With Practice Xtra, you can turn to Medical Protection should you or a member of your practice face a complaint, claim or investigation. We provide access to expert advice, support and legal representation while our learning resources, risk management and medicolegal advice can help prevent problems occurring in the first place.
Members in England and Wales
In England and Wales you can set up a Practice Xtra scheme if 50% of the GPs in your practice are Medical Protection members. There is a 10% discount available for GP members which is applied to their Professional Protection membership.
All partners in a GP practice, including practice manager partners and nurse partners, should add Claims Protection to their membership if private or fee-paying services are provided by the practice. This is because a clinical negligence claim could be made against the partnership relating to work your team undertakes. Find out more.
Members in Scotland, Northern Ireland, the Channel Islands or the Isle of Man
- Practice Xtra Gold, for practices where 80%+ of GPs are Medical Protection members
- Practice Xtra Silver, for practices where 50%+ of GPs are Medical Protection members
There is a 10% discount available for GPs who are members of Practice Xtra Gold.
Please note, you need to have a minimum of two GPs in your practice whether in the UK, Channel Islands or Isle of Man.
Benefits at a glance
| England or Wales | Scotland, Northern Ireland, the Channel Islands or the Isle of Man | |
|---|---|---|
| Protection | ||
| Discounts on GP subscriptions1 | ✔ | ✔ |
| Free nurse membership (indemnity only)2 | N/A - most indemnity now provided by the state-backed scheme | ✔ |
| Free membership for practice managers3 | ✔ | ✔ |
| Learning and professional development | ||
| Practice Matters magazine | ✔ | ✔ |
| Croner webinars and events | ✔ | ✔ |
| Support for practice managers | ||
| Croner business support advice line | ✔ | ✔ |
1. GP members in England or Wales receive a discount on their Professional Protection membership. GP members in Scotland, Northern Ireland, the Channel Islands or the Isle of Man receive a discount on their membership subscription if they are part of Practice Xtra gold. Find out more about Professional Protection and Claims Protection memberships.
2. Limits to the number of free nurse memberships provided may apply depending on the number of GPs who are Medical Protection members and the level of duties undertaken by each nurse.
3. Enables practice managers to support their Practice Xtra group members including membership administration and to seek advice on behalf of the practice, including patient complaints and employment law advice from our partner, Croner. Practice manager partners should add Claims Protection to their free membership. Find out more.
Renewal
When your Practice Xtra group scheme is due for renewal we send documentation for all members of your group to your practice address.
Please check this carefully and contact us if any details are missing or inaccurate as errors could affect subscriptions and access to benefits.
You can contact Member Services on 0800 952 0441 to add or remove members and discuss how any changes will affect a subscription, such as a change to the number of weekly sessions a GP undertakes.
Support for practice managers
We provide comprehensive HR and business support for practice managers in partnership with Croner. Croner is the UK’s leading provider of workplace information, advice and guidance, to help you with HR and other business matters.
Croner business support advice line
You’re always just a phone call away from free, expert advice on matters including employment, health and safety and more. Qualified experts can give you up-to-date legal information and guidance to help you minimise the risk of disputes, accidents and penalties.
Get support with issues including:
- sickness and absence
- redundancy
- grievances
- holiday pay
- employment law
- PAYE, NIC & payroll
- fire safety
- environmental legislation
- hazard management
- contracts
For more information about how Croner can advise and support you as a practice manager, visit Croner’s Medical Protection web page.
To contact Croner call 01455 639076 and quote your Medical Protection association number. Not sure of the association number? Email us at [email protected] with your Practice Xtra ID and we’ll let you know. You can also find the association number on the Croner leaflet included in your renewal pack, and in our Practice Matters Connect e-newsletters.
Extended liability
The prospect of a claim being made in relation to other healthcare professionals is often a source of concern for partners in a practice.
In any type of work, an employer is usually responsible for meeting the cost of clinical negligence claims brought against their staff. In a GP partnership this means partners may have responsibility for the acts and omissions of the healthcare professionals and staff they employ.
For this reason all partners (GPs, nurses, and practice manager partners) with Medical Protection membership have the right to request indemnity for matters beyond their own clinical practice.
