Dental Protection has introduced a new product, Company Protection, which allows incorporated companies to request assistance in the event they are alleged to be vicariously liable for the acts or omissions of a clinician working for the corporate and/or where the corporate is found to owe a non-delegable duty of care for the patients treated on its premises.
This product sits separately and in addition to any individual practice principal membership with Dental Protection. In 2021, the defence organisation confirmed that it had extended the member benefits for practice principals with three or fewer un-incorporated practices to include additional protection against vicarious liability and/or non-delegable duty of care claims relating to treatment provided by dental practitioners and dental care professionals. Individual membership does not however extend to include assistance for an incorporated business, which requires its own protection.
Any incorporated dental company with employees and a gross annual turnover of less than £1.7m can apply for Company Protection. Subscriptions are based on the individual circumstances of the company; for example, the number of dentists and dental care professionals working within the company, the number of Dental Protection members, and the period of retroactive protection required.
Company Protection benefits include redirection and defence of vicarious liability and non-delegable duty of care claims. If these claims cannot be redirected or defended, Company Protection also will pay compensatory damages. Company Protection includes a claims indemnity limit of £1m for each claim and in the aggregate, and up to 10 years retroactive protection. The product also includes access to expert dentolegal and media advice and support.
Yvonne Shaw, Deputy Dental Director at Dental Protection, said: “With recent legal challenges relating to claims arising from alleged vicarious liability and non-delegable duty of care, dental companies may now find themselves at greater risk of being the subject of a claim relating to the actions of employees or contractors. Many practice owners may not have considered that an incorporated practice is at risk of being the subject of a claim in its own right.
“Our new product Company Protection is a membership for the entity itself that allows directors/corporate officers to request assistance should a legal challenge be brought against the company/entity. This will offer some peace of mind for incorporated companies, providing the unrivalled defence, advice and support you can rely on from Dental Protection.”
Practices that are non-incorporated should visit Dental Protection’s Vicarious Liability hub for guidance on separate support with claims relating to vicarious liability or non-delegable duty of care. Those with a mixture of incorporated and non-incorporated practices, can view our FAQs. For companies with turnover >£1.7M please see: Healthcare Protection
For further information, or to join, visit: Company Protection (dentalprotection.org)
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Notes to the Editor
- Non-delegable duty of care claims focus on the practice owner’s relationship with the patient and whether the patient’s safety remains the responsibility of the practice even though the treatment has been delegated to another.
- Vicarious liability claims focus on the relationship between the practice owner and the clinicians who are often self-employed, to ascertain whether the relationships could be considered by the Court to be “akin to employment”.
For further information contact: [email protected]
About Dental Protection
Dental Protection is a registered trademark and a trading name of The Medical Protection Society Limited (“MPS”). MPS is the world’s leading protection organisation for doctors, dentists and healthcare professionals. We protect and support the professional interests of more than 300,000 members around the world. Membership provides access to expert advice and support and can also provide, depending on the type of membership required, the right to request indemnity for any complaints or claims arising from professional practice.
Our in-house experts assist with the wide range of legal and ethical problems that arise from professional practice. This can include clinical negligence claims, complaints, medical and dental council inquiries, legal and ethical dilemmas, disciplinary procedures, inquests and fatal accident inquiries.
Our philosophy is to support safe practice in medicine and dentistry by helping to avert problems in the first place. We do this by promoting risk management through our workshops, E-learning, clinical risk assessments, publications, conferences, lectures and presentations.
MPS is not an insurance company. All the benefits of membership of MPS are discretionary as set out in the Memorandum and Articles of Association.