When we are unlikely to provide support

We carefully consider each request for help. The following are examples of when we are unlikely to provide support.

Matters which can be covered by other insurances and organisations providing indemnity

• Matters where you, or another person you are vicariously liable for, are entitled to indemnity under an insurance policy or an NHS scheme, or (unless on the first or second year of a Foundation programme or a newly qualified dental professional in the first year after graduation) are entitled to ask for help from another defence organisation.
• Claims arising from your vicarious liability for any act or omission (failure to act) of a registered medical or dental practitioner, or any person providing laboratory or other service to the medical, dental or allied professions.
• Claims arising from the clinical practice of your partner in a firm, including a general dental practice.
• Claims relating to property, including its damage or destruction.
• Claims relating to making, distributing or selling any product.
• Pollution or environmental claims, other than relating to treating an individual patient who is injured or ill as a result of pollution.
• Claims arising from material published or broadcast by you, or on your behalf, or to which you have contributed.

Matters of deliberate, reckless or criminal acts

• Defending of criminal charges arising from activities not related to the normal treatment of a patient, for example assault of a colleague or motoring offences.
• Any matters arising from a criminal act which you have admitted or which has been proven, including damages or fines resulting from such an act.
• Claims arising from unlawfully selling, supplying or using any substance.
• Any matters arising from you (or anyone you have vicarious liability for) deliberately intending to cause harm or practising in a manner that does not align with the ethics and expectations of the profession including, but not limited to, your or their knowing (or obvious) dishonest, fraudulent, malicious or reckless acts or omissions (including retrospectively altering dental or other records).
• Damages awarded for a claim which arises from allegations of sexual harassment, sexual misconduct, unlawful discrimination or any other alleged unlawful conduct by you, which arises from your clinical practice or a Good Samaritan act, and legal costs for any matter which is proven or admitted.
• Damages awarded for a claim which arises from the failure to properly sterilise equipment or materials.
• Defending allegations of personal misconduct (as distinct from clinical issues) in local disciplinary investigations or hearings.

Matters of commercial interest

• Partnership, employment or agency disputes, or compensation claims.
• Fee scales and recovery of charges for work you have carried out.
• Withholding of your pay in conjunction with a disciplinary hearing.
• Issues arising from commercial contracts or arrangements, or related to any trading or personal debt you may have, including claims arising from your insolvency or bankruptcy.
• Investigations by competition authorities.
• Any indirect or consequential loss, or loss of profits or earnings by you.

Other matters which may not be in the wider interests of DDU members

• Your personal costs arising from your attendance at court, hearings or meetings with us about your case, or the costs of any locum cover you may arrange.
• Claims made by someone who is not the recipient about reports you have provided, if the subject of that report is a general clinical matter and not about a patient.
• Any matters arising from your private practice where we or the Clinical Negligence Scheme for Trusts (CNST) are not your indemnifier for clinical negligence claims arising from the work.
• Any issues arising from your failure to achieve educational or training standards necessary, for example failing exams.
• Damages awarded in a claim for defamation against you arising from your clinical practice or a Good Samaritan act.
• Legal expenses or costs if you follow up on a grievance or claim of defamation or discrimination against someone else.

If you are not sure whether indemnity can be made available for a particular area of your work, please call our membership team on 0800 085 0614.