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Most professional bodies insist that their members should be fully insured and, until recently, a clause in the Society's Code of Ethics stated that insurance was mandatory. This clause has now been dropped since the Committee is not satisfied that insurance can be proved to be an ethical matter and believe that members should make up their own minds. Instead there are now two categories of full membership: insured and ordinary.

However, even if you do not consider insurance to be a matter of ethics you may still consider it to be a matter of prudence. If you are not insured, your whole livelihood will be at risk if somebody sues you. Remember that somebody can still sue even if they have no justification, and that just defending yourself costs money. If you are innocent you may be awarded costs; but you may not be innocent (we all make mistakes), and even if you are innocent this may not be clear to the court.

Insurance can have other benefits as well as security. You may need it in order to get referrals from doctors, since if somebody sues and you cannot pay up, the referring doctor is liable, and if the referring doctor's own insurance does not cover this eventuality the doctor will have to pay out of his or her own pocket. Naturally, doctors are unwilling to take this risk, so many of them will insist that you have professional indemnity insurance before referring patients to you. You must also be insured if you want to join the British Register of Complementary Practitioners.

There Society now offers a comprehensive Block Scheme Insurance package with H & L Balen which is available to all massage full members.

The cost for the basic scheme is currently:

£75.00

This is considerably cheaper than if you go direct to H & L Balen and get the Bridge Scheme which usually comes in at something around £85 for the basic premium, + £30 for administration/document fees and insurance premium fees.

About the Block Scheme

The Block Scheme, or to give it its full name, the Complementary Medical Professional Liability Block Insurance Policy for the Society of Holistic Practitioners, provides 3 main types of cover

• Malpractice & Professional Liability
• Public Liability
• Products Liability

Malpractice & Professional Liability

Medical Malpractice is where a practitioner has not performed with a reasonable degree of skill and care, resulting in possible injury or loss to the patient.

Professional Indemnity refers to a cover which indemnifies (i.e. protects) the practitioner against any allegations of loss arising from the conduct of his/her occupation, whether treating or not. This can cover financial loss due to inadequate or incorrect advice, consultancy work etc, and applies where injury has not been caused.

Public Liability

This covers liability at law for causing injury to other people (not necessarily clients/patients) for damage to their property, provided that no treatment or advice was the reason for the incident.

Product Liability

This covers you for any defect in goods (e.g. medicines, supplements and health aids) sold, supplied or demonstrated to your patients/clients, which may cause injury or damage. Even if you did not manufacture the item concerned and innocently passed it on, under EEC directive, the Consumer Protection Act etc, you will still be initially held liable.

Limit of Liability: £1,000,000 any one claim and in all during the period of insurance.

In addition, the policy also provides:

• Unlimited Retroactive Cover for previous work performed – no charge if joining from other schemes.
• Wide definition of cover is clear and is not restricted to treatment only. Covers claims made against you for allegations of Malpractice, Errors or Omissions, as a result of your conduct of occupation including teaching and supervision (separate cover available for running a training establishment where you provide a qualification).
• Free unlimited run-off for members in event of Death, Permanent Disability or Permanent Retirement.
• Covers Breach of Confidentiality and Libel/ Slander, Voluntary Work and good Samaritan acts.
• Animal Therapy can be included for an additional cost of 20% maximum £5,000 value any one claim.
• 1 year free run-off for disability or serious illness or Maternity Leave or other temporary cessation of practice. Unlimited run off as long as the underwriter continues to be the same. H & L Balen undertake to transfer this if we have to move the scheme elsewhere.
• Cover for others as a result of work you may do, e.g. corporate environments for employee's treatments, etc.
• Voluntary and Good Samaritan acts included.
• Loss of documents cover up to £5,000 for reinstatement of records or items in your custody.
• Our Claims Made wording is unusually flexible, and providing you have not had any incidents arising, which could give rise to a claim, we can normally backdate. This ensures that there is no gap in cover.
• Multi-therapy cover for most therapies as per comprehensive list. NB there is no cover for running a website.

The climate of litigation is increasing due to the current blame culture that prevails. We are finding that claims incidents and allegations of sexual impropriety or assault are on the increase. We extend your protection to include this as well as many other situations that can happen in practise, whether voluntary or for payment. The cover is generous and the exclusion are few. Here are some of the salient features:

• Wide range of free 24 hour Advicelines, including Legal Advice on any matter and UK Law Tax advice.
• Jury or Witness Service Compensation up to £100,000. This will include legal costs to defend any allegations of sexual impropriety/assault arising from your therapy practice immediately (not only after acquittal), as well as Data Protection and other legislation cover, wrongful arrest, actions against you for unlawful discrimination, etc, etc.
• Negotiation and representation (even including accountants fees) up to £25,000 in event of Inland Revenue partial or full enquiry. PAYE and Social Security Regulations Cover are also included. (Insurers find that their average small claim for a tax investigation is £7,000.) Business Assistance Helpline for emergencies.
• Confidential Counselling Helpline by qualified counsellors for you and your family in times of crisis or stress. Telephone advice and support without limit on the number of times you can call.
• Disciplinary Hearings Defence and Legal Expenses if you lose statutory licence to practise.

A range of other Specialist Insurance and Financial Services are available from Balens to help you in your practice and protect you and your family, including:

• Therapy Room Cover
• Household Insurance
• Personal Accident
• Flexible Mortgage
• Personal Pension
• Income Protection Scheme

Joining the Block Scheme

If you would like to join the Block Scheme, simply complete the Application Forms included with your Membership Pack and return them, together with your payment, to:

H & L Balen & Company
33 Graham Road
Great Malvern
Worcs
WR14 2HU

If you are already a member of a different scheme, but would like to join the Block Scheme when your cover expires, return the Application Forms to H & L Balen & Company together with the appropriate quarterly payment:

SHORT PERIOD RATE TABLE FOR NEW MEMBERS

• Your Scheme has common renewal date for all Members of 16th December.

• In order to take your cover round to this date, the premiums reduce according to when you join as per the table below.

• Cover will start as soon as we receive these together with your remittance.

• Please remember that certain loadings will apply to the premiums in these tables, for example extra for Eire, certain Invasive or Higher Risk Therapies to be referred.