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NHS England to help tackle rising cost of GP indemnity

NHS England is today announcing plans to help GPs cope with extra demand over the winter period by reimbursing the indemnity costs for out-of-hours sessions.

The increasing cost of indemnity has been raised at urgent and emergency care review roadshows, by Out of Hours providers as a barrier to delivering care. NHS England is responding to these concerns by making £2 million available to help with immediate out-of-hours provision while longer term solutions are implemented.

The NHS England Winter indemnity scheme has been developed with the Medical Defence Organisations (MDOs), to offset the additional indemnity premium for GPs who wish to work additional sessions for their out-of-hours (OOH) providers. The scheme will run between December 2015 and March 2016 and means doctors can commit to more OOH sessions without the need for them to negotiate additional changes to their level of indemnity cover.

GPs who wish to commit to working additional sessions will agree a likely number of OOH sessions they will work over the period with their OOH provider. Once confirmed, GPs will be able to approach their MDOs to access a bespoke package, funded by NHS England, which would give the doctor cover for their additional commitment to the service.

This indemnity package will be accessed via the MDO’s websites who will  invoice NHS England directly on a monthly basis.

Rosamond Roughton, Director of NHS Commissioning, said: “Rising indemnity costs are having a serious impact on GPs as well as stifling innovation in primary care delivery. We are determined to help resolve this issue and this announcement is just part of the work we are doing with our partners to further support GPs and the wider care primary care workforce.”