The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 272 No 7292 p370
27 March 2004

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Boots withdraws indemnity cover for locums

Boots no longer provides professional indemnity cover for locums working in its stores. They now have to use other indemnity arrangements to cover their activities. The company’s deputy pharmacy superintendent Steve Churton said that Boots had indicated its position to major locum suppliers last year so that locums could make arrangements in good time to obtain personal cover.

The Pharmacists’ Defence Association, a provider of indemnity protection for pharmacists, says that the decision will result in some locums having to take out independent insurance for the first time. Director Mark Koziol says that this will now give locums the opportunity to protect themselves, regardless of whom they are working for, and be in charge of their own defence.

The National Pharmaceutical Association chief executive, John D’Arcy, says that the NPA’s wholly owned subsidiary PPI can offer individual pharmacist policies to locums who wish to work for Boots. When working for NPA members, locums are covered by the member’s Chemists Defence Association professional insurance and defence cover.