What is DDPU?

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  • 9 BELGRAVE AVENUE URMSTON, MANCHESTER M41 8SR.
  • 0161 870 2193
  • DDPU.CO.UK

Our Aim

Complete Professional Defence

The Doctors and Dentists Protection Union (DDPU) model is aimed at providing seamless, holistic and complete professional defence in UK. We now deliver our support in collaboration with HCSA and members of DDPU also receive full membership of HCSA.

Together with HCSA, we have a dedicated team of medical employment experts and medico-legal advisers working closely together; the team’s expertise is comprehensive, spanning across training, employment, contractual and regulatory issues.

We recognise that in addition to robust defence a practitioner facing professional difficulty needs wider support. Such practitioners find themselves professionally isolated and frequently confronted with health, personal, social and financial issues. While we cannot provide an all encompassing support in all these areas, we do recognise the importance of wider support for them and do endeavor to support them in these areas. The unpleasantness and stress of a disciplinary investigation is well known and well recognised. At the DDPU we firmly believe in prevention; our members are encouraged to seek our assistance at the earliest, so that issues are addressed before they escalate.

For this reason we believe that our approach and services are comprehensive and unique.

DDPU - HCSA collaboration: what’s on offer?

Background

Since its inception in 2013, DDPU has always provided comprehensive defence in employment, training and regulatory matters. Unlike other MDOs, DDPU provides GMC cover without any exclusion. DDPU however is not a trade union and previously, DDPU members have not had the protection of trade union membership. In addition, DDPU operates from Manchester and DDPU has not been able to provide support locally across the UK.

The HCSA is a trade union and provides cover for complete range of medical employment law issues (such as contract checking, pay queries, job planning, rota checking all the way to advice on submitting grievances and MPHS investigations). HCSA members would then need to have membership of a medical defence organisation (MDO) for cover before the GMC, assistance with responding to complaints, support in coroner’s inquests and fatal accident inquiries and support in some disciplinary investigations and criminal investigations. However, the support provided by MDOs other than DDPU is incomplete and patchy. This set up also has the disadvantage that practitioners are members of two different organisations who separately deal with employment law and clinical issues. If a member is investigated with regard to a conduct issue, managed by the HCSA, but then referred to the regulator (GMC or GDC), the MDO will not have been involved in the initial trust level investigation. Further, the MDO (other than DDPU) may refuse cover in the GMC if in their opinion the issue relates to “personal conduct”.

The DDPU-HCSA collaboration means that members will have comprehensive support and both employment law and clinical/regulatory issues will be managed under one roof. The seamless management of cases means that there is no need for members to have two distinct membership and members do not have to explain everything twice to two different organisations who may have different views on how to manage the situation. The employment law specialists at the HCSA work hand in hand with the GMC and clinical experts at DDPU. Members will have trade union membership as well as local support from both organisations.