Source: https://www.mddus.com/my-membership/membership-agreement
Timestamp: 2017-06-26 15:35:26
Document Index: 120724731

Matched Legal Cases: ['art 1', 'art 2', 'arts 3', 'art 7', 'art 6', 'art 2', 'art 3', 'art 4', 'art 1', 'art 5', 'art 6']

Membership Agreement | MDDUS
The MDDUS Membership Agreement contains full details about the benefits of MDDUS membership, including levels of cover, conditions, rules and payments.
Part 1 – What your membership provides
Membership of MDDUS provides assistance, advice, representation and access to indemnity for circumstances that arise out of the bona fide practice of medicine, dentistry or an allied health profession and that occur during a period of membership of MDDUS. As a mutual organisation, MDDUS always acts in the interests of all its members and offers assistance to its members, provided the need for help arises out of the bona fide practice of a health profession. Click here for further information on what is understood by the practice of a health profession.
Your membership provides (subject to the exclusions in Part 2 and the requirements set out in Parts 3 and 4):
Access to professional advice on the wide range of ethical, medico-legal and risk-related issues that may arise out of your practice of medicine, dentistry or an allied health profession and that occur during the period of your membership of MDDUS.
Professional assistance, advice, representation and, where necessary, appropriate legal representation in respect of:
– complaints made against you
– disciplinary proceedings taken against you
– fatal accident inquiries/coroner’s inquests
– matters referred to the General Medical Council/General Dental Council (GMC/GDC).
Assistance, advice, representation (including legal representation) and access to indemnity for your legal liability to meet claims made against you arising out of your professional practice. This protection relates to circumstances occurring in Scotland, England, Wales, Northern Ireland, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man during your membership of MDDUS, regardless of when the claim is actually made or intimated to you although dependent on the level and category of indemnity cover that you have from MDDUS.
Worldwide indemnity in respect of your legal liability to meet claims made against you arising from “Good Samaritan” acts. An explanation of what are Good Samaritan acts is provided in Part 7.
If you are an employer, access to professional advice on your legal liabilities, duties and obligations as an employer in the ordinary and usual course of your practice of medicine, dentistry or an allied profession. Click here for further details on vicarious liability.
If you have selected it, the employer support and employer indemnity set out in Part 6.
All the circumstances detailed above must arise out of your practice of medicine, dentistry or an allied health profession and must occur during the period of your membership of MDDUS. There is no limit on the amount paid in respect of any one claim and no excess or deductible is applied that has to be met by you.
Notes: (i) For those working exclusively in the NHS additional protection is available. Click here for further details on Category 1 and 2 work. (ii) Those involved with professional football teams should click here for further information.
Part 2 – What is not included in your membership
Membership of MDDUS provides advice and protection for matters arising from your professional practice as a doctor, dentist or allied health professional. You are, of course, exposed to a wide range of potential legal and contractual problems. For the sake of clarity, and as examples, the following broad areas are not included within your membership indemnity:
Any liability which is covered by, or would but for anything done or not done by you be covered by, an indemnity provided by the National Health Service or by any health board, hospital trust or other public authority.
Personal conduct that does not arise from the practice of medicine, dentistry or an allied health profession. Click here for further detailed guidance.
Matters that should be dealt with by public liability, employers’ liability or directors’ liability insurances.
Employment issues not related to the practice of medicine, dentistry or an allied health profession, including assistance with employment tribunals and disputes over employment contract terms.
Assistance with raising actions for defamation.
Assistance in the process of undergoing appraisal.
Assistance with complaints against other persons or accusations of bullying and harassment.
Matters of a financial nature or relating to business matters, insurance claims and the pursuit of fees for services rendered.
Representation in respect of criminal proceedings or any legal liability arising from criminal activities or from any trading or personal debts. However, cover may be extended to certain criminal proceedings which arise directly from clinical practice and where MDDUS accepts that the member has acted in good faith.
MDDUS does not reimburse a member’s personal expenses incurred during the management of cases (e.g. travel, locum cover, etc).
Part 3 – Your responsibilities as a member
Failure to comply with any of the responsibilities below will put at risk your access to all benefits of membership of MDDUS, including indemnity.
Members must advise MDDUS of any change of address or if they are unable to work for an extended period of time.
Members are required to ensure that they are in the correct membership category and paying the appropriate subscription associated with the work they undertake.
Members should notify MDDUS as soon as reasonably possible of any claims or circumstances that might give rise to claims made against them.
Members must not contact their regulatory bodies directly in relation to professional complaints, as this might compromise their case, and members should always advise MDDUS as soon as possible if they have received any communication from a regulatory body concerning their practice.
Members must not take any steps to settle or compromise any claim in respect of which indemnity from MDDUS is or may be sought without the written consent of MDDUS or its solicitors.
