Webinar: Insurance for Primary Care Networks
We hosted a webinar to help clinical directors and decision makers understand the insurance implications faced by PCNs. If you missed it, you can now watch it below.
Watch our webinar to find out more about:
- PCN roles & considerations for Clinical Directors
- Indemnity exposure
- Directors & Officers Liability
- Employers & Public Liability
- Minimising risks and what to look for in an insurance package
Poll results
Webinar attendees answered three questions in our PCN poll and the results were as follows:
Webinar Q&A
Q: We do not actually have any employees at present, and are not offering any new services as yet. But this is likely to change. Where does liability lie if we are subcontracting – plan is for a third party to recruit and employ social prescribers for us?
A: You don’t need the employers liability cover as it stands and you haven’t launched any new services yet, which means you probably have nothing to think about right now. However, as and when you launch, if you’re subcontracting (and presumably that will be a point where perhaps you have employees) you certainly still need to think about extending your public liability for the relevant practices because there is still a contingent liability if the sub-contractors fail, etc. If in any doubt, get in touch with us, or talk to your broker.
Q: I’m a Clinical Director (CD). When you say expand the employee and public liability, do you mean individual practices in the flat practice model, or do you mean for the CD as an individual? We have a company providing our practice liability. Should we be talking to them?
A: Yes, you’ll have to extend the cover. If you’re working a flat practice model, each individual practice should extend employers and public liability to include the Primary Care Network activities. Typically we would see that a practice liability and/or the liabilities would be covered by an insurance company or a broker, however the company you mention may be providing wider HR services to you, so please try and find out with your insurance broker before making that change.
Q: Do clinical staff usually have state cover if they are doing clinical work off site from the main place of work – e.g. home visits?
A: In terms of clinical cover, yes, the state indemnity scheme will cover home visits for any clinical staff – as it should for any private work. On this, I also hope that everyone has seen a reduction in the cost of their medical indemnity insurance over the last 12 months, as a result of the state indemnity scheme. If you haven’t, it’s worth having a chat with your providers, because you should have seen quite a substantial reduction.
Q: We subcontract social prescribers from a third party and assume they are covered by their employer even if seeing patients in GP surgeries?
A: Absolutely, yes you should, however, as with any sub-contracting part of your due diligence should always be to ensure they do have that cover in place. Similarly, whether it be directors & officers insurance or other cover you have in place, there will be that contingent liability there – assuming you’ve had directors & officers cover.
Q: Would officer insurance for a GP partner cover them from fines from data breaches? From NHS Ombudsman fines?
A: Yes, it would, however there are issues around cyber cover. This is a really complex one, so data breaches will be covered under a directors & officers policy, but there are some limitations around the cause of that when there’s been cyber-attacks for instance, and it’s worth practices thinking about cyber insurance. That’s one to discuss with your broker to talk about the right requirements for a particular practice or PCN.
Q: As a GP partner I’ve got insurance with the defence union. Should that cover be extended for the Clinical Director role? Also not sure about the directors and officers policy?
A: Yes, you should be contacting the defence union to extend your cover to include the activities of the clinical director role. We feel that’s really a non-clinical part of what you would be doing day to day. Your current policy provided by the defence union will not include directors & officers cover. That’s typically a standalone insurance policy which either GP partners or a network will be buying.
