As a financial member of the Association of Hospital Pharmacists your union membership provides you with professional indemnity insurance cover effective from 1 April 2017. The policy is a group insurance policy taken out by the Health Services Union Victorian No. 4 Branch with Vero Insurance Limited. The Policy Number is LPP104157881. The policy document is available for inspection during office hours at our offices.
A summary of the key features of the policy are as follows:
- The insurance covers all AHP members who are in employment at a private or public hospital or health service, or at a community health service, for incidents of professional negligence. Members must also be members of the HSU Victoria No 4 Branch as well as the AHP. (Your subscription to the AHP covers membership of HSU#4).
- Cover extends to AHP members in private practice, provided that the member is a sole trader, and income from private practice does not exceed $25,000 gross in a financial year.
- The sum insured is, in the case of professional negligence, up to $20,000,000 per claim (and $80,000,000 in the aggregate per annum), inclusive of legal expenses associated with the claim. The same amount of cover extends to libel and slander; actions arising out of the Trades Practices Act; lost documents; Good Samaritan acts and public liability.
- The policy covers legal representation before the Pharmacy Board or for any Court appearance arising out of your occupation including coronial inquiries, and legal expenses arising from wrongful dismissal, defamation actions, sexual harassment, etc. In the case of legal expenses associated with employment matters, the cover is up to $100,000 per claim and $700,000 in the aggregate per annum.
- The cover extends to libel and slander; actions arising out of the Trades Practices Act; lost documents; coronial inquiries, good Samaritan acts and public liability.
- No excess applies, except for legal representation associated with employment matters, where the excess is $250.
- There is unlimited retroactive cover, excluding any known claims or circumstances prior to the renewal of the insurance which have not been declared.
- Cover continues after retirement from, or ceasing to work as, a pharmacist in a public or private health service in Victoria provided that you were a financial member of the AHP/HSU at the time of the incident under claim. Any known claims or circumstances prior to the renewal of the insurance which have not been declared are excluded.
- You are covered for claims which arise after your membership ceases, provided that the act, error or omission giving rise to the claim occurred prior to the expiration of the financial membership, and you resign from the union for bona fide reasons.
- Exclusion – use of any instrument contacting or penetrating skin tissue unless the instrument has been (a) used only once and discarded, or (b) is sterilised prior to reuse in accordance with the relevant health regulations.
- Members MUST report any circumstances which may lead to a claim IMMEDIATELY to the union office, as the policy is issued on a ‘claims made’ wording, which stipulates that all known circumstances must be reported to the insurer during the policy period. Failure to do so may lead to a claim being denied by the insurer.
Download a Professional indemnity insurance incident notification form here
