Professional indemnity – Occupational therapy practice
An occupational therapist advises on adaptations that are then built or bought. If the advice turns out to be wrong, the claim is about the cost of that work, not about injury.
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In brief
The treatment relationship with your client is a medical treatment agreement within the meaning of Article 7:446 of the Dutch Civil Code. From that follows the standard in Article 7:453 DCC: you act as a good care provider, in line with the professional standard. An occupational therapy practice meets that standard above all in advice — about a home adaptation, wheelchair measurements, a hoist or the layout of a workplace. That advice is converted into expenditure by a local authority, a supplier or the client.
That is also where the insurance problem lies. If a bathroom is rebuilt on the basis of a measurement given incorrectly, nothing is broken and no one is injured: money has simply been spent that has to be spent again. That is pure financial loss, and it falls outside an ordinary public and employers' liability insurance. Only professional indemnity insurance picks this up.
At the same time, injury can certainly occur on the practice premises or during training at home: a client falls while practising a transfer, a hoist is fitted incorrectly. Make sure one policy covers both sides, or that the liability insurance for care and welfare dovetails seamlessly with the professional cover. The hub page sets out how the two products relate to each other.
This page deals with one situation. The full overview is on Compare professional indemnity insurance (BAV).
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Get coveredWhy arrange it through Finass Verzekert?
We look at the terms as well as the premium, and stay your point of contact when there is a claim.
Independent
We are not tied to one insurer and compare on the basis of an objective analysis of several companies.
One fixed adviser
You call or email someone who knows your file. No menu options, no changing call centres.
Switching without hassle
We cancel your old policy and align the start date, so you are never a day without cover.
Help with claims
We report the claim and monitor how it is handled. In urgent cases you can reach us on the emergency line.
What goes wrong in this practice
Four situations that lead to discussion with the insurer in occupational therapy more often than the size of the practice does.
Advice that leads to building costs
A doorway width passed on incorrectly, a threshold height that is wrong or a wrongly advised stairlift produces a claim for demolition and remedial costs. This is the core claim in the profession and the reason why pure financial loss cover is not optional for an occupational therapy practice. Record measurements, photographs and the reason for each piece of advice in the file; Article 7:454 of the Dutch Civil Code requires you to do so in any event.
Aids you do not make yourself
If you advise on an aid that is then supplied by a supplier and turns out to be defective, the product liability lies with the producer. If your practice sells or hires out aids itself, that changes: loss caused by a product supplied is usually excluded on the professional policy and belongs in a separate product liability section. So report sales and hire when you apply.
Loaned materials in your keeping
Walking aids, test materials or a supplier's equipment temporarily kept at your practice fall under the care, custody and control exclusion. Damage to or loss of property you have in your keeping but do not own is not covered as standard. If you do want to cover it, a care, custody and control clause or a business contents insurance with a separate section for it is needed.
Staff, interns and locums
A practice with staff is liable for mistakes by employees under Article 6:170 of the Dutch Civil Code. Interns from the training course and colleagues standing in are not automatically covered by your policy; have it established in writing who is an insured person. Lifting injuries or back complaints among your own therapists run through Article 7:658 of the Dutch Civil Code and call for employer's liability on the AVB.
What does your premium depend on?
- Turnover of the practice: the usual standard in professional liability
- Number of practitioners: including locums and therapists on the payroll
- Share of home and workplace advice: advice with structural consequences weighs more heavily than treatment
- Sale or hire of aids: brings product liability into play
- Sum insured and excess: per claim and per insurance year
- Retroactive period required: for advice you gave before the commencement date
Insurers weigh these details differently. That is where your saving is.
What is covered
| Situation | AVB | BAV |
|---|---|---|
| A local authority grants a mobility aid on the strength of your report that does not suit the disability | No | Yes |
| A client falls off the treatment couch because the brake was not locked | Yes | No |
| An absence case manager blames a failed return to work on your report about capacity for work | No | Yes |
| A client's file is sent to another client by mistake | No | Provided that |
| A health insurer reclaims treatments billed after a review | No | No |
| The electronic record system is unreachable for days after a failure and the practice is at a standstill | No | No |
A clawback by a health insurer is a payment obligation of your own and not a third party's loss; no liability policy picks that up.
Frequently asked questions
This is what people ask us most.
We advise, the local authority pays for the adaptation. Who claims then?
In reality, the party that bears the cost. If the local authority has funded an adaptation on your advice that turns out not to be usable, it can put the cost of putting it right to you under Article 6:162 of the Dutch Civil Code or for breach of contract. The fact that the money did not come from the client makes no difference to your liability. The amount is often larger, though.
Does a fall during transfer training fall under this policy?
That depends on the form of policy. For allied health professions, injury caused by the treatment itself belongs on medical liability cover. Some insurers combine that with professional liability in one policy, others separate them. Ask about this explicitly, because a policy that only covers pure financial loss leaves claims of this kind uninsured.
What happens to claims after the practice closes?
Professional liability almost always works on a claims-made basis: what counts is the moment the claim is notified, not when you gave the advice. If you stop or transfer the practice, a run-off period is needed, otherwise you are uninsured for work you did while insured. Article 7:941 of the Dutch Civil Code requires you to report a claim as soon as you can reasonably be aware of it.
Is a fine from the Inspectorate or the Autoriteit Persoonsgegevens covered?
No. Administrative fines and penalty payments are excluded on every liability policy, because they are a sanction and not compensation to an injured party. The cost of recovery and notification after a data breach in the client record can be placed on cyber insurance. The duty of confidentiality in Article 7:457 of the Dutch Civil Code also continues to apply in full.
Every situation is different. For these situations we have a separate page.
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