Locum Insurance
Safeguarding you against risks associated with absent staff
Howden is one of the UK’s leading insurance brokers in the healthcare sector and our team have many years’ experience of working with a wide range of care providers and insurance products.
Our team can advise you how locum insurance works alongside the NHS Sickness Reimbursement so you can make the right decision for your practice.
What is Locum insurance?
Having to cover the costs of a GP or staff member who is unable to work due to sickness can be very expensive.
Locum insurance, or staff absence insurance, is designed to cover the costs incurred by GP's being unexpectedly absent and therefore having to replace them with a locum doctor. You can also cover all other members of staff within the practice with different levels of this policy.
Practice staff who you can choose to be covered under a Locum policy include:
- GP Partners
- Salaried GP’s
- Dispensers
- Practice Manager/Managing Partner
- Nurse Practitioner
- Advanced Nurse Practitioner
- Health Care Assistant
- District Nurse
- Care Navigator
Locum policy coverage:
- Full stress/anxiety/depression cover
- No exclusion for winter sports
- Excess period/deferred period options of between 2 and 26 weeks
- Option to guarantee terms of cover and premiums for up to 3 years (subject to additional charge and insurer consideration)
- Phased return to work covered
- Pregnancy related illness covered
- Worldwide cover, 24 hours a day
- Benefit based cover – pays your claims without having to prove you have incurred costs
The benefits of having Locum insurance with Howden
Absent staff can cause huge impact on your practice, both financially and operationally.
Howden's policy ensures that you get the right amount of protection to complement the NHS Sickness Reimbursement Scheme, whilst only paying for what you need. We also offer a Top-up Locum policy that our expert team can advise you on in the event that it could be valuable to your practice.
Top-up Locum Insurance
Changes to the GP Contract in 2017 now entitles practices to a Sickness Reimbursement payment for GPs. While the news of this change was certainly well received, the NHS Reimbursement is not ‘full-service’ and could leave your practice seriously out of pocket if you chose to rely on this exclusively.
If you are not sure if you need Top-Up Locum Insurance, our experienced, friendly team are happy to offer you advice.
The main points for consideration of a Top-up Locum insurance include:
- Cover for any expenditure incurred due to Sickness Absence, which can include GPs and/or any Employed Staff, such as Managers, ANPs, Nurses, HCAs, Clerical & Administration Staff
- Accidental Death Capital Payments of £50,000 per person
- Expenditure due to Compassionate Leave
- Expenditure due to Jury Service absence
- Expenditure due to Suspension from Duty
- Expenditure due to Delayed Return from Abroad
- Full Stress/Anxiety/Depression cover
- Option for cover that pays without the practice having to produce evidence of Locum costs incurred
- Option to fix premium rates and underwriting terms for up to 36 months (subject to additional premium charge)
FAQs
Yes, you can. We understand that NHS reimbursement is not always enough to cover the full cost of Locum staff. Our expert team can help you to find suitable plan that fits with your requirements.
Depending on your practice structure, you can buy locum cover that includes absence protection for dispensers that work at your practice if you wish to.
Locum Insurance pays the practice owner. This policy can help to pay for the cost of hiring a locum to fill in for the sick or injured person, whilst income protection provides financial support to that individual.