Everything You Need To Know About Dental Practice Insurance In The UK

Dental practice insurance is one of those topics that needs to be handled with great care and attention. While getting dental surgery insurance should score high on your list of priorities, it can quickly be rushed and assumed to be a standard type of coverage suitable for any dental practice operating in this sector.

In reality, you should get the help of an experienced insurance broker specialising in providing business insurance tailored to meet your requirements. But what insurance do dentists need?

In this guide, we look at dental practice insurance and how it protects you against the many risks faced within your profession.

What Is Dental Practice Insurance?

A sound dental practice insurance policy is built on a package of elements needed to cover risks present on dental and medical premises. Standard components are necessary, such as employer’s liability insurance, which is a legal requirement. Other cover added will depend on your individual practice and how much risk you want to be insured against.

Some of the areas covered include:

• Building cover
• Computers and IT assets
• Legal Expenses Insurance
• Loss of Revenue / Business Interruption
• Money Insurance
• Practice Contents Cover
• Public & Employers Liability Insurance
• Walk-in Theft Cover

There are extra insurance options available that you can add to your policy, including:

• Cyber Liability Insurance
• Key-Person / Locum Cover
• Equipment Breakdown Cover

Why Is Dental Practice Insurance Necessary?

Just like any other business in the UK, dental practices have unique challenges and risks that need to be covered by the most appropriate insurance.

From a risk management point of view, your dental surgery is vulnerable to the same risks as any other retail shop business. Fire, flood and storm damage are three shared risks that immediately spring to mind that you will need to protect your dental surgery against.

Your dental surgery will also need employer’s liability insurance as standard. As you will be dealing directly with members of the public, you should also cover your practice with a good level of Public Liability insurance coverage at the very least.

What Does Dental Practice Insurance Cover?

When you are busy caring for your dental patients, ensuring your practice is appropriately covered with the right insurance won’t be the first thing on your mind. But when you experience accidental damage or equipment breakdowns, the importance of having the right dental practice insurance suddenly becomes your priority.

There is so much to consider when insuring your dental practice. Not only will you need the essentials such as employer’s liability and public liability insurance, but you will also need to protect yourself against the loss of contents such as dental chairs, equipment and machinery, computers and IT equipment, medical stock, and more.

Whether you are setting up a new dental practice or are well established, compare quotes with Brisco Business to find the right cover for you

Public Liability Insurance

This protects against potential risks posed to your practice where a dental patient or visitor may suffer from an accident or injury while on your premises. For example, if a patient slips and falls on a wet floor and breaks their arm in the fall.

If the person claims compensation against your dental surgery, this insurance will cover your legal fees and compensation payment.

Professional Negligence Insurance For Dentists

Dental practices are particularly at risk of claims of professional negligence. This can happen when a patient’s tooth extraction or root canal procedure goes wrong, and the patient decides to sue for dental negligence.

Dental negligence is a term used to describe any injuries directly caused or worsened by a dentist or dental health professional. Patients can claim against you if they suffer physical harm or financial loss because of an error in treatment by a dentist, a misdiagnosis that leads to incorrect or unnecessary treatment, or a delayed diagnosis leading to the worsening of a problem.

Patients can also claim compensation for inadequate care during or after a dental procedure that caused further injury or suffering, such as poor aftercare following dental implant surgery.

Employer’s Liability Insurance

All employers are required by law to carry employer’s liability insurance. Under the terms of the Employers Liability Compulsory Insurance Act 1969, employers are required to maintain a policy with a minimum limit of indemnity of £5M, although many employers take out higher cover.

Employer’s liability insurance protects you against claims made by employees for the employer’s legal liability for personal injury, disease or death, as well as property damage suffered by the employee during the course of their employment.

Loss of Revenue Cover For Dentists

There may be unavoidable downtimes where you suffer a loss of income through being unable to use your dental practice premises to carry out business. In these cases, you may be able to claim your loss of revenue policy.

You will need to consider the expense you will need to cover, such as property rent, business rates, staff wages and utility bills. You will also need to decide how long your policy will pay out for following a business interruption. This will be how long you expect it will be before you can resume regular business practices.

Dental Practice Buildings & Contents Cover Insurance

One of the most common questions we are asked is, do I need building insurance for my dental practice? There is no one-size-fits-all solution for your building’s and content insurance needs. A lot will depend on whether you own or lease your dental practice premises. If you own the building, then you should get building’s insurance that will cover the costs of rebuilding your whole premises following a serious incident, such as a major fire.

Content’s insurance protects you against risks that are outside your control, which leads to loss or damage to your dental practice’s possessions. This insurance covers the costs of repairing or replacing items damaged by an insured event, such as a fire, flood, storm damage, vandalism or theft.

Dental surgery contents insurance most typically covers you against the following:

• Earthquake
• Explosion
• Fire
• Flooding
• Malicious damage
• Storms
• Theft

The amount of cover you will need to protect your content will depend on what you need to cover.

Dental surgeries will contain a lot of essential medical-grade tools and equipment that may need to be replaced entirely in the event of a fire emergency, which renders them unusable.

Dental surgery contents policies tend to include the following standard equipment and materials as standard:

• Fixtures and fittings: this can consist of flooring, lighting, office equipment or kitchen utensils and appliances
• Furniture: such as desks, chairs, shelving units
• Office equipment: this might include computers, printers, scanners and modems
• The belongings of any staff, patients and visitors in the building

Conclusion

It can be overwhelming to work out how much content cover to take out for your dental practice, so it can help to discuss your needs with Brisco Business. Compare quotes now to get the best cover at the best price for your business. Are you prepared for unexpected disruptions to your business operations? Explore our business insurance options at Brisco Business to mitigate potential risks.

Maria Hickey

For more than 20 years, Maria has worked in the insurance sector and has extensive underwriting and customer service expertise. Maria is an experienced Senior Underwriter with a particular specialism for shop, office and surgery related insurance.

All articles by Maria Hickey