The prospect of a claim being made in relation to other healthcare professionals is often a source of concern for partners in a practice.
In any type of work, an employer is usually responsible for meeting the cost of clinical negligence claims brought against their staff. In a GP partnership this means partners may have responsibility for the acts and omissions of the healthcare professionals and staff they employ.
For this reason all partners (GPs, nurses, and practice manager partners) with Medical Protection membership have the right to request indemnity for matters beyond their own clinical practice.
In England and Wales the state-backed indemnity scheme covers all primary care staff for NHS work, this includes the acts or omissions of employed staff. However there may be instances where a member of staff undertakes non-NHS work and a subsequent claim against the partnership is not covered by the scheme. Partners in England and Wales can request our assistance if they have added Claims Protection to their individual membership.
Scope of assistance
It is likely we would assist partners with requests relating to claims of negligence against staff members eg practice nurses, healthcare assistants, phlebotomists, dispensers and administrative staff, if it can be shown they were:
- acting under appropriately
- delegated authority
- adequately trained and supervised
- working to practice protocols
- not making standalone judgements
This means practice nurses (in England and Wales), healthcare assistants, phlebotomists, dispensers and administrative staff do not require individual Medical Protection membership in case of a claim related to non-NHS work. Practice nurses may still wish to have individual Professional Protection membership in case of regulatory, disciplinary or legal issues.
In England and Wales we would not be likely to assist with clinical negligence brought against healthcare professionals who independently treat, diagnose or prescribe patients unless they have added Claims Protection to their individual Professional Protection membership.