Surgery Insurance for Medical Centres
The term doctors surgery insurance is used to describe a form of commercial insurance policy that covers a business that operates as any of the following; doctor, dentist, vet, and physiotherapist. To this list you can add other trade’s such as opticians, chiropractor, and chiropodist although the term surgery is usually applied to a business that is carrying out some kind of procedure. The policy will cover all the usual risks that you would associate with an “office type” business and can also include the surgery equipment, medicines, stock, liabilities, business interruption as well as the building if required. There are a range of optional extras such as cover for items taken away from the surgery premises. The main types of medical practice we can insure are as follows:
This form of contract cannot usually be extended to cover “medical malpractice” or professional indemnity insurance, any form of insurance to cover “treatment risks” is not normally available under a surgery insurance policy and must be covered under a separate specialist insurance policy wording.
In recent years, many surgery proprietors have purchased the premises in which the business is located as commercial property can fit quite nicely in to some SIPP arrangements; this has allowed the surgery proprietor more control over the arrangement of the building insurance which, depending on area, can be more expensive than the actual contents insurance section of the policy.
Buildings
Under the buildings section, all the usual perils should be included and to obtain a quotation you will need to provide details of the construction of the property as well details of any previous claim. A sum insured for rebuilding will also have to be provided and this can sometimes prove quite tricky to obtain with commercial buildings. A professional opinion should always be sought with regard to providing a valuation for insurance purposes in respect of your surgery. If you rent the surgery building from a landlord, they will usually arrange the building insurance for you and charge you accordingly. However, there may be some items that you feel should be insured under the building that the landlord will expect you to cover. This usually relates to glass in the premises and any signs attached to the building that you have erected. Most surgery contents insurance policies will be able to cover you for these items, often in a separate section of the policy. If a fixed sum insured is offered by the insurer, you will need to check that this is adequate for your needs.
Contents
The contents section of the policy will cover you for all the surgeries general contents such as tables, chairs, desks, filing cabinets etc but will also include equipment, stock & medicines. Often equipment is hired or loaned to a business and this may also need to be insured whilst in your custody or control. You will need to obtain a accurate sum insured for all such equipment, to ensure that it is insured correctly. You may find that a single sum insured is provided for all the surgery contents, or some insurance companies may wish you to split it in to various sections. You will need to be able to provide replacement costs for all items in your surgery. It is also usually possible to obtain “All Risks “Insurance for items that are used away from the premises. A separate sum insured will be needed for this and there may be restrictions on cover, especially for items that are left in unattended vehicles.
Business interruption
The Business interruption section of the policy will help protect the policyholder from a loss of revenue in the event of a serious loss occurring at the premises, such as a fire or a flood. Because of the nature of this type of business, a form of Business Interruption cover called” Increased cost of working expenses, may be more pertinent. Many surgeries find that following a loss that renders the premises unusable, they are able to temporarily relocate to new premises, whilst the restoration work is carried out.
Public Liability
The Public Liability section of the policy will provide an indemnity to cover accidents or injuries to persons occurring whilst on the surgery premises, as stated above, this cover does not provide any “treatment risk“ cover and, if required this should be arranged under a separate policy.
Employer’s liability
Employer’s liability will help you meet the requirements of the employer’s liability protection act, which states that you must insurer against possible claims from employees. The insurance company will provide a certificate of insurance and this should be displayed at the premises, where it can be seen by all employees. There will be other sections of the policy cover; Money, Personal Assault and often Legal Expenses are fairly typical, these may be included in the core policy wording or you can sometimes elect to have them as optional extras. When applying for your medical surgery insurance quotation, it is of paramount importance that you disclose all material facts to the insurer, failure to do so result in your cover not being fully operative. We look forward to hearing from you if you require.
Call us today on 0208 0033 190 for help or complete our contact form and advise us when you would like us to contact you.