Doctors are practising in an increasingly hostile, pressured and uncertain healthcare environment.
MPS’s Dr Graham Howarth (Head of Medical Services – Africa), Dr Stephanie Bown (Director of Policy and Communications) and Sarah Whitehouse (Senior Writer and Editor) explore the mounting challenges facing doctors in the South Africa Medical Journal (Vol 103, No 7). They go on to outline the steps doctors can take to ensure they have comprehensive protection in place should anything go wrong, such as:
- Having indemnity that is robust enough to accommodate the escalating costs of clinical negligence claims and flexible enough to adjust to new and unusual demands
- Ensuring adequate arrangements are in place to protect against the acts and omissions of employed staff (ie, their vicarious liability)
- Purchasing public liability insurance (if they are the owner of a healthcare establishment) to protect against claims for ‘slips and falls’ on the premises.
Further information can be found in the July 2013 edition of SAMJ >>