GPSA - GP Supervisors Australia

Medical indemnity

To become a supervisor, one of the criteria you must meet and maintain is your Medical Indemnity Cover.

What are the legal issues relating to supervision?

Apart from your normal professional indemnity insurance, you don’t require any additional insurance to be a GP supervisor. However, GP supervisors CAN be held liable for their registrars,
whether supervising on site or from a remote location. Registrars are NOT covered by their
medical indemnity insurance for any procedure for which the supervisor is not covered.

LOOKING FOR FURTHER RESOURCES?

Learn more about how the MDA National and GPSA partnership supports GP supervisors
Visit MDA National’s website: www.mdanational.com.au
‘Understand & Minimise Your Risks’ PowerPoint
GP registrar orientation checklist

What medical defence issues typically arise for supervisors?

Medico legal issues can arise if supervisors:

Fail to make supervised doctors aware of circumstances in which they MUST contact the supervisor
Do not provide regular feedback or review, and/or are inaccessible to discuss supervised doctor’s concerns
Are unaware of their registrar’s ‘blind spots’ ie things they do not realise they don’t know
Fail to promptly and/or transparently deal with errors when they occur.