Professional Indemnity Insurance
Vet Locum Jobs UK
Professional Indemnity Insurance is the type of insurance policy the main purpose of which is to cover you against any legal action a client may bring against you in the course of your work as a veterinary surgeon. Remember we are in the age of litigation now in the UK and the signs are that this culture will only get worse.
The company I used was the Veterinary Defence Society and I had a couple of occasions where I was very glad I had signed up with them. I hasten to add these claims involved employees of mine rather than me personally, but it could just have easily have been me, that’s for sure.
As a locum one of the first things you should ask a prospective employer is ” does the practice have indemnity cover? ” if the answer comes back as a yes then that most likely covers you as a locum as well. But beware because …
1. Vet practice principals are only human, some are great at doing admin and few may be awful, perhaps for some reason or another the indemnity insurance fees have been forgotten or not been paid. It is also down to the practice to phone the insurance company and advise them of the locum being employed for whatever period for your insurance cover to be activated.
2. I have read elsewhere that there is a possibility that if the claim of negligence is brought against the locum after the contract period has ended then the locum is no longer in the service of the practice and no longer insured.
3. Some insurance companies are better than others, some might look for loopholes to avoid paying out on a prospective claim.
My own view is that it is better to be safe than sorry. If you are going to work in the UK for any period of time and perhaps work in quite a few jobs in that time then it would be sensible to arrange your own personal professional indemnity insurance policy. Given you potential earnings the cost is not that great and if anything goes wrong you will have peace of mind.
Tip: Always ensure you have indemnity insurance cover.
admin @ May 19, 2008