Why is insurance such an important part of what is being offered?
The Insurance that has been arranged by The Pharmacy Insurance Agency on behalf of PDA members is essential to the service provided by the PDA. It provides huge financial capacity to enable the PDA to defend your reputation which goes way beyond any membership premiums paid. The Legal Defence Costs insurance can provide up to £500,000 worth of legal representation per member per incident and the Professional Indemnity insurance can provide up to £10 million worth of protection to help defend and ultimately settle any claims for compensation per member per incident.
Why should I need my own Professional Indemnity cover if I am an employee or a locum working in an NPA member’s pharmacy, a pharmacy multiple, or a pharmacy that has made its own independent Professional Indemnity arrangements?
Many employee pharmacists and locums working in NPA member pharmacies are led to believe that they do not need their own insurance because they are covered by their employer’s insurer.
This is an over simplification, because if the employer’s association or insurance provider is in control of the situation in the event of a serious problem. This potentially puts the employee and locum pharmacists at a disadvantage should they wish to defend their own reputation.
The NPA clearly articulated this dilemma when it stated;
“Where a conflict arises [between the employer and employee/locum] the Association’s ‘allegiance’ must lie primarily with the member – the owner of the business.”
Increasingly, pharmacies in the UK make their own alternative Indemnity arrangements and this puts pharmacists in a potentially problematic situation as the following considerations emerge.
- Has the employer taken out a valid policy – or are they mistakenly relying on some other form of insurance such as employers liability or public liability insurance ; which are not the same as Professional Indemnity Insurance
- Might the indemnity insurance that an owner has put in place have recently expired and mistakenly not been renewed by the business owner. (This eventuality has been seen on numerous occasions in episodes of defence being handled by the PDA)
- Some pharmacy multiples have their own ‘in house’ indemnity arrangements which mean that the first portion of any compensation to be paid (usually the first say £100,000) is paid out by them as opposed to by their independent insurers in the event of an error. Some pharmacists may be concerned about such arrangements.
- Can a pharmacist rely upon the verbal confirmation from their employer that they have valid insurance in place, when the pharmacist comes to make their annual Indemnity declaration to the GPhC or PSNI?
For all these reasons, pharmacists are finding that the most reliable way of being able to be certain about their indemnity arrangements is to maintain their own indemnity arrangements.,
How do I know if I have the right Insurance cover for my role?
Different pharmacy roles carry differing levels of risk and therefore attract lower or higher premiums. it is important that pharmacists select the correct level of cover for the work that they are undertaking so as to ensure that all of their activities are covered. The various pharmacist roles are set out in the joining pages and by studying these it will be possible for pharmacists to select the level of cover that is most appropriate to their activity. It is also important to note that if a pharmacists role changes then they should notify The Pharmacy Insurance Agency to check that they still have the appropriate cover. Typically in these role change situations, the premiums for indemnity may increase or a part refund is made.
What is the difference between The PDA and The Pharmacy Insurance Agency (PIA) ?
The PDA is a defence association and a trade union whose benefits are provided to members by dint of their membership fees. The PIA is an insurance intermediary which is regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (Register No. 307063) and it arranges the specialist insurance schemes on behalf of PDA members with underwriters at Lloyd’s . The PIA also administers the insurance and issues all of the necessary insurance certification.