locum insurance

Locum insurance from Practice Cover...

Our friendly, personalised service will guide you to a fully-informed decision - with no pressure and no hard-sell.  

We have designed our locum insurance with you in mind, whether you are buying just for yourself or for your practice.

Unique locum insurance package:

• choice of annually renewable or permanent cover
• no need to provide locum invoices
• choice of deferment period and benefit period
• flexible cover
• no claims discount

Available for GPs, dentists, veterinary surgeons, opticians and allied health professionals.

For a 'no obligation' quote, call us now on 023 8051 3286 or 0800 028 5633. 

Overheads insurance from Practice Cover ...

If a disabling injury or illness temporarily stopped your practice and your income, how would your business keep going?

If you're responsible for part or all your business overheads, it’s important to have a solution in place.

Our Overheads Insurance can cover overheads of up to £3,000 a week. Your business can keep going, even when you are unable to.

• Helps cover ongoing office expenses if your total disability stops you earning fees
• Cover can be tailored to your specific needs.

Don't let your total disability disrupt the practice you've worked so hard to build. Your employees and your clients depend on you.

You can cover the cost of rent, council tax, utility bills, equipment finance, wages and other routine overheads which will continue irrespective of whether you can work.

Available for fee-earning business owners such as dentists, veterinary surgeons, opticians, accountants, solicitors, architects. 

Why do you need locum insurance?

GPs

We have put together some case studies to show how locum insurance could work for your practice.  They're hypothetical and we know that no two practices have identical requirements but they give some examples to get you thinking.  Whatever your practice's requirements may be, we are bound to be able to help.  Call 0800 028 5633 or get a quote. 

GP partners - locum insurance can protect partnership profits if you or one of the other partners can't work due to illness or accident. With our locum insurance you don't have to bring in a locum.  Many practices prefer to cover some or all of the absent partner's sessions in-house and with our locum insurance, it's up to you how you allocate the money.

Salaried GPs - your contract will probably say that you are responsible for funding a locum in case of absence through illness or accident. Our locum insurance can meet the locum costs that are your responsibility.

The Statement of Financial Entitlements details the potential allowances paid by PCTs. In reality, funding constraints mean that many PCTs are unable to make any payment at all. The BMA General Practitioners Committee's Guidance for GPs dated June 2004 (revised February 2009) states:

'... practices should consider purchasing insurance for locum cover during sickness absence to cover all of their salaried GPs (and possibly other staff as well). This would ensure that a practice would not be out of pocket in the event that a salaried GP had to take sick leave.'

This means that, for most practices, locum insurance can be considered an essential.

Dentists

Dentists who have spent years building up a practice, never having a day off sick and building a loyal following can easily overlook the need for locum insurance. The need often becomes apparent when it's all too late.  Our case studies show the benefits of putting cover in place to safeguard your years of hard work. 

Dentists with a UDA commitment need to consider the cost of locums. NHS practices should expect to pay a minimum of £350 a day to cover a typical contract of around 30 UDAs per day, plus 'per UDA' payments for additional UDAs, with locums for private practices frequently charging in excess of £400 a day, depending on the location.

In both NHS and private practice, your locum insurance needs can be met and patient care can continue unaffected while practitioners are incapacitated through illness or accident.

Vets

No-one wants to turn patients away. Locum insurance can fund the cost of a locum veterinary surgeon or veterinary nurse to cover when the owner or a member of staff is ill or has an accident and can't work. As our case studies demonstrate, locum insurance tides the practice over at an otherwise difficult time.

Opticians

With increasing competition it's important to be available to your patients and prolonged absence due to illness or accident can place increased workloads on remaining practitioners, resulting in appointments having to be cancelled. As our case studies show, your locum insurance can fund a replacement, taking away the financial strain at a difficult time.

Allied Health Professionals

If you run your own practice you can choose to buy locum insurance just for yourself or you can insure your staff and any self-employed practitioners as well. Attractive group discounts mean that it is often advantageous for practitioners to band together.

Why do you need overheads insurance?

A business or practice which relies on a small number of highly trained individuals - or even just one person - to produce revenue is economically vulnerable if one of those people is unable to work.

Overheads Insurance (otherwise known as practice or business expenses insurance) can ensure that your operating expenses will be covered, so you do not have to use your personal assets to meet business expenses if you fall ill or have an accident and can't work.

Overheads Insurance can cover the cost of rent, council tax, utility bills, equipment finance, wages and other routine practice overheads which will continue irrespective of your state of health.

You can choose a waiting (deferment) period of as little as 2 weeks, up to 6 months; the longer the waiting period, the lower the premium.

Are you a locum?  If so, we can insure your earnings.

As a self-employed person you're vulnerable if you can't work. Whether you're working as a locum temporarily or as a longer-term career choice your income, and therefore your lifestyle, would be jeopardised by your ill-health.

This means that insurance against illness and accident is a vital part of your financial planning.

With Personal Accident and Illness insurance, from Practice Cover, you can insure up to 75% of your gross locum earnings. This means that if you are unable to work due to illness or accident, you will be paid 75% of your earnings for up to 2 years, or until you return to work, if sooner.

What a difference that could make to your life if you couldn't work!

When you take out the insurance you will be asked to select a deferment period, which can be as little as 7 days. This is the period during which no policy benefits would be paid so, if you chose a 7 day deferment period and you were ill and unable to work for only 5 days, the policy would not pay out. Selecting a longer deferment period reduces the cost of your cover.

Decide on the weekly benefit you need and call Practice Cover on 023 8051 3286 or 0800 028 5633 for a quote.

With a simple proposal form and no onerous formalities, you can start your cover today. It really is this simple.