If one or more key members of staff is on sick leave or unable to work, your practice still has a number of financial commitments to make. Business (or Practice) Overheads insurance can support you through these periods – have you considered the worst-case scenarios?
Staff absence affects your practice more than you think
Of course, your first priority when a key team member is unable to work is to help them get back into a position to return and continue their duties. Absence could be through sickness, mental health needs, accident or perhaps even jury service or suspension, for example.
All these scenarios are unavoidable but can have a serious impact on your practice. While you might consider how you can make sure the health of your staff is covered, for example through private medical insurance, have you considered how you can protect your practice?
What are your business overheads?
It can be costly when a key staff member, such as a fee earning doctor or dentist, is absent. As a practice owner or manager, you have to juggle the financial implications of your ongoing overheads.
These might include:
- Staff salaries
- Ongoing mortgage/rent costs
- Ongoing business loans/lease agreements
- Hiring a locum
- Ongoing commitments to NHS contract
Let’s look at some numbers
Taking a look at GP surgeries, they will hold a ‘General Medical Services’ contract with the NHS.
As an example, income from this might be made up of two thirds based on number of patients registered and one third on meeting clinical and administrative targets. A rough average cost paid to a surgery by the NHS for a consultation at a GP surgery (appointment with a doctor or nurse) is about £25. Around 70% of income is spent on the costs to run a practice, with employee costs usually accounting for the highest proportion of this.
Dental practices, as you likely know, will have a similar NHS contract that works on units of dental activity (UDA).
Where budgets are tight, losing income from reducing patient consultation hours, or having significantly higher costs from hiring a locum to cover appointments, can have a big effect on the bottom line.
A typical healthcare practice with five employees might have an average of 10.9 days of absence per person per year, which could cost around £4,555. That’s quite a chunk of money.
It’s not just about money
Financial strains can have an effect on the people trying to manage a practice’s budget. Mental health illness is a big factor which can be brought on by stress and pressure. This in turn will likely mean more sick days or even people exiting the practice and the NHS altogether in some cases. This just exacerbates the problem further, to the point where your practice might struggle to return to normal operational circumstances.
Practice Overheads insurance can ease the strain
Practice Overheads cover can help with some of the costs listed above. All Med Pro insurance is different to other cover, in that premiums are not based on age. As staff get older, premiums do not increase. The cost is calculated on the deferred period (excess period of time before you can claim), the benefit amount and any claims history of those insured.
Temporary total disablement is included as standard, but you can also choose additional options such as, temporary partial disablement, permanent total disablement and accidental death cover.
For anyone looking for information regarding Dental Nurse Indemnity Insurance – please head over to the link provided