Medical Centre & Dental Surgery Property Insurance
This page is about the premises: the building, the equipment in it and the income that depends on being able to use it. It does not cover clinical treatment. Negligence in diagnosis or treatment is answered by medical malpractice insurance, a defence organisation's indemnity or, for some NHS services, a state backed scheme, and a property policy will not respond to a patient's claim that the treatment itself went wrong. Both are usually needed, and they are arranged separately.
What makes a clinic different from an ordinary office is the equipment and the plumbing. A dental surgery has chairs plumbed into water, air and suction, imaging equipment, autoclaves that are pressure vessels in law, and compressors running in a plant cupboard. A private clinic may have lasers, diagnostic equipment and medicine fridges whose contents are worth more than the furniture around them.
Moving out after a fire is also harder than it looks. A practice cannot simply rent the empty unit next door and carry on: surgeries need plumbing, ventilation, decontamination rooms and radiation shielding where X-rays are taken, and a registered provider may need to tell the regulator about a change of location. Loss of income cover has to allow for that delay.
We can advise practice owners, partnerships, clinic operators and landlords of healthcare buildings on insuring the premises, the equipment and the income, and on where the property cover stops and the clinical cover has to start.
Common claims and risk exposures
The exposures that produce claims in this trade, rather than a generic list.
Specialist equipment in a small space
Dental chairs and delivery units, intraoral and panoramic X-ray units, cone beam scanners, autoclaves and washer disinfectors concentrate a large equipment value into a few rooms. Damage from fire, water or a power surge can take several surgeries out of use at once, and replacement parts and engineers are not always quickly available.
Water, suction and compressed air
Each dental chair has water and drainage connections, and the suction and compressor plant runs constantly through the working day. A failed fitting under a chair or in a plant room on an upper floor can cause escape of water damage to the surgery below and to neighbouring units in a parade or health centre.
Medicine and vaccine fridges
Vaccines, insulin, biologics and some cosmetic treatment products need to be kept within a narrow temperature range. A fridge failure or a power cut overnight can mean the whole stock has to be destroyed, even where nothing looks damaged, because the cold chain cannot be shown to have held.
Getting back to treating patients
A practice that cannot see patients still pays staff, associates and lease costs. Fitting out temporary or replacement surgeries can take months, and a regulated provider may need to deal with registration matters for new premises before it can use them, which lengthens the interruption.
Patients and visitors on the premises
A surgery has a steady flow of the public, some elderly, unwell or recovering from sedation. Slips in waiting areas, falls on steps and ramps and injuries in car parks are premises claims, separate from anything arising from the treatment itself.
The cover we arrange
We arrange insurance around the property, its use, construction, occupancy and ownership structure. The cover available will depend on the individual risk and the terms offered by insurers.
Buildings or tenant's improvements
An owner occupier insures the building on a reinstatement basis. A practice that leases its premises usually insures the fit out it paid for instead: surgery plumbing, partitioning, decontamination rooms and any lead lining or shielding installed for X-ray rooms.
- Structure on a reinstatement basis
- Surgery fit out and tenant's improvements
- Radiation shielding and lead lining
- Professional fees and debris removal
Equipment and contents
Chairs, imaging, autoclaves, compressors, IT and furniture on a new for old basis where available. Portable items taken to other sites, such as laptops or equipment used at a satellite clinic, may need to be specified.
- Dental chairs and delivery units
- Imaging and diagnostic equipment
- Autoclaves, compressors and suction plant
- Practice IT and patient record systems
Equipment breakdown
Sudden electrical or mechanical breakdown of equipment, which an ordinary property section usually does not cover. On a practice with expensive imaging and decontamination equipment it is often worth more than the theft cover.
- Breakdown of imaging and treatment equipment
- Compressor and suction plant failure
- Hire of replacement equipment where included
- Data reinstatement after a system failure
Deterioration of stock
Medicines, vaccines and temperature sensitive products spoiled by a rise or fall in temperature after fridge breakdown or a power failure. Insurers commonly expect temperature monitoring and may set conditions around alarms and checks.
- Fridge breakdown and power failure
- Vaccines, medicines and treatment products
- Temperature alarm conditions
- Limits set to the value usually held
Business interruption
Loss of income, or increased costs of working, while the practice cannot treat patients after insured damage. For an NHS contract practice the basis of cover needs careful thought, because income may be structured differently from a purely private clinic.
