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Contract-seeking dentists urged to plug indemnity gap
23rd Sep 2009
Dental professionals organising themselves into companies to bid for contracts from PCTs and other bodies are being urged to ensure their company has adequate indemnity in place.
Dental professionals' individual indemnity will not cover their company if they are sued because of a failure in a company procedure or the actions of a staff member for whom the company has vicarious liability.
The Dental Defence Union (DDU) is the specialist dental division of the Medical Defence Union (MDU) and provides clinical negligence insurance policies to dentists.
They cite the example of inadequate provision of infection control facilities by a dental corporate which leads to a patient acquiring a blood-borne infection.
As a result, the MDU, the DDU's parent organisation, has introduced an insurance policy for companies which dovetails with the policy that individual members receive to ensure all their clinical negligence claims are covered.
Rupert Hoppenbrouwers, head of the DDU, explains: 'While an individual dental professional may be sued for a delay in diagnosing an oral cancer, the company could also be sued if, for example, errors in the company's system for following up referral letters were found to have contributed to the delay.
'Companies are also vicariously liable for the staff they employ and could, for instance, be sued if a receptionist failed to offer a patient an emergency appointment in the event of a complication of treatment and the patient suffers as a result.'
The MDU now offers corporate indemnity to dental companies to address these needs.
The corporate indemnity encompasses an insurance policy in the event of the company being sued for clinical negligence. Corporate members also have access to the largest team of specialist dentists, doctors, lawyers and claims handlers among UK indemnifiers and the MDU provides free individual membership for practice managers and practice nurses employed by the company. In addition, companies have access to the DDU's expert risk management advice and publications and training sessions from the DDU's team of liaison managers.
The MDU also has a partnership with James Hallam insurance brokers who can provide corporate members with other insurances tailored to their business needs at discounted rates.
These insurances include a £10m employer's liability policy, £25m public and products liability, personal accident, property damage, computer equipment loss or breakdown and loss of revenue.
For more information on the MDU's corporate indemnity solution, visit www.the-mdu.com/corporate, email corporate@the-mdu.com or telephone 0800 716 376.
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