Information for GPs working in Out of Hours regarding General Medical Practice Indemnity (GMPI) cover

The Scheme for General Medical Practice Indemnity (GMPI) is a discretionary state-backed scheme that covers clinical negligence claims for incidents occurring on or after 1 April 2019.

The indemnity coverage differs significantly depending on how the GP is engaged:

1. Out of hours services (OOH) provided via contractual arrangements between a Health Board and an independent provider/sub-contractor, are captured by the scheme for GMPI. This includes any locum or agency staff who are engaged via such independent provider/sub-contractor. However, all locum doctors who are engaged by an independent provider sub-contractor (other than those doing locum work solely in their own GP practice) are required to join the All Wales Locum Register, to have access to the scheme for GMPI

2. Any employees, locum, agency or bank workers who are directly engaged by a Health Board are captured by standard NHS indemnity arrangements. (this is not GMPI) 

So you need to be quite clear as to your employment status and if it qualifies for section one then you are covered under the GMPI and need to be on the whole Wales register but don't have to document every Out Of Hours shift.

So for peace of mind individuals should get clarity about their contractual status with the health board and then contact their indemnity provider to see if they are covered.

The other burning question is all the guidance talks about Out Of Hours services and again clarification would need to be gained from GMPI regarding NHS111 which operates in hours.

Dr Nimish Shah