A new scheme designed to fill a gap in the professional services available to ethnic minority doctors facing complaints of bullying harassment and discrimination has been launched this week.
Medical Defence Shield, the brainchild of the British Association of Physicians of Indian Origin (BAPIO) will uniquely provide both medical defence protection and support for employment issues under one umbrella.
Doctors will be able to pick and mix from a package of services traditionally offered separately by trade unions and medical defence organisations.
BAPIO says they receive calls every week from doctors who say they do not get the support they need when facing unsubstantiated allegations or flawed practices during a disciplinary process.
Examples of unfair treatment include cases where severe punishment has been meted out to doctors when all that was required was a programme of training or mentoring and support.
Other evidence is the disproportionately higher numbers of ethnic minority doctors reported to the GMC over their fitness to practise. Many of them have also faced trust disciplinary procedures for fairly minor issues.
Dr Satheesh Mathew, vice chair of BAPIO, said: “It is not an exaggeration to say that the traditional institutions have been known to drag their feet when it comes to supporting international medical graduates.”
MDS is being launched in two stages. The first stage, now live, offers a competitively priced package of services providing advice and representation on: terms and conditions of service; clinical and professional issues; for criminal cases arising from professional work; on training issues; in disputes arising from non NHS work and legal representation during internal inquiries, GMC and tribunal cases.
Packages range in price from £250 to £560 for a consultant and from £200 to £273 for a specialist trainee.
The second stage, to be launched in June, will offer full professional indemnity cover and financial compensation for patient incidents not covered by standard NHS indemnity. Geared at consultants in private practice, this service is likely to be one third cheaper than existing medical defence cover.
Claims will be dealt with by doctors with a legal background. The scheme is backed by the legal firm Linder Myers and two insurance companies, Lockton International and Amicus Legal.
BAPIO president Dr Ramesh Mehta, said: “To date the medical protection market has been monopolised by just a few institutions which have been around for over 100 years. There is a lot of bureaucracy in these organisations and they have not changed with the times.
“Medical Defence Shield is an innovative and daring concept to ensure that doctors working in the NHS receive fair and just treatment. It will be available to all doctors not just those from ethnic minorities because we have realised that all doctors need this extra support.
“Feedback from our members shows that the existing support system lacks empathy and understanding when it comes to issues of discrimination and unfair practices.”
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Tags: Insurance
I am glad finally the idea has become a reality and hopefully BAPIO will be able to distinguesh itself from BMA & and MDO. It would be a good idea to implement induction programmes for BAPIO members to overcome cultural gaps and stareotype sexist and feudal hang ups.