Essential Insurance For Pharmacists

The United Kingdom has a variety of pharmacist categories. They include Primary Care Pharmacist, Hospital Pharmacist (including Locums), Locum Pharmacist, Pharmacy Technicians, Dispensary Assistants, Preregistration Trainee Pharmacists and Pharmacy Undergraduates. Although many of these positions are in the NHS (National Health Service) in the UK, pharmacists are often in a position of needing to take out their own Liability Insurance because they may work as locum somewhere else or in a community pharmacy or are employed in a hospital and in a community pharmacy as well. Since the NHS generally will not cover a pharmacist working in a community pharmacy or other facility, they must make their own arrangements for insurance. Liability Insurance is not just for a practicing pharmacist; if you are a pharmacy student, pharmacy intern or extern, technician or a locum pharmacist, you may well need protection as well.

The role of a pharmacist was once to distribute drugs and leave the explaining to a physician but today's pharmacist is thought by many to be an advice giver when a customer needs specific information about specific drugs. A pharmacist has a lot of responsibility in that in giving advice regarding medications, he or she could be held responsible for knowing if a patient is allergic to a particular drug as well as being aware of any other medications the patient is taking that might cause a reaction when combined with a new prescription. So who is liable and responsible if a mistake is made? A pharmacist can be held liable for wrong advice and be subjected to a claim. It's easy to unintentionally make a mistake when it comes to reviewing a patient's prescription record; it begins with the pharmacist making sure he or she can interpret the garbled writing of a physician and ends with making sure that the prescription will not cause a patient harm.

The cover you should be researching includes  Professional Indemnity and Public and Product Liability. A Professional Indemnity policy will protect you against most claims made by a customer or other people (third parties) regarding any advice you give them that is wrong or misleading. On a broader scale, liability cover will likely protect you against a claim someone makes referring to an act or inaction by you that caused damage to someone or someone's property or caused injury and harm. If you own your pharmacy business, this is something you should definitely look into. Consider that someone is injured whilst on your property and sues you. If you have to go to court because of a claim, the legal costs alone could put you out of business. Liability cover will likely cover the claim and the legal fees attached to the claim. Take some time to read through some insurance websites to see what different liability and professional cover options are available for you.

More About Professional Indemnity Cover

Examining Professional Indemnity Insurance a bit more in depth, you will see that this type of cover will protect you from devastating financial losses and too often reputation crippling claims made by clients who are dissatisfied by something you did or said, which the customer believes caused harm or financial loss. On your part, this can include negligence or breach of duty concerning care, unintentional infringement on someone's copyrights, trademarks, loss of a client's records or damaged or stolen documents or even liability stemming from the theft of money or goods belonging to your client whilst on your premises. In all of the above scenarios, Professional Indemnity cover will likely protect you should you make a mistake in any services you provided that lead to a client dispute. Your insurance company will defend you, and even if you lose, you will likely still be covered for damages you are liable for as well as the legal expenses involved.

If you own your own pharmacy and take on any employees, full-time, part-time, technician, dispensary assistant, clerical aid or student, you must by law have Employers' Liability Insurance. This likely will protect you if an employee files a claim because he or she becomes ill or is injured whilst working. You must have a certificate clearly displayed for all employees and inspectors who happen to drop by to prove you have this cover and if you don't you could be fined up to £2,500 each day you are without it. An important note to remember is if an employee terminates employment and falls ill, tracing the illness back to employment with you, a claim can still be made so always keep detailed records of employees - present and past.

Public Liability and Product Liability Insurance

Since members of the public deal with you on a daily basis, if they are hurt or receive damage to their property, they can file a claim against you. A Public Liability policy will likely cover you and your business for damages that are claimed and legal fees involved. Check Public Liability and Employers' Liability insurances on the online; you may find that you can combine the two on one master policy and save on premiums and a package deal can often include Product Liability Insurance as well. Because you are distributing drugs that are produced by pharmaceutical companies, the chance that a medication can be found to cause devastating side effects and result in a lawsuit, might not only fall into the hands of the pharmaceutical company, but into yours as well. If the product does cause an injury or damages property, Product Liability would likely cover costs of a claim and legal fees.

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