Speak Out April 2021

Mentoring & supervision

Supervision & professional indemnity insurance

Supervising allied health assistants Allied Health Assistants involved in the delivery of speech pathology services should be under the supervision of a qualified speech pathologist. In some situations, depending on the employment arrangement, a provider’s indemnity insurance will cover the supervised work carried out by an AHA. However, the insurer should always be made aware where an AHA will be working with clients. Insurance cover for AHAs becomes more nuanced for practice owners. Practices have liability for employees, including errors and omissions of AHAs who are supervised by a speech pathologist in the practice. Practices generally do not have liability for independent contractors, although they can still be held vicariously liable for the actions of AHAs working as contractors in the business. Where a practice contracts an AHA through a 3rd party company, the AHA’s work arrangement, (i.e., whether they are an independent contractor or an employee of the 3rd party company), will have implications for direct and vicarious liability for each party. Wherever an AHA works as an independent contractor, they should maintain their own indemnity cover as they could be sued as an individual entity. In every AHA work arrangement, it is important for practice owners and supervisors to have a clear understanding of each party’s cover and liability, and to seek guidance from insurers. SPA has collaborated with Guild Insurance to produce a helpful FAQ document on these and other questions, which can be found on the Association’s Professional Indemnity webpage. Nathan Cornish-Raley Professional Support Advisor psa@speechpathologyaustralia.org.au

The Association recommends that speech pathologists in all sectors maintain individual professional indemnity insurance cover. This is consistent with the National Code of Conduct , which requires health care workers to be covered by appropriate insurance. Although certain sectors or individual practices may provide indemnity cover to employees, there could be gaps in a workplace policy that might be problematic if a complaint should arise. Even where a speech pathologist is not found liable, there can be significant legal costs to defending an allegation. Speech pathologists who offer clinical supervision or who supervise Allied Health Assistants (AHAs) sometimes have questions regarding professional indemnity. There are a few considerations that members should make in these situations. Clinical supervision Guild Insurance have advised SPA that supervisors are generally not responsible for the practice of the speech pathologists that they supervise. However, it can be argued that a supervisor owes a duty of care to their supervisee’s clients, and it is possible for supervisors to become caught up in a liability action. Professional indemnity cover is advisable to offer supervisors coverage for legal defence costs. In most situations, speech pathologists who offer supervision outside their usual workplace (external supervision) would not be covered by an employer’s professional indemnity insurance. Speech pathologists working in the public sector may be covered for a limited number of supervision hours in private practice work. However, in all cases it would be prudent for speech pathologists who offer external supervision to consult their insurance provider and seek an individual policy where needed.

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April 2021 | Speak Out