The benefits of membership, including indemnity, may be withdrawn if a member declines to accept the advice proffered by MDDUS or its solicitors or counsel. Members are required to cooperate fully in every respect with MDDUS and its solicitors.
Members must not hold membership with any other medical or dental defence organisation or have insurance where equivalent MDDUS cover is available.
Members are required to provide information to MDDUS of a professional nature if requested to do so by MDDUS.
Members who have Practice or Corporate Scheme Membership with MDDUS should note that it is their responsibility to ensure that membership is being adequately maintained by the person responsible within the practice for the administration of the scheme, such as the practice manager. Failure to maintain adequate cover, for example failing to inform MDDUS of a return to work following maternity or paternity leave, cannot normally be rectified retrospectively.
Part 4 – Conditions of membership
All doctors and dentists who wish to become members of MDDUS must be registered with the GMC, GDC or, if necessary, both. In addition, members must also hold a licence to practise where appropriate, other than when their professional role does not require a licence to practice to be held and MDDUS has been informed and has agreed. Similarly, members of allied health professions must be registered with the appropriate registration body.
An application for membership cannot be submitted more than 60 days before the date from which membership is to commence.
Deferral of membership
Under certain circumstances, for example sickness or maternity leave, members may apply to have their membership deferred. Members should be clear that in seeking to reinstate their membership, the normal application process will apply. Click here for full details.
Under no circumstances will an applicant be allowed to backdate cover prior to the date the first request to join is made.
Cover on joining
Most membership applications are successful however some are declined because they fail to meet the approval criteria. Click here for notes on completing MDDUS application forms. In the event of a membership application being declined, cover will be provided from the later of the date the application was received or the requested start date for cover until five working days after the posting of the rejection by MDDUS.
Past claims/advice
MDDUS reserves the right to decline applications for membership on the basis of previous claims, complaints, disciplinary action, GMC/GDC action or for any other reason. If MDDUS discovers or decides any response in an application for membership which MDDUS considers to be material is inaccurate in any respect, MDDUS may, at its absolute discretion, declare that membership, and therefore access to indemnity, to be void from the outset and to have no effect.
Private practice earnings
In order to determine correct individual subscription rates, members must estimate their gross earnings from private practice for the coming subscription year. Members should monitor gross private earnings as their subscription year progresses and should notify MDDUS if it appears that a higher level of cover is required. Gross earnings include, but are not limited to, fees, salaries, bonus payments and dividends before the deduction of any expenditure. MDDUS reserves the right at any time to require evidence relating to private practice earnings and carries out periodic audits of members’ private practice earnings.
Falsifying or failing to provide full details of private practice earnings may affect the benefits of membership or result in the withdrawal of indemnity or the services provided by MDDUS. Members who work as private consultants are usually expected to hold, or to have recently held, a substantive NHS consultant post in the same specialty.
MDDUS specialises in the separate legal jurisdictions that exist within Scotland, England, Wales, Northern Ireland, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man and does not offer indemnity outside of these jurisdictions, save in respect of Good Samaritan acts as outlined in Part 1.4 above. If a member working in a training grade post plans to go abroad to work and eventually return to the UK, he or she can remain with MDDUS free of charge as an overseas associate for up to two years but without any of the benefits of membership.
An annual subscription renewal notice is normally sent out by MDDUS 28 days before the subscription is due and states the renewal date and amount due. In order to provide continuous cover, a subscription should be paid promptly. If no payment is received after two reminders and a final notice, membership, and therefore indemnity, will be terminated on the renewal date. All persons or bodies whose membership has so lapsed are subject to the completion of a new application form that will be the subject of MDDUS’s normal approval process.
If a member is involved in more than one specialty, the specialty with the highest risk band should be selected.
Part 5 – Refunds
Membership of MDDUS is on an annual subscription basis and is normally only terminated at the end of your membership year. No refund of subscription will be payable and no rebate of subscription is available should you cease to be a member of MDDUS before the end of your membership year, other than for the reasons set out in the rest of this part of the Membership Agreement. Any refunds available to members when their circumstances change as set out below are calculated on a daily basis and made pro rata subject to restriction in some circumstances. Unless a refund or rebate of subscription is available, the full annual membership subscription is payable for a subscription year notwithstanding that membership is terminated after the start of, but before the end of, that subscription year.
Refunds will be issued to members on maternity/ paternity leave for unused portions of membership, and up to three months retrospectively, if MDDUS is notified of the maternity/paternity leave after its commencement. The benefits of worldwide Good Samaritan cover continue whilst on maternity/paternity leave. This category is available after one full year of active membership with MDDUS.
