GPs in England move north to avoid costly indemnity fees, Pulse reports

According to Pulse, GPs in England are moving to Scotland after acknowledging that indemnity costs make up one third of what they would pay working full time in England.

Pulse reported that a number of senior GPs had switched to locum work after saying that working south of the border ‘makes no financial sense’ due to flaws in the indemnity system. Indemnity providers have also claimed that a GP practising in England is three times more likely to face a clinical negligence claim that in Scotland.

Local leaders have said that the situation is compounding workforce issues in England, at a time where it is already facing ‘alarming’ fill rates to GP training posts.

GPs have reported an average fee increase of 25 per cent in 2015.

In an interview with Pulse, Dr Alistair Blair, NHS Northumberland CCG chief clinical officer, said: “It’s about £7,000 to £8,000 for a full time ten-session GP [in Northumberland], and it’s £2,000 to £3,000 in Scotland. Those are big differences - £5,000 a year penalty to work in England rather than Scotland.”

He added: “Recently, several GPs have retired and looked at doing locum work… Unfortunately they’re now saying “I know I’ve worked in England all my days but it makes no financial sense for me to work in England now, so I’m working in Scotland only.”

“We look at the very alarming fill rates locally, in the training scheme and we look at… the fact the fill rate in Scotland is greater than the fill rate in England. This is another factor which suggests GPs may preferentially work in the Scottish borders, rather than the English borders.”

An spokesperson for the independent medico-legal service MDDUS said that, while it was always looking at making its fees competitive: “GPs practising in England are up to three times more likely to have a claim than one practising in Scotland… not only are the number of claims higher in England, the value of these claims are also greater.

“It is important to note that the distinction being made is between two different areas of legal jurisdiction, rather than a matter of simple geography.”