In England and Wales the state-backed indemnity scheme covers all primary care staff for NHS work, this includes the acts or omissions of employed staff. However there may be instances where a member of staff undertakes non-NHS work and a subsequent claim against the partnership is not covered by the scheme. Partners in England and Wales can request our assistance if they have added Claims Protection to their individual membership.
Scope of assistance
It is likely we would assist partners with requests relating to claims of negligence against staff members eg practice nurses, healthcare assistants, phlebotomists, dispensers and administrative staff, if it can be shown they were:
- acting under appropriately
- delegated authority
- adequately trained and supervised
- working to practice protocols
- not making standalone judgements
This means practice nurses (in England and Wales), healthcare assistants, phlebotomists, dispensers and administrative staff do not require individual Medical Protection membership in case of a claim related to non-NHS work. Practice nurses may still wish to have individual Professional Protection membership in case of regulatory, disciplinary or legal issues.
In England and Wales we would not be likely to assist with clinical negligence brought against healthcare professionals who independently treat, diagnose or prescribe patients unless they have added Claims Protection to their individual Professional Protection membership.
Nurse membership
Members in England or Wales
As most clinical negligence liability is now covered by the state-backed scheme, we no longer provide complimentary indemnity-only membership in England and Wales.
However nurses should consider Medical Protection membership alongside their state indemnity if they need protection for legal, disciplinary and regulatory matters or access to indemnity for any non-NHS work they undertake.
This particularly applies to nurses who independently treat, diagnose or prescribe to patients, ie nurse practitioners and advanced nurse practitioners. We would be unlikely to assist with claims relating to the actions or omissions of these nurses unless they have individual membership which includes Claims Protection.
Members in Scotland, Northern Ireland, the Channel Islands or the Isle of Man
As part of your Practice Xtra group membership we provide complimentary indemnity-only membership for practice nurses and nurse practitioners employed in your practice. This will entitle nurses to request assistance from Medical Protection with any claims for clinical negligence that might be made against them.
We have three levels of membership for nurses depending on the tasks they undertake.
- Level 4 basic nursing duties
- Level 5 nurses undertaking any repeat prescribing, triage or management of patients with chronic conditions
- Level 6 nurses undertaking clinical assessment or management of patients with acute or undiagnosed conditions beyond initial triage
The number of free memberships we provide is based on the number of GPs in your practice who are Medical Protection members and the combined number of sessions they deliver. Practices are entitled to two free nurse memberships (level 4 or 5) for every GP who is a Medical Protection member. This can include a maximum of one level 5 nurse for each full time GP or equivalent (FTE = nine sessions). It excludes level 6 nurses.
Please note that the benefits of a complimentary indemnity-only nurse membership do not extend to workplace representation or support with NMC proceedings. Organisations such as the RCN may offer their members support in these circumstances.
Alternatively, nurses included in your practice scheme have the option of upgrading to full Medical Protection associate membership. For more information and a quotation please contact Member Services on 0800 952 0441.
We are unable to offer complimentary indemnity only membership to nurses in your practice working at level 6 due to the additional risk their work involves. They can still pay for individual Medical Protection membership which includes a reduced rate for part-time work.
All partners in a GP practice, including nurse partners and practice manager partners, should add Claims Protection to their membership if private or fee-paying services are provided by the practice. This is because a clinical negligence claim could be made against the partnership relating to work your team undertakes. You can determine the level of Claims Protection you need by reviewing your previous year’s practice accounts and estimating your share of annual income from fee paying services (whether you undertook the activities or not).
When determining the level of Claims Protection you need, you should also include income from any work you personally undertake which is outside the scope of state indemnity, including private work and provision of services outside an NHS contract (unless they are classed as an ancillary service within the scope of state indemnity). If you have any doubts about whether an activity is covered by state indemnity or not, please check with NHS Resolution in England and NHS Wales Shared Services Partnership in Wales.
Your guide to Practice Xtra membership
Your guide to Practice Xtra benefits outlines the support for practice managers, how to manage your membership and contains useful contact information.
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