From 1st October 2017, there were significant changes in the insurance scheme for members of the Society of Radiographers (SOR). Up to that date, all members enjoyed the benefit of medical malpractice insurance within the cost of their membership fee, which included all types of ultrasound activity and most importantly, obstetric scans.

The insurance was arranged in the commercial market but was originally set up when members all worked in NHS type settings and had the benefit of cover by the NHS, so the member scheme was always there as a “secondary” level of insurance.  As times changed and more sonographers moved into the private sector, the member insurance scheme saw more and larger claims being made, which led to the changes from October 2017.

The SOR then announced that the medical malpractice insurance scheme would only apply to those members working under a contract of employment which created a vicarious liability on their employer.  The employer should have its own medical malpractice insurance (e.g. CNST or a company policy) and thus the SOR member insurance scheme would be a “secondary” insurance once again.

This forced sonographers in the private sector and those working on self-employed contracts with the NHS or as locums, to look for medical malpractice insurance in the commercial world.  Since then, we have helped many individuals and companies to find the right insurance for them, including medical malpractice and public liability, plus cover for their contents, equipment and loss of income.

But the most frequently asked question revolves around “What is a Claims Made policy?”

If you need to make a claim on your car or home insurance, the insurer on cover at the time the accident or loss occurred deals with the claim – easy to decide and straight forward.  Medical malpractice claims are different as it can be many years before a patient realises that their treatment has gone wrong, so for this type of insurance, policies have always been arranged on a “claims made” basis.  This means that it is the insurer that is on cover at the time a claim is made or notified to you and the insurer that deals with the loss, even if the scan was carried out many years ago.

This creates several important issues for sonographers:

  • Many SOR members do not realise that the previous member scheme was arranged the same way, so whilst they may have been insured under the scheme for many years, it will NOT deal with any claims notified to them in the future.
  • When arranging insurance with a new company or renewing your policy it is VITAL to make sure that any incident that has occurred or any actual complaint made by a patient MUST be notified to your CURRENT insurer AND declared to the insurer you are moving to. This applies even if you do not feel responsible for the incident.  If you do not and an actual claim does arise, it is possible that your previous insurer will not deal with the claim because they are no longer “on cover” and your new insurer may not deal with the claim as you did not disclose the incident when you were aware of it.
  • Ceasing work or retiring also has an impact as when doing so it is important to keep a medical malpractice policy in place – usually called “run-off” cover. Again, because it is a “claims made” policy, cancelling the policy when retiring or stopping work would mean that there is no insurance in place for claims notified in the future, even though the scan took place when insurance was in force. The question of how long to keep this “run-off” cover in place is a difficult one.  The Statute of Limitations allows a person to make a claim up to three years from the date of becoming aware of the harm being caused, so it would be wise for most sonographers to keep malpractice in place for at least three years after stopping work or retiring.  This is made more complicated for the obstetrics sector as children have three years from their eighteenth birthday to make a claim.  So for a sonographer carrying out obstetric scans, it could be argued that insurance should be kept in place for 21 years from the date the last scan was carried out – a very sobering thought!

 

For help and guidance in arranging all types of insurance for sonographers, including medical malpractice, please call us on the number above or submit your details below.