However, a recent survey of 700 GPs carried out by the MDU suggests that many GPs do not know what the limitations of state indemnity are likely to be. Some 40% of respondents believed the scheme would offer them support with performers' list actions, and 20% thought help with GMC investigations and inquests would be included too; this is unlikely to be provided under the state-backed scheme.

The risk of gaps in professional indemnity cover is a real concern; every doctor deserves and needs access to expert advice and legal representation when their practice is under scrutiny. And this support is even more important when you consider the wide range of different investigations that can take place arising from a single incident, a phenomenon we call multiple jeopardy.

To take an example based on MDU cases, a GP who was alleged to have pressed inappropriately against their patient during an eye examination was subjected to a police interview, GMC fitness to practise proceedings and a performers' list investigation before their name was eventually cleared.

In 2017, the MDU helped over 6,000 members with cases that we believe are unlikely to fall within the proposed scope of the state-backed scheme. Our advisers and lawyers see at first hand the heavy personal toll on MDU members for whom so much is at stake - career, reputation, livelihood and sometimes even freedom. It is inconceivable that a doctor would consciously decide to face the experience alone.

Expert legal advice can make all the difference to the outcome. For example, in 2016, the GMC recorded an adverse outcome in over 20% of fitness to practise cases closed in the year - the likelihood of an adverse outcome was more than halved for MDU members to just under 10%. Adverse outcomes were also less severe, with only 3% of MDU members suspended or erased from the register compared to 9% in the GMC figures. And when it comes to criminal proceedings, the MDU is the only medical defence organisation in the UK to have an in-house criminal law team, who are equipped to provide members with an expert defence from the moment an allegation is made.

Mind the Gap

Dr Christine Tomkins

Mind the Gap