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MDDUS grows London legal team in response to English GP demand

The Medical and Dental Defence Union of Scotland has grown its advisory team after it announced that it now has more members south of the border than in Scotland.

The Glasgow-based medical indemnity provider has hired three new medico-legal advisers for its London office, with the expansion coming in response to the MDDUS now having more members south of the border than in Scotland. It said that figures from last year show almost 17% of GPs in England are now members of MDDUS compared with around 9% in 2006.

It comes after MDU also ramped up its legal team, saying this was in response to growing number of cases against doctors.

Chief executive professor Gordon Dickson said one of the reasons for the growing number of English members was pricing.

He said: ‘We recently commissioned a national market research study that found, among other things, the key factors influencing doctors or dentists in their choice of defence body were price and immediate access to professional advice.

‘Increased membership brings with it an inevitable increase in cases and we have expanded our team of advisers in our London office to ensure we continue to offer members the very best service.’

The three new recruits to the legal team includes a former GP, Dr Caroline Osborne-White, who is now a medical defence paralegal.

Pulse recently reported that medical defence costs for average GPs has risen to almost £7,000 per year at some providers.