Are you really insured? If so for how much?

At the end of February the CSP sent out a brochure outlining some common questions asked of its PI insurance policy. Several people were concerned with the content of some of the answers and I have been asked to reprint the following question asked of the CSP via email on March Ist. This email was again send on March 8th. As yet the CSP have not yet acknowledged receipt of the email nor have they provided a response. Perhaps someone out there might have a few answers...

We do not know the answers to these questions and so are posting this issue so that perhaps others might ask the questions such that the CSP can provide an answer.

Original email sent to [email protected]:

Dear CSP insurance team,

Many thanks for your recent pamphlet on common insurance questions. I am unclear on one point and would like clear clarification on this issue.

The point in question is:

"The limit of indemnity is £5 million any one claim or in aggregate in any period of insurance in respect of any one claim or series of claims regardless of how many members are involved attributable to any one course of related treatment, or any one act of error or omission or any one originating cause."

My questions are:

1. What is the "Period of insurance" as it relates to any one claim or series of claims.

2. If the limit of indemnity is £5 in respect of any one claim or series of claims does that mean that the total available funds available to the insured CSP membership is £5 million at any one time? Is so what again is the period as mention in point 1. Further more does this mean that if the CSP membership have say 20 members being sued at the same time, on different claims form different clients, the the available funds for defense and payment the total actions is £5 million. i.e. If all claims we costing the same that would mean there is actually only £250,000 available for each claim?

3. If there were 500 claims running at the same time could this possible mean that only £10,000 was available for each claim?

4. Is there any excess on any single claim that must be born by the individual?

5. Is there a limit to legal defense in regards to any one, or group of claims in any period?

Your assistance in helping me to further understand my position is gratefully appreciated

Many thanks

The additional email on March 8th read

Hi there, I am still awaiting a response to my email enquiry of about one week ago. Can you please confirm acknowledgement of my email below.

Here is the response which has posed another question written at the bottom of this post:

Many thanks for this enquiry. Response to their queries in the same order.

1. The period of insurance runs from 1st July to 30th June each year.

2. The limit of indemnity is £5 million in respect of any one claim and up to £5 million in the aggregate in any one period of insurance (the period stated above) per member. It is not shared throughout the membership!. However, these are the limits for any one claim regardless of how many members may be involved (it is highly unlikely that 20 members would be involved in the treatment of the same patient relating to the same single claim). If more than one member is however involved, the total indemnity remains at £5 million for the one claim, and likewise if there are a series of claims resulting from one incident (e.g. more than one claimant), the indemnity is the total for all such claims. The indemnity is inclusive of Legal Defence costs.

3. The above reply answers this question.

4. No excess applies to this policy.

5. No limit to Legal Defence costs, they are included within the limits of indemnity.

If you feel the limit of £5 million is inadequate for their particular circumstances (e.g. if they are treating highly paid sports people), there is always the option at modest cost to increase the limit to £10 million.

Hope this helps.

Chris Hammacott

Thanks Chris

I noted also the bit about limited companies. As many in the private sector are set up as sole practitioners trading as limited companies is this insurance only valid for direct claims made against an individual and/or the limited company? If the claim was made against the individual who was trading as a limited company would the insurance the try to sue the limited company for the claim made about their sole "employee/director".

If this were the case then the insurance offered would not cover most private practitioners as nearly all are setup as limited companies. Can you see what I am getting at here?

many thanks