NOTICE BOARD
Ensure you are adequately covered
IN August of this year, new healthcare legislation came into effect giving the GMC powers to check whether doctors have appropriate insurance or indemnity. These changes build on the existing duty set out in Good Medical Practice stipulating that doctors must have adequate cover in place to prevent patients being disadvantaged if they need to make a medical negligence claim about clinical care or treatment. The GMC is now able to check the
insurance/indemnity status of any doctor practising in the UK. Doctors without proof of appropriate insurance or indemnity may be refused a licence to practise or have an existing licence removed. The type and level of insurance or indemnity required depends on where a doctor works, whether they are employed or self-employed and the type of work they do. Now may be a good time to review your MDDUS membership to ensure it reflects your current practice.
MDDUS is a mutual indemnity
organisation and at the heart of mutuality is a commitment among members to contribute an appropriate amount to a common fund held on behalf of all members. Your annual subscription is calculated according to the associated risks undertaken in your particular practice of medicine. We carry out checks of gross private practice earnings from time to time to ensure that members are complying. Your renewal notice will show the level
of earnings upon which your subscription has been based and it is your responsibility to ensure that this is sufficient to cover expected earnings for the year to come. Members whose subscriptions are based on the number of sessions worked per week, such as GPs, must ensure adequate indemnity is in place to cover all clinical commitments, including work outside standard NHS sessions, such as private GP work, out-of-hours sessions, treatment at sporting events for players and athletes,
● NEW MDDUS RISK VIDEOS Two new video presentations are now available for members to watch online. The first covers the risks involved in engaging with social media as an individual doctor and as a practice team.
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and forensic police physician and occupational health work. Should any change be required, inform MDDUS immediately so that a revised subscription for next year can be calculated. If at the end of next year your estimate has proved to be too high or too low you will have an opportunity at that time to adjust it. We would like to be clear that the figure used should be your gross private earnings from the practice of medicine, however delivered. In the event that you have formed a company for accounting or other purposes, the relevant figure is the gross income to that company in relation to your practice of medicine. In our recent experience, there are still a small number of doctors declaring their salary from their company as opposed to the gross income. In such circumstances we have discretion to make adjustments retrospectively to ensure adequate and appropriate indemnity is in place. If you have any questions please
telephone our Membership Department on 0845 270 2038.
• the common reasons patients complain
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the requirements in relation to handling complaints professional guidance on acting on patient concerns
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how you can review your own practice processes, roles and responsibilities in relation to complaints
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how you might investigate and respond effectively
strategies to minimise complaints in dental practice.
Members can login using their surname and MDDUS membership number. Access on the Interactive modules page of the eLearning section in Risk Management at
mddus.com
Audit reminder for Scottish dentists
A NUMBER of key clinical audit deadlines are approaching for primary care dentists in Scotland. A reminder has been sent out by NHS Education for Scotland (NES) to practitioners across the country highlighting the end of the three-year audit cycle on July 31, 2016. Those who were already on the dental
list on August 1, 2013 must undertake 15 hours of approved and certified clinical audit activity within the cycle. This includes vocational dental practitioners who started VT on August 1, 2013 and became associates in August 2014. New audit applications must be
Dental complaints handling – interactive module MDDUS members can now enhance their knowledge of dental complaints handling with a new interactive module from our Risk Management team. Aimed at dentists and practice managers, the module is CPD-verified and offers a wide range of information and advice on best practice in complaints handling. The module takes around 45 minutes to complete and covers a range of topics including:
The second summarises the main principles which apply to all aspects of medico-legal cases, including negligence claims, complaints, GMC investigations and inquiries into death. Access them from the eLearning page in
submitted to NES by December 18, 2015 “at the very latest” to allow them to issue approval by the end of January. All projects must be completed within six months of the approval date. NES has made improvements to the clinical audit area of their website and enhanced the dental audit section of their Portal site to help dentists with the audit process. There are now step-by-step instructions
to assist those planning an audit project, undertaking a pre-approved audit or submitting a significant event analysis (SEA) report, plus information on peer
the Risk Management section at
mddus.com. Use your surname and membership number to login. ● RISK FACTOR VIDEO: NHS ENGLAND PERFORMERS LIST Risk adviser Alan Frame is joined by MDDUS solicitor
Susan Trigg to discuss the scope, remit and impact of NHS England investigations under the Performers List Regulations 2013, focusing on complaints about practitioners and other common medico-legal risk areas. Access
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