Refunds will be issued to members on sick leave for unused portions of membership, and up to three months retrospectively if MDDUS is notified of the sick leave after its commencement. The benefits of worldwide Good Samaritan cover continue whilst on sick leave. This category is available after one full year of active membership with MDDUS.
Change of membership category
If any change of active membership takes place in a member’s practice, a refund of up to one year’s subscription may be available. If the change is a reduction in earnings, proof of earnings must be supplied to MDDUS upon request to the satisfaction of MDDUS to validate the refund.
Any member removed from membership by MDDUS will be entitled to a refund of any unused subscription from the date of termination of membership. This also applies when membership of MDDUS is terminated upon the withdrawal of the member’s GMC/GDC or other professional registration.
A refund of any unused subscription, from the date of death of a member, will be issued on receipt by MDDUS of written notification from the personal representatives of the deceased member. If a claim arising from an incident during a deceased member’s membership is intimated to that member’s personal representatives, MDDUS will provide access to indemnity in respect of that claim to the member’s personal representatives to the same extent as if the member was still alive.
Part 6 – Employment law support and indemnity
MDDUS provides assistance, advice and representation (together “employer support”) and, when selected, access to indemnity (“employer indemnity”) to members of MDDUS and relevant partnerships (as defined) who are employers, on terms and conditions which are set out in full on the MDDUS website. Click here for full details.
This Membership Agreement may be altered, amended or replaced at the sole discretion of MDDUS. Any alteration, amendment or replacement of this Membership Agreement will be posted on the MDDUS website (www.mddus.com) and shall be effective from the date specified or, if no effective date is specified, from the thirtieth day after the posting.
MDDUS regards all of its dealings with its members as strictly confidential and MDDUS takes the privacy of members seriously. MDDUS may collect and hold personal information about members in both paper and electronic form for the purpose of providing members with membership services. MDDUS’s use of personal information shall at all times be in accordance with the terms of the MDDUS Privacy Policy. By joining or renewing your membership of MDDUS, you are accepting that you have read and understood the terms of the MDDUS Privacy Policy.
The Articles of Association and discretionary basis of membership benefits
MDDUS is not an insurance company. All benefits of membership of MDDUS are discretionary as set out in the Articles of Association. MDDUS is incorporated under the Companies Act as a company limited by guarantee. This Membership Agreement should be read subject to the Articles of Association of MDDUS. MDDUS has in terms of its Articles of Association two categories of member, namely voting members and associate members. The rights of each of these groups are set out in the Articles of Association to which members are referred for their full scope and effect.
MDDUS staff are required to treat all members of MDDUS fairly and to display politeness, tolerance and respect at all times. As an employer MDDUS has a similar duty to ensure all MDDUS staff are treated in the same way. No one should be expected to endure offensive, intimidating or aggressive behaviour, and MDDUS will therefore not accept any verbal or written abuse directed towards its staff, and sanctions will be taken, where appropriate, which could result in termination of membership of MDDUS.
MDDUS prides itself in being an organisation that delivers a high quality service to its members. As such MDDUS is always eager to hear whether contacts with and the service to members has been satisfactory or not. In particular MDDUS is interested to hear when service to members has been problematic or has caused a member to think of making a complaint to or about MDDUS, for instance about the way and perhaps the manner in which the member has been dealt with by MDDUS. MDDUS welcomes such complaints in the expectation that they will assist MDDUS to improve MDDUS's service and provide a useful learning mechanism for MDDUS.
Whatever the nature of the complaint, MDDUS will endeavour to acknowledge that complaint within two business days and give an indication as to when the member might expect a full response. All responses will be in writing.
Complaints by a member about service will be passed to the Advisory Services Department Administration Supervisor and directed to the department concerned and responded to.
MDDUS treats all comments, complimentary or critically, as a valuable source of information to help MDDUS maintain and improve the quality of MDDUS's service.
Making a complaint will not prejudice or affect a member’s right to continuing advice or support.
There is a right of appeal to the Chief Executive Officer in the event of dissatisfaction by the member with the response.
If you feel that you have either a comment or a complaint to make about the service you have received from MDDUS, please contact our Advisory Services Department Administration Supervisor on 0333 043 4444 or by email (customerservices@mddus.com) quoting your membership number.
Please give as much detail as possible about the matter in order to allow MDDUS to carry out a full investigation. This procedure is exclusively for the use of MDDUS members.
Good Samaritan acts encompass the provision of medical and dental services in emergency situations, which are outside the scope of an individual’s normal contractual obligations or clinical practice. When members assist in these circumstances, they would not normally be expected to charge for their services. MDDUS offers indemnity against any claims arising out of Good Samaritan acts anywhere in the world which are not covered by any other indemnity or insurance arrangement.
The relationship between members and MDDUS is governed by Scots law and, subject to any arbitration, the Scottish Courts shall have jurisdiction.