Choosing the right surgery insurance policy can be the difference between keeping your practice running, and running into trouble. Here’s how to get the best surgery cover for less.
A comprehensive surgery insurance policy can give you vital financial protection when you need it most.
However, the risk involved with running a surgery can lead to high premiums, so it’s important to compare quotes to ensure your policy is affordable whilst giving you the protection you need.
If you compare surgery insurance quotes by the level of cover offered on the policy, you can be certain that the cheapest quote won’t leave you short.
What cover is available?
Whether you’re looking for dentist surgery insurance, doctor surgery insurance or vet surgery insurance you need to make sure that you take out cover with an insurer that can accommodate the specialist nature of your surgery.
Most surgery insurers will tailor your surgery insurance to your exact requirements during the quote process rather than selling you an ‘off the shelf’ policy. This gives you the opportunity to ensure you get the precise level of that cover you need.
Broadly, things to look for when you take out surgery insurance are:
Professional indemnity insurance
Professional indemnity cover protects you financially for claims against your staff and/or practice based on employee negligence. If procedures are carried out in house, e.g. veterinary clinics or cosmetic surgeries, surgery indemnity cover is likely to be a very important aspect of your practice insurance.
Cover limits can reach up to £5,000,000; you should check whether this is per employee or a joint surgery total, if legal fees are included, and if your staff are eligible (i.e. do they need a certain number of years’ experience?).
Public liability insurance
Claims raised against your surgery by patients and members of the public are covered by public liability insurance. This protects you financially if, for example, a patient is injured as a result of your surgery breaching health and safety regulations. Many surgery public liability insurance policies offer cover that tops £10,000,000, make sure this is sufficient for your requirements but don't pay for a policy that over-covers you.
Employers practice liability insurance
Employers liability surgery insurance will pay out if a member of staff claims against your surgery for reasons including illness or injury, discrimination and unfair dismissal. The maximum cover available can run into the millions of pounds.
Commercial property insurance
Commercial property insurance provides building and, often, contents cover for your surgery, and is designed to pay out if items are lost, damaged or stolen, or if the building itself is vandalised or damaged. The level of cover you need will depend on the value of your surgery and the specialist equipment and contents inside, as well as its location and the security of the local area.
Locum insurance
Locum insurance covers the costs of hiring temporary ‘locum’ staff to cover an employee’s absence. Things to check include how soon it will start paying out, the maximum cover available and (if applicable) how long the payments can continue.
This might be particularly useful on GP surgery insurance, for instance, if you run a small practice, where covering a staff member’s absence for a prolonged period may overstretch your human and financial resources.
Finding the right policy should be your priority, and comparing cheap business insurance for surgeries will only be worthwhile if you review policies that meet your needs. A cheap surgery insurance comparison can then help you identify the cheapest quotes for the best policies, available from the best surgery insurance UK providers.
