A GP federation including 16 practices has negotiated a block indemnity deal with one of the medical defence organisations.
One Wight Health Limited, which covers the Isle of Wight, said that as many GPs had already been members with the Medical Protection Society, it had ’seemed like a natural extension of that to work across the island in a joined up way’.
The deal comes as Pulse has previously rerported on private insurers cutting deals with three GP groups amid rapidly rising costs of medical indemnity.
Asked whether the block deal would provide the One Wight Health with savings on indemnity, MPS head of medical services Dr Rob Hendry said: ’The specific terms of this agreement are commercially sensitive but in order to help manage risk effectively and to create compelling arrangements we encourage federations with MPS to work towards 100% membership.
‘This enables us to better support them as they grow and undertake new services, as well as improve their ability to manage the risk they face through high quality, at scale education.’
He added that MPS now has ‘a long term agreement to support the development of new services on the island’.
One Wight Health, which is one of NHS England’s new care model ’vanguards’, includes 130 GPs in total, but also provides some hospital, community and mental health services.
Development manager Jo Seward said the deal would mean GPs and staff could ’quickly access indemnity advice to underpin proposals for changes as we implement an island-wide transformation programme across health and care services’.
Last year insurance broker Lockton said a GP federation, formed of 15 practices, had signed a deal that would save GPs an estimated 75% compared with their previous combined indemnity costs, while two out-of-hours groups had also signed deals with profit-making companies.
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