Speaking at the Primary Heath Care Conference in Cardiff, Mr Gething said the NHS Wales Shared Services Partnership – Legal and Risk Services, who currently indemnify GPs working Out of Hours, is the preferred partner to operate the Future Liability Scheme from April next year.
The scheme, which will be aligned as far as possible to the scheme announced in England, will ensure GPs in Wales are not at a disadvantage relative to those in England and that GP recruitment and cross border activity will not be adversely affected by different schemes operating in England and Wales.
Mr Gething said:
“This new scheme will provide greater stability and certainty for GPs in Wales. It will support GP practices and primary care clusters in their delivery of sustainable and accessible health care.
The Future Liabilities Scheme will cover the activity of all contractors who provide primary medical services. This will include clinical negligence liabilities arising from the activities of GP practice staff and other medical professionals such as salaried GPs; locum GPs; practice pharmacists; practice nurses; healthcare assistants.
I will make a final decision on the delivery of the Future Liability Scheme in Wales following further engagement with medical defence organisations.”
Dr Charlotte Jones, Chair of GPC Wales, commented:
“GPC Wales supports Welsh Government’s decision to announce Welsh Legal and Risk Pool as the preferred partner to provide the future liabilities indemnity scheme for General Practice. The proposed scheme will address one of the biggest financial pressures on GPs and will help enable all GPs, practice teams and wider cluster healthcare professionals to work more closely together taking forward the transformation of Welsh primary care.”
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