A practice can never really be fully prepared for unexpected long term leave of one of the key clinical or dental team due to sickness or an accident. Quite often practices also forget how important non-clinical staff are in the smooth running of the surgery as well.
The changes to the NHS contract in 2017 have alleviated some of this worry, with a better reimbursement scheme to cover the costs of a locum in the absence of a GP. However, how do you know if this is sufficient for your practice?
The British Medical Association recommends practices choose a good locum, or key person insurance to cover instances and practitioners not included in the NHS reimbursement scheme, as well as to bridge the gap in the pay out and actual costs.
Why might your practice benefit from opting for insurance for key person absence?
While the NHS contract takes some of the burden off practices if a GP is on long term absence, it does have limited benefits, and insurance can provide additional payments on top of this.
- The NHS scheme does not cover dental surgeries or private practices.
- It is likely that the NHS payments won’t fully cover a full time locum, who could command around £2500 per week, and additional insurance will bridge that gap.
- A practice can choose the deferred period before payments begin, as well as other excesses, to balance needs with cost of the premium.
- Key person insurance is not just for the GPs and dentists. Many policies will also cover nominated non-clinical and dental staff or named ‘key persons’.
Whatever cover you choose to opt for, key person insurance is ideal for medical and dental surgeries who want to manage the risk of spiralling costs and loss in profits. Of course money is not the only concern. During sickness or other long term absence, patient care remains a top priority. Being able to put in place additional clinical or dental staff support quickly is vital to keeping the practice running smoothly, with minimal business disruption.
Locum / key person cover from AllMedPro
This insurance is a tax free benefit to cover the weekly costs of hiring a locum. It is different to permanent health insurance, which usually covers a practitioner’s own costs rather than any losses the practice incurs. The claim can go towards hiring an external person or locum to cover the duties of the absentee, or can pay other staff members who are not already full time to fill in for their role.
Our policy can be quite flexible. The deferred period before the payments kick in can start from zero for an accident and fourteen days for sickness. The policy will typically cover an individual for 52 weeks after this time, although shorter and longer periods are available.
Our policy is not age related and the premium only takes into account the excess period, benefit amount and claims history of the named person.
Find out more
To find out more about locum and key person insurance, or to get a quote, speak to one of the All Med Pro team today.