Indemnity Insurance

R6.1.1 Professional practice – indemnity cover

Registrants must have appropriate and adequate professional indemnity insurance and products liability insurance in place for the full scope of work they undertake.

This is a legal requirement under the Opticians Act 1989 and a condition of registration with the General Optical Council (GOC).

Practice owners must ensure that:
– All dispensing opticians working within the practice are appropriately insured
– Individuals working under their supervision are covered where required
– The level of indemnity cover is reviewed at least annually
– The scope of cover reflects the services provided, including any enhanced, extended or NHS-commissioned services

Registrants providing enhanced or extended services (including accredited Extended Services Contact Lens Opticians) must ensure that their indemnity cover explicitly includes those services.

Extended Services CLOs must notify ABDO Membership and ensure their professional indemnity insurance is upgraded before delivering accredited extended services in practice.

Failure to secure appropriate cover for extended or enhanced services may leave the registrant personally liable in the event of a claim.

Possession of appropriate indemnity insurance is a condition of full ABDO membership.

References – R6.1.1
Opticians Act 1989
General Optical Council Standards of Practice

R6.1.2 Professional practice – student indemnity

The GOC requires student dispensing opticians and student contact lens opticians to be registered and appropriately insured while undertaking supervised clinical training.

Student indemnity insurance cannot be issued independently under ABDO’s scheme and must be included within the supervising registrant’s policy.

Supervisors must:
– Notify ABDO’s insurers of the student’s details
– Ensure the student is formally included under the policy
– Confirm that the scope of training activities is covered

Student CLOs must similarly be insured under the supervising practitioner’s policy.

References – R6.2.1
Opticians Act 1989
General Optical Council Standards for Optical Students

R6.3.1 Professional practice – scope of cover

Registrants working in more than one business (for example as locums) must ensure that appropriate indemnity cover applies to each place of work.

Cover provided by one employer does not automatically extend to work undertaken elsewhere.

Registrants should:
– Confirm the extent and limitations of any employer-provided policy
– Ensure they have appropriate personal indemnity cover where necessary
– Verify that products liability cover applies where they supply appliances

Failure to ensure adequate cover may expose the registrant to personal liability.

R6.4.1 Professional practice – maintaining protection

Claims may arise many years after the event giving rise to the complaint.

Registrants must ensure appropriate continuity of indemnity cover when:
– Changing insurers
– Taking a career break
– Reducing scope of practice
– Retiring from practice
This may require securing “run-off” cover to protect against historic claims.

Registrants remain personally accountable for ensuring adequate indemnity protection throughout and beyond their practising career.

References – R6.4.1
General Optical Council Standards of Practice