Responding to the Department of Health & Social Care's (DHSC) announcement that the regulations governing the existing liabilities scheme will come into force from 6 April 2020, MDU chief executive Dr Christine Tomkins said,
"The existing liabilities scheme does not apply to the MDU's GP members. Any agreement we reach with DHSC would need to be fair to all the MDU's members and we continue to use our best efforts to achieve this. We hope DHSC will engage in sensible discussion to bring an end to this impasse and remain committed to finding an acceptable solution.
"It is disappointing that the government has not been able to make good on its promise to protect GPs from the ever increasing cost of claims. Meanwhile we continue to assist our GP members with claims arising from incidents that happened before 1 April 2019. We are still achieving exceptionally good results for our GP members, with settlement rates in over 80% of medical claims closed without a payment.
"Our GP members' claims remain in the best possible hands. GP members continue to benefit from our claims team's unrivalled expertise and the excellent results they achieve. This matters especially for GP members because claims against GPs can have immediate professional and personal repercussions. For the MDU it is important claims are handled skillfully by experts who are mindful of the impact of a claim on individual GPs."
This guidance was correct at publication 19/03/2020. It is intended as general guidance for members only. If you are a member and need specific advice relating to your own circumstances, please contact one of our advisers.