The British Association of Prosthetists and Orthotists

Insurance

Who is covered?

BAPO provides members with insurance cover as a benefit of membership.

This cover is standard for Full Members, Member Graduates, Technician Associate Members and Assistant Associate Members. The cover is extended to Non-practicing Members and Retired Members for work carried out when they were Full Members.  This is known as ‘run-off’ insurance.

The cover is only for work carried out in the UK.

Types of cover

The cover consists of two separate policies: Public and Product Liability, and Medical Malpractice, sometimes incorrectly referred to as Professional Indemnity.

Public and Product Liability

Indemnity against all sums which the insured becomes legally liable to pay in damages for any third-party bodily injury and/or property damage caused through the ordinary course of business or products supplied.

BAPO Members Policy Limit of Indemnity £10M, no excess.

Medical Malpractice

Indemnity against all sums in respect of any legal liability incurred by the insured in the course of professional services resulting in a breach of professional duty consequent upon any neglect, error or omission causing injury.

BAPO Members Policy Limit of Indemnity £10M, no excess.

Private Practice Supplement

We offer an extension of the policy for members wishing to have protection for their private work. For this additional cover members pay £600 per year; for the same level of policy, you would be looking at an individual premium of £1200-£1500.  Many of our members who under take private work form a Public Limited Company for fiscal purposes to undertake this work.  In this instance, they are still covered under the BAPO member policies, if they chose to pay the extra supplement for Private Cover, so long as they are a sole trader for the PLC and do not employ another clinician.

Insurance companies also advise that professional individuals maintain insurance cover for possible claims made after you stop practicing and the standard practice is to hold this cover for 5 years after you stop seeing patients, this period is longer if your patient is a child.

BAPO insurance and scope of practice

BAPO insurance covers members for the activities they carry out at all levels of professional practice. This includes prosthetists and orthotists who are practising at an enhanced, advanced or consultant level of practice.

For any member, the main thing that you need to remember is that if a claim is made against you will need to be seen to have been working within your competence and not carrying out procedures that you are trained for.

Prosthetists and orthotists and professional indemnity

Prosthetists and orthotists registered with the HCPC are required as a condition of registration to have in place a professional indemnity arrangement when they practise. When registering or renewing registration they are required to make a declaration that they have, or will have, an arrangement in place which provides an appropriate level of cover – https://www.hcpc-uk.org/registration/your-registration/legal-guidelines/professional-indemnity/ 

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

We have put together the following case examples to help with some enquiries about what is considered as private work for the BAPO private insurance supplement requirement. The following information applies to all Full Members and Associate Members.

  • For Retired Members and Non-Practising Members the BAPO Member’s Insurance only covers for treatments carried out when you had Full Member status. If you are employed and paid by the NHS and only see NHS patients then you are covered for any claims made against you by the BAPO members insurance policies and do not need to purchase the insurance supplement.
  • If you are employed and paid by the NHS but also see Private patients who attend your hospital but you do not receive any extra payment for these patients then you are covered for any claims made against you by the BAPO member’s insurance policies and you do not need to purchase the insurance supplement.
  • If you are employed and paid by the NHS but also see Private patients who attend your hospital and you receive extra payment for these patients please check with your employer as they should insure you for this work and this will cover for any claims made against you by these patients and you do not need to purchase the insurance supplement if your employer has a Private Insurance policy in place.
  • If you are employed by a company and paid by the same company who provide a service to the NHS and you see these NHS patients then you are covered for any claims made against you by these patients by the BAPO member’s insurance policies and do not need to purchase the insurance supplement.
  • If you are employed and paid by a company who provide a service to the NHS but also see Private patients who attend the hospital where you provide a service but you do not receive any extra payment for these patients then you are covered for any claims made against you by the BAPO members insurance policies and you do not need to purchase the insurance supplement.
  • If you are employed and paid by a company who provide a service to the NHS but also see Private patients who attend the hospital where you provide a service and you receive extra payment for these patients please check with your employer as they should insure you for this work and this will cover for any claims made against you by these patients and you do not need to purchase the insurance supplement.
  • If you are employed by the NHS or a company but see patients in your own time and these patients pay you direct then you will be required to purchase the private insurance supplement if you wish to be covered under the BAPO member’s policies for these additional private patients.  Your normal caseload seen through your employment is covered by BAPO insurance regardless of purchase of private practice supplement.
  • If you provide locum services to the NHS and are paid direct by the NHS who deduct tax and NI then you are covered for any claims made against you by these patients by the BAPO member’s insurance policies and you do not need to purchase the insurance supplement.
  • If you provide locum services to a company who supply a service to the NHS and you invoice the company for your time and you are paid by the company who deduct tax and NI then you are covered for any claims made against you by these patients by the BAPO member’s insurance policies and you do not need to purchase the insurance supplement.
  • If you provide locum services to a company who supply a service to the NHS and you invoice the company for your time and you are paid by the company who do not deduct tax and NI and you complete your own tax returns, then you are not covered for any claims made against you by these patients by the BAPO member’s insurance policies and you will need to purchase the insurance supplement to be covered for all patients.
  • If you see patients at a private sports clinic and these patients pay you direct then you are not covered for any claims made against you by these patients by the standard BAPO member’s insurance policies and you will need to purchase the private practice insurance supplement to be covered.
  • If you are employed at the sports clinic and paid by the clinic please check with your employer as they should insure you for this work and this will cover for any claims made against you by these patients and you do not need to purchase the insurance supplement.
  • If you visit a patient at their home to provide a service and this patient pays you direct for this service then you are not covered for any claims made against you by these patients by the BAPO member’s insurance policies and you will need to purchase the private practice insurance supplement to be covered.
  • If you provide Medico-Legal reports and invoice for these reports then you are not covered for any claims made against you in relation to these reports by the BAPO member’s insurance policies and you will need to purchase the insurance supplement to be covered.
  • If you run your own Private Orthotic/Prosthetics Company and trade as a Ltd company and you are the only clinician employed by this company, you may employ admin or assistant staff, then you will need to purchase the insurance supplement to be covered.
  • If you run your own Private Orthotic/Prosthetics Company and employ more than one clinician, then we suggest you contact an insurance broker/company for advice.

If your query is not answered in the examples above, please contact: bapomembers@russellscanlan.com.

Please note that in all of the above cases you are perfectly entitled to purchase your own private insurance should you require it and do not need to purchase the BAPO supplement.

For all claims made against you, the claim limitations are 5 years from the date of the treatment, however there are cases where this can be extended for example: A patient could suggest that they did not realise at the time of treatment that the treatment was going to cause them a problem until they saw another health professional who disclosed the issue or; when treating minors, which allows 5 years limit after their 18th birthday (or 19thbirthday where learning disability is involved).  You are recommended to have insurance in place to suitably cover these limitations at the time of a claim being raised.