellent care.
Is it compulsory for GPs to have GP indemnity insurance?
The Health Care and Associated Professionals Order 2014 states that all regulated healthcare professionals are legally required to have some form of personal indemnity insurance or corporate clinical indemnity insurance.
Knowing which type is right for you as a GP is vital to ensure it covers your duties and responsibilities. The General Medical Council’s Good Medical Practice 2024 guide confirms that you should review your indemnity insurance policy regularly to be sure your coverage accurately reflects your role.
Indemnity insurance is a legal requirement for GPs but it also helps you remain protected financially and legally throughout your career. With personalised GP indemnity insurance, you’ll have complete peace of mind when focusing on your patients and their care.
What types of GP indemnity insurance are there?
GP indemnity insurance is available in two primary forms – discretionary and contractual. Understanding the difference is essential so you can make an informed decision based on your needs.
● Discretionary indemnity: this medical indemnity insurance provides coverage on a case-by-case basis. So, if you submit a claim, your provider will assess it and determine whether they’ll provide coverage. Providers of discretionary indemnity do not have to be regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), so it’s only when you submit a claim that you know you’re covered.
● Contractual indemnity: this indemnity includes a contractual agreement. If you submit a claim, you’ll be covered as long as it’s within your agreed terms. Contractual indemnity includes specific terms and conditions that can be tailored to your needs.
THEMIS offers contractual GP indemnity insurance. So, you’ll receive full coverage when needed and can make claims knowing you’ll be covered should it fall within your contractual agreement.
Why choose THEMIS for GP indemnity insurance?
At THEMIS, we provide personalised, contractual GP indemnity insurance. We understand that GPs face multiple different risks with each patient. That’s why we offer comprehensive, contractual coverage that provides you with the peace of mind you deserve.
Here’s what’s included as part of our GP indemnity insurance policies:
● Medico-legal support: Our medico-legal helpline covers daily concerns you may experience. From dealing with a patient complaint to understanding general data protection regulation (GDPR), our in-house defence team can answer your questions.
● Personalised, contractual coverage: You can choose the types of protection you want in your contractual coverage. In doing so, you’ll ensure your policy covers your unique risks as a GP.
● Risk management support: As well as your GP indemnity insurance, we provide access to our wide variety of risk management resources, including training programmes and guides, so you can effectively minimise your risk of malpractice claims.
● Competitive premiums: We use specialist medical malpractice underwriters and claims data from artificial intelligence (AI) to keep our premiums moderately priced and reflect your personal risk level.
● Run-off cover: If you cease to practise as a GP, your chosen policy will still cover you for up to 21 years.
● Indemnity reinstatement: If a patient makes a malpractice claim against you that exhausts the limit of your indemnity, we’ll reinstate it to £10,000,000. So, you can feel rest assured you’ll always have coverage.
● Reputation crisis management: Your reputation as a GP could be at stake if something goes wrong at a public event. However, when you choose THEMIS, we’ll provide PR and legal costs to respond to an event that could harm your reputation.
To learn more about our GP indemnity insurance, contact our team today. We’ll happily answer any of your questions and help you get started with your specialist GP indemnity insurance application.
Apply for GP indemnity insurance here.
