As a practice principal, you can face a claim from a patient you’ve never treated – because with vicarious liability and non-delegable duty of care claims, you can be held responsible for the work of your colleagues.
Our practice principal memberships protect you against these claims, and our award-winning defence team are ready to fight your corner if ever you face one. Here you’ll find everything you need to make sure you’re fully protected, along with powerful resources giving you insight into the risks you face.
Practice principal membership
Including vicarious liability and non-delegable duty of care protection
If you are a practice principle who has only ever owned five or fewer non-incorporated practices, protection against vicarious liability (VL) and/or non-delegable duty of care (NDDC) claims are included in your membership at no extra cost. This protection applies to claims arising from both past and future work, for practice principals in membership on or after 1 June 2021.
Company Protection membership
Protection against VL and NDDC claims if your practice is incorporated
If your business is a limited company, you also need Company Protection membership – because as practice principal you can be held responsible if a complaint or claim is brought against the company. Company Protection is provided on a claims-made basis, which means you can request support for claims or complaints arising from incidents that occur during the company’s current membership with Dental Protection.
“I missed my son’s birthday because I was in court. Defending a claim from a patient I’d never met.”
Read the story of our Global Dental Adviser, Dr Raj Rattan, who faced simultaneous VL and NDDC claims years after selling his practice – in a case that lasted four years and took him to the High Court.
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Vicarious liability claim – non-incorporated practice
One day, everything changed in a heartbeat. I received a Letter of Claim from solicitors, and it completely took me by surprise.
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Vicarious liability claim – Non-Delegable Duty of Care
We never imagined a scenario where our practice could be pulled into a clinical negligence claim – especially one that didn’t directly involve either of us as the treating dentists.
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Vicarious liability claim – no indemnity
One day, we received a Letter of Claim that took us by surprise. It concerned a previous long-standing patient of the practice who had never expressed any dissatisfaction with the treatment they had received.
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Latest updates and resources
*Included as standard for practice principal members with five or fewer non-incorporated practices. "Dental services" relates to the practice of dentistry and procedures that fall within the GDC scope of practice for each registrant group. Any other procedures would need to be individually approved.