- Loss of gross profit or fee income
- Temporary premises and hire of surgeries
- Indemnity period long enough to refit
- Rent for landlords of healthcare buildings
Public and products liability
Injury to patients and visitors arising from the premises rather than the treatment. Employers' liability is legally required once you employ staff and can be arranged where required, subject to the policy terms.
- Slips and falls in waiting areas
- Car parks, ramps and entrances
- Employers' liability where required
- Kept separate from clinical negligence cover
What an underwriter will ask
Having these to hand shortens the process considerably, and usually improves the terms.
- Whether you own the building, lease it, or own it and let it to a practice
- Type of practice: general dental, GP, private clinic, aesthetics, physiotherapy or diagnostics
- Values of chairs, imaging, autoclaves and other specialist equipment
- Where compressors, suction plant and autoclaves are sited, and their maintenance
- Value of medicines and vaccines held and how fridge temperatures are monitored
- Whether X-ray rooms are shielded and who installed and maintains the equipment
- Annual income, how it is made up, and how long a full refit would take
- Fire and intruder alarms, controlled drug storage and security of the premises
What affects the cost of your insurance?
The main factors insurers consider when assessing the premium.
Equipment values
A practice with cone beam imaging, several fully equipped surgeries and laser equipment carries far higher contents and breakdown values than a small treatment room, and the premium follows those sums insured.
Building and location
A purpose built health centre rates differently from a converted house or a unit in a shopping parade, and flood exposure at street level matters where surgeries are on the ground floor.
Drugs held on site
Controlled drugs and high value treatment products attract theft and need secure storage. Insurers may ask about safes, cabinets and alarms before agreeing theft cover for them.
Indemnity period and income
A longer period of interruption cover costs more but reflects how long it really takes to equip surgeries and resume patient care elsewhere, which is usually longer than a practice first estimates.
Conditions and exclusions to consider
Terms vary between insurers, so treat these as the questions to ask rather than a description of any one policy.
Clinical negligence and treatment outcomes
A property and liability policy excludes claims arising from diagnosis, advice or treatment. These belong with medical malpractice cover or a defence organisation, and a practice relying on its premises policy for them would have no cover at all.
Spoilage without a monitoring condition met
Where cover for medicines depends on a temperature alarm or daily recorded checks, a fridge left unmonitored over a long weekend can leave the claim open to challenge. Keep the logs.
Gradual wear of equipment
A compressor reaching the end of its life or a chair failing through wear is maintenance. Breakdown cover answers sudden failure, and insurers may ask for evidence of servicing before paying it.
Pressure systems without inspection
Autoclaves and compressors fall under pressure systems regulations and need a written scheme of examination. Where inspection lapses, insurers may restrict cover for those items, and the statutory duty remains with whoever controls the equipment.
Common questions
Does this cover me if a patient sues over their treatment?
No. Claims about diagnosis or treatment are clinical negligence and need medical malpractice insurance, a defence organisation's indemnity or an applicable state scheme. A property and premises liability policy covers injury caused by the building, such as a fall on a wet floor in reception, not the treatment.
We lease our surgery. What should we insure?
Usually your fit out, equipment, stock and income, plus public liability. The landlord normally insures the structure. Read the lease, because some healthcare leases put the buildings insurance on the tenant, and the plumbing and shielding you installed may be yours even where the walls are not.
Are vaccines and medicines covered if the fridge fails?
They can be under a deterioration of stock section, which is not always included as standard. Many insurers expect temperature monitoring and recorded checks, so ask what the condition says and make sure the practice can evidence it.
I own the building and let it to a GP practice. Is that different?
Yes. You need landlord's buildings cover, property owners liability and loss of rent rather than practice contents and business interruption. Check what the lease says about reinstatement and rent suspension, because the indemnity period should reflect how long a healthcare building would take to rebuild and refit.
Do autoclaves need inspecting?
Autoclaves and air compressors are generally pressure systems, which need a written scheme of examination and periodic inspection by a competent person. Insurers can arrange engineering inspection alongside the policy, and some will ask for the reports.
How do I get a quote from True Risk Solutions?
Call 01304 262880 and speak to a broker, or email info@truerisksolutions.co.uk with what you do, what you need cover for and a phone number with the best time to call, and a broker will call you back. We need a phone number to quote, because the cover and the price depend on questions that are quicker to answer on a call than by email.
Related trades
Speak to a specialist who understands your industry
Tell us about your business and the work you undertake, and we will come back to you with cover options built around it. Call 01304 262880, or email us with a phone number and the best time to call and a broker will ring you back.