Who we are

MPS is a mutual society of healthcare professionals originally formed in 1892 to provide support for doctors facing legal claims and to expose charlatanism and quackery.

Nowadays, MPS comprises more than 250,000 healthcare professionals representing the full spectrum of clinical specialties, from places as far apart as Ireland and New Zealand, Hong Kong and Jamaica.

Services to members have expanded over the years in order to meet the original remit – to protect and safeguard the professional reputations of individual members and the professions to which they belong. This does not mean that we are anti-patient – far from it.

We believe that patients who have been harmed through a member’s negligence should receive fair and speedy compensation. We are also committed to educating healthcare professionals, drawing on our experience to alert them to the pitfalls of practice and to keep them informed about the legal and ethical framework in which they work.

Our forebears’ concerns about quackery are less relevant today, but we still have an important role to play in ensuring that patients receive quality healthcare. In addition to our educational programmes for healthcare professionals, we are active in the political sphere, bringing our influence to bear where it is needed to enhance healthcare delivery or to oppose proposals that we consider to be detrimental.

A commitment to the ethos of mutuality – to serve the individual and common interests of members – makes MPS an entirely service-driven organisation. MPS staff have only two overriding objectives – to provide a high-quality personal service and to preserving, through good stewardship, the society’s financial health.