Benefit from expert medico-legal advice
Our service standards are critically important to us, and we are proud of the very personal level of contact, rapport and communication that we and our medicolegal advisers have with our members. In April 2020, we brought our medico-legal service in-house under the banner of ‘SEMPRIS Support’. In addition to providing legal advice on all issues arising from professional practice, the service is the primary point of contact for discussing or notifying us of a ‘circumstance’ or claim against you. SEMPRIS Support now provides a full and accessible risk management service, offering advice, education and updates to members on best practice and mitigating risk within private practice.
The service is led by Dr Michael Kyriagis, Dr Anahita Kirkpatrick and Dr Ronnie Tan, who have over 30 years’ combined experience in all aspects of medical law, including clinical negligence claims, complaints procedures, GMC and NHS disciplinary procedures. This is further supported by specialist lawyers at Keystone Law.
The service is available on 0333 444 1081 from 9am – 6pm on all working days and on a 24-hour basis for emergency calls.
Medico-Legal Advice:
Telephone: 0333 444 1081
Email: medicolegal@sempris.co.uk
Medico-Legal Principal Advisers:
Dr Michael Kyriagis MBBS (Syd), LLB (UNSW)
Michael is a dual qualified doctor and lawyer, with over 20 years’ medico-legal experience. Having practiced as a GP, Michael requalified as a lawyer in New South Wales, where he regularly acted in personal injury and clinical negligence cases, disciplinary matters and cases involving defective medical devices. Michael worked for the Medical Defence Union and Marketform as a Senior Medical Claims Handler where he was responsible for a variety of complex and high value claims.
Admitted to practise as a solicitor in NSW, England & Wales and a registered medical practitioner with the NSW Medical Board and GMC, Michael has been advising and supporting SEMPRIS members since January 2015.
Dr Anahita Kirkpatrick MBBS BSc
Anahita qualified in Medicine from Guy’s and St Thomas Hospital having also obtained an intercalated BSc in Psychology. She trained in Psychiatry on the Southeast London rotation based at Guy’s Hospital up to Registrar level before moving into the area of Medico-legal work. Anahita has been advising and assisting doctors with legal aspects of their clinical work for over 20 years and has also trained doctors in medico-legal work.
Dr Ronnie Tan
Dr Ronnie Tan is a dual qualified medical doctor and lawyer and previously ran the medico-legal helpline for SEMPRIS members at DWF Claims. He read medicine at The University of Manchester and completed clinical rotations at Salford Royal NHS Foundation Trust, as well as in general practice and clinical research. He then studied Law and qualified as a solicitor, working exclusively in the field of medicine malpractice. Representing both claimants and defendants at large national law firms, Dr Ronnie has held positions at Medical Protection, managing claims on behalf of members in the UK and South Africa. Passionate about education and ongoing development, Dr Ronnie has obtained an LLM Master of Laws in Medical Law and has prepared training webinars, articles and case studies. Ronnie has recently completed his CII Level 4 Diploma in Insurance.
Joanne Staphnill – Partner – Keystone Law
After reading Law at Cambridge, Joanne was called to the Bar in 2003 and her work in pupillage included many clinical negligence and high-value personal injury cases. She re-qualified as a solicitor in 2006, and since then has regularly defended clinical negligence claims and has excellent experience in resolving claims through the pre-action protocol, alternative dispute resolutions and through the courts.
Joanne always aims to understand whether a claim may affect the clinician’s professional reputation and takes pride in guiding clients who are unfamiliar with the legal process.
Joanne and the Keystone Law team continue to provide legal assistance and support and she produces extensive risk management materials for SEMPRIS members.