FAQ's
What is Medical Defence Shield?
· Medical Defence Shield (MDS) is an exciting new concept, a unique support service run by Doctors and Dentists for Doctors and Dentists. The service is there for you whether you are in primary care or secondary care and no matter what your grade or speciality. MDS is a trading name for Medical Defence Shield Ltd, which is a part of the BAPIO group.
· This unique suite of products offers both medical-legal advice and representation and employment related support under one umbrella. MDS also offers clinical negligence insurance for full time GPs and Dentists. Consultants in private practice can obtain clinical negligence insurance through private medical insurance providers and combine it with MDS advisory and representative services. The advice will be provided by specialist advisers and much of the assistance will be supplied through BAPIO appointed and trained medical staff with legal expertise.
Members can be assured that specialist advice and support will be instantly accessible to them.
What are the packages offered by MDS currently?
MDS offers a standard package that covers all the employment related issues (covered by trade unions).
It provides a supplementary package to offer professional disciplinary defence and GMC related issues.
Add-on supplementary packages can be purchased separately to cover performance related issues (for GPs) and training issues for trainees. (e.g RITA/ARCP related)
Who can join the scheme?
MDS will benefit any doctor in the UK, irrespective of their country of origin, who is looking for advice and/or representation for employment and professional issues.
How do I find an answer to a specific question?
If you are looking for a specific topic, you can quickly search the website for specific terms using the search button displayed in the top right on every page. If your query is not answered in the FAQs or the search button then please contact us on: info@mdsuk.org
Can we join MDS via the website?
Yes. Please choose 'Join MDS' to complete the online application where you have the options to pay either by credit/debit cards or by direct debit. Our online payments are completely secure.
Alternatively, you can download and print the application form from the documents section and send the completed version along with a cheque in favour of MDS Ltd to our head office - 178 Ampthill Road, Bedford, MK42 9PU.
Is there anything which MDS is leaving out for which people might want to hang on to their existing trade union memberships?
Representation that your current trade union provides will be fully covered by MDS standard product.
Would MDS cover all the contractual issues like existing trade unions?
Certainly, the MDS will cover the same spectrum of services, including all employment and contractual issues as the trade unions do at present.
What about Defence Organisation membership?
If you take out supplementary cover, MDS will represent you on medical negligence issues.
If you are a hospital doctor you will already have indemnity cover for all contracted NHS work and MDS will help you claim from the crown indemnity scheme. MDS does not provide additional indemnity for hospital doctors, and cannot pay out any compensation on your behalf.
MDS provides indemnity to GPs, most of the Consultants in Private Practice and Dentists who are not covered by Crown Indemnity.
For non contracted work (non category 1) and outside of NHS hospitals (for example, Good Samaritan work, private practice, category 2 work, general practice etc) NHS indemnity does not cover you. Therefore most GPs and Hospital Consultants who do category 2 work or private practice should retain their Medical Defence Organisation membership till MDS launches it's indemnity package.
For clarifications on what constitutes Category 2 work, please refer to our detailed explanation under documents/publications tab.
Please note that if you do any level 2 work, you may not be covered by crown indemnity. In this case we suggest you maintain your current defence provision till MDS launches it's indemnity package.
