Choose GP ‘Run Off’ Type Box

The purpose of ‘Run Off’ insurance

It provides professional indemnity cover for pharmacists who had worked as a GP Practice based pharmacist, related to claims from services provided after the original retro-active date described on their original GP practice-based insurance certificate but prior to April 1^st, 2019.

Such claims may emerge some considerable time after the service was provided and these claims are excluded by the Clinical Negligence Scheme for General Practice (CNSGP) which operates in England and Wales and which commenced on April 1^st, 2019.

The basis of the insurance provided

Two ‘Run Off’ schemes have been made available to PDA members.

1. Traditional ‘Run Off’

The Traditional ‘Run Off’ insurance scheme provides £5 or £10 million of cover to each pharmacist for each year for these historical liabilities. Because the ‘Run Off’ premiums do not provide for any protection for any current work, as such the risks of claims emerging over time recedes and the premiums reduce accordingly. Because each pharmacist carries their own full tier of £5 or £10 million protection however, the premiums are still relatively high.

2. A ‘members of scheme’ for ‘Run Off’

• What is the ‘members of scheme’?
  An analysis of the historical risks claims profile against pharmacists working in GP practices (claims emerging some considerable time after an incident has occurred) has been undertaken. Following the advice of professional indemnity claims handlers and specialist underwriters experienced in primary care settings, the ‘members of scheme’ for ‘Run Off’ for pharmacists provides a combined insurance limit of £30 million per year in total to be shared by all members of the scheme which is subject to a maximum individual limit of £10 million per individual member.
• Can the £30 million insurance limit be exhausted?
  Theoretically, this means that in a real crisis scenario, where more than £30 million of combined claims occur in one year, then the scheme insurance limit would be exhausted leaving no further cover available for any other members in the scheme. However, if there are early signs of significant claims from historical incidents emerging after the launch of this scheme, then we would seek to acquire additional cover if available. Any additional cover in such a situation, may require further additional premiums to be paid.
• Why has a ‘members of scheme’ approach been offered?
  We have designed this alternative scheme to provide another more cost-effective choice over the Traditional ‘Run Off’ policy.

It remains entirely at your discretion as to whether you wish to consider purchasing this ‘members of scheme’ to make your ‘Run Off’ arrangements, taking into account the additional risk this presents in exchange for its lower costs as the alternative of a Traditional ‘Run Off’ and also maintaining your ‘full comprehensive PDA membership’ (which would make a ‘Run Off’ scheme altogether unnecessary) are other options open to you.