GPs and other medical professionals are exposed to very particular legal insurance risks that arise from the intensively pressured environment they work in. State-backed liability insurance provides protection against actions for civil damages that are brought against practitioners working in the NHS. Medical defence unions may provide assistance to members to defend allegations of professional misconduct on a discretionary basis and surgery medical malpractice policies respond where a patient has suffered harm. However, these arrangements will not respond to particular sets of circumstances - and this is where Fitness to Practise Insurance comes in.
We are delighted to have partnered with Arag PLC and have designed a comprehensive, specialist product that goes beyond "fitness to practise". Our Fitness to Practise insurance policy is available to buy online in a matter of minutes through ourselves - a specialist broker in the market - to individuals or groups of individuals within a practice setting, or to NHS or private medical practices.
Get a QuoteOur Fitness to Practise policies includes a medico/dentolegal helpline, consumer legal advice helpline and additional helplines such as counselling assistance and crisis communication. The policy offers £100,000 limit of indemnity to cover regulatory investigations, fitness to practise and professional disciplinary hearings and appeals/loss of registration.
From 1 April 2019, NHS Resolution began operating a new state indemnity scheme for general practice in England called the Clinical Negligence Scheme for General Practice (CNSGP). The scheme covers clinical negligence liabilities arising in general practice in relation to incidents that occurred on or after 1 April 2019. CNSGP provides a fully comprehensive indemnity for all claims within its scope. However, under the scheme certain cases aren't covered, which is where Fitness to Practise insurance comes in.
Fitness to Practise cover is different to Commercial Legal Protection in that it's specific to Fitness to Practise and offers no other legal expenses or advice.
We offer three types of Fitness to Practise Policies - Bronze, Silver & Gold, which offer varying levels of cover and enable you to choose the policy that suits your needs best. Below you can find details of each:
Fitness to Practise in simple terms is the ability of a doctor or other healthcare practitioner to practise safely and independently without the need for intervention by the regulator. It encompasses competence, probity, diligence, the ability to work within their own limitations, safe clinical and/or managerial practice, according to the role the practitioner is undertaking or the stage of training they have reached. It includes being able to get on with patients and colleagues, to work collaboratively in the best interests of patients and the organisation, being in good enough health to be able to perform the role (even if the doctor lives with a disability). A doctor must be able to make good decisions, keep good records, and remain up to date in their sphere of practice.
Where a doctor compromises their position, or patient safety, or otherwise undermines the profession or their employer by acting or omitting to act in a particular way, the GMC may determine to take action against the doctor. This might be by way of providing guidance, issuing a warning, imposing undertakings, or referring a case to a fitness to practise hearing. If a doctor’s fitness to practise is found to be impaired, they can be restricted by way of conditions of registration, be suspended, or be struck off (also known as erasure from the register). The GMC/MPTS Indicative Sanctions Guidance also provides an analysis of the types of cases where fitness to practise is likely to be impaired. For further information and regarding the meaning of fitness to practise, we recommend to visit Doctors Defence Service where this description originates from.