MDDUS saw a 9.4 per cent increase in total active membership in 2014 and as of mid-June 2015 that number was just short of 40,000.
These figures are reported in the 2014 MDDUS Annual Report and Accounts published in advance of the Union’s AGM in September.
GP membership in 2014 increased by 10.8 per cent overall and by 16 per cent outside Scotland, with our share of the all-UK GP market now standing at over 23 per cent. Membership among hospital doctors also increased by 6.9 per cent.
Dental membership in Scotland remained stable in 2014 but we saw exceptional growth in the rest of the UK with numbers increasing by 25 per cent. It is likely that English dental membership will overtake Scottish in the course of 2015.
This sustained growth is built on a firm commitment to quality, says CEO Chris Kenny. "Throughout the year MDDUS has continued to offer the personalised, rapid and flexible service on which we have built our reputation in medico- and dento-legal advisory work, support for members in legal proceedings and day-to-day handling of subscriptions and queries."
Our Medical Advisory team handled over 9,600 telephone calls for advice in 2014, an increase of 13 per cent from 2013, and were pleased to report that 87 per cent were answered at first contact by a trained adviser able to deal with the enquiry. The Dental Advisory team dealt with 2,261 advice calls in 2014, also a 13 per cent increase over the previous year.
Calls to our Membership Department also increased in 2014, with the team handling over 37,000 telephone contacts and responding to these within 10 seconds on average.
Growth in active membership of MDDUS – along with what seems an increasingly litigious medico-legal environment – led to a significant rise in the number of claims for clinical negligence against members in 2014. The number of claims intimated against medical and dental members across the UK increased by 17.9 per cent over the previous year. This overall increase reflected a 21.9 per cent rise in claims notified against GPs, and an 18.8 per cent rise in claims notified against GDPs and hospital dentists. But on the plus side we can report that MDDUS managed to successfully conclude over 75 per cent of claims without any payment as a three-year average to 2014.
We have also seen an increase in the number of members subject to investigation by their regulatory body in 2014, and this trend was particularly marked in relation to GDC investigations, with a 37 per cent increase in case numbers on the previous year.
This page was correct at the time of publication. Any guidance is intended as general guidance for members only. If you are a member and need specific advice relating to your own circumstances, please contact one of our advisers.