Why mutual defence bodies are the best

Why we will fight to stay a mutual. Defence body boss Chris Kenny explains his thinking in the face of Government proposals advocating the merits of insurance rather than discretionary cover provided by the traditional medical defence organisations.

For more than 110 years, through good times and bad, we have chosen to retain our status as a mutual indemnifier because this has allowed us to always put the interests of our members first.

The Medical and Dental Defence Union of Scotland (MDDUS) is a member-owned, not-for-profit medical defence organisation for doctors, dentists and healthcare professionals. We have no shareholders and instead exist to protect the interests of our members and represent their collective voice.

In today’s fast-moving, commercial world, I have found it can be challenging to try to capture the unique benefits of mutuality in a real-time example.

The integrated service defined by personal connection and professional expertise you get from a medical defence organisation like MDDUS is a given. 

What does mutuality offer?

But, when it comes to measuring impact on independent practitioners’ bottom line, what does mutuality and discretionary indem­nity offer independent practitioners that a typical insurance company product simply cannot?