Consultancy agreement for a medical or clinical adviser to a company

A clinician who advises a company brings professional obligations that do not switch off when they leave the clinic, and a company that engages one takes on rules about what can be said, claimed and paid in the clinician's name. The agreement has to define advice rather than clinical practice, respect the adviser's registration and regulator, handle any patient data, keep product claims and marketing within the law, and reflect an engagement that sits alongside the adviser's practice. I draft that agreement, for the company or for the adviser, for a fixed fee of £595, delivered in five working days. Status is checked case by case with HMRC's Check Employment Status for Tax tool, and no agreement can guarantee an individual's status.

Who this is for

Healthtech, pharmaceutical, medical device, wellbeing and care businesses in England and Wales engaging a doctor, nurse, pharmacist, dentist or allied health professional as a medical adviser, clinical lead or expert, and clinicians taking on such roles alongside their practice.

What matters in a clinical adviser's agreement

The advisory services and what the adviser does not do

The agreement should define the services (clinical input to product design, review of content and claims, training, clinical governance advice, membership of a clinical advisory board, representing the company at events) and say what the adviser does not do: treat or advise the company's customers or users as patients, prescribe, provide clinical services to individuals, or act as the responsible clinician for a regulated activity unless the agreement and the registration say so; a company that uses an adviser's name to imply clinical oversight it does not have has misled its users and exposed the adviser.

Professional obligations, registration and the regulator

The adviser remains bound by their professional regulator's standards whatever the agreement says, and the agreement should acknowledge that the adviser will act in accordance with them, may decline to do anything inconsistent with them, and must disclose the arrangement where their regulator requires; where the company's product or service is a regulated activity under the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014 or the product is a medical device under the Medical Devices Regulations 2002, the agreement should say what role, if any, the adviser plays in the company's registration or conformity, and should not make the adviser responsible for the company's compliance.

Patient data and confidentiality

Where the adviser sees user or patient data in the company's product, the agreement should limit that access, contain the processor terms Article 28 of the UK GDPR requires where the adviser processes it on the company's behalf, and recognise that health data is special category data under Article 9 with the conditions in Schedule 1 to the Data Protection Act 2018, and that patient information carries a duty of confidence; the adviser's own patients' data from their practice should never enter the company, and the agreement should say so. The company's information is confidential to the adviser.

Product claims, marketing and the rules on inducements

Claims about health benefits must be accurate and substantiated under Part 4 of the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 and the advertising codes, with medicines and devices subject to their own advertising rules, and the agreement should say that the adviser reviews claims and advises on their support but the company decides and is responsible; the use of the adviser's name, image and credentials in marketing should be licensed expressly with approval rights, and payments to a clinician who can influence prescribing or purchasing must be transparent and must not be inducements, with the Bribery Act 2010 and the industry codes on payments to healthcare professionals in view.

Status and the adviser's practice

A clinician with a practice, several appointments, control over how the advice is given and no obligation to accept further work is an independent consultant, and the agreement should say so; Where the engagement runs through the consultant's company and the client is medium or large, Chapter 10 of Part 2 of the Income Tax (Earnings and Pensions) Act 2003 shifts the status determination to the client, who applies HMRC's tool to the working practices.

Fees, notice and the limits on liability

The agreement should state the fee basis (retainer, day rate or fee per meeting), statutory interest on overdue invoices under the Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act 1998, expenses, a right for either side to end on notice, and liability capped by reference to the fees, with consequential loss excluded and the cap set at a level section 11 of the Unfair Contract Terms Act 1977 will uphold; the adviser's professional indemnity or medical defence cover usually excludes advisory work for companies, and the agreement should require the company to indemnify the adviser for claims arising from the company's use of the advice and to extend its own insurance to the adviser, or require the adviser to hold separate cover at the company's cost.

What it costs

Consultancy or contractor agreement, £595. Drafted for your business. Five working days.

Template set for repeat use, £895. One master agreement plus a short-form schedule you can reuse for every engagement. Five working days.

Buying online forms the engagement on payment. The scope is what the consultancy and contractor agreements page describes, you accept the Terms of Service at checkout, and I email you within four working hours to get started. If you would rather ask something first, email me.

What you get

• A clear, express assignment of intellectual property to your business
• Confidentiality provisions that protect your business information
• Restrictive covenants drafted at a scope a court will uphold
• Clear treatment of status, so the arrangement is not accidentally something else
• Payment, deliverables and termination provisions that match how you work
• A reusable structure, so the next engagement costs you nothing

What is not included

• Employment status determinations and off-payroll working assessments, which need your accountant
• Tax advice
• Disputes with a contractor you have already engaged
• Immigration and right to work compliance

Questions I am often asked

Can we describe our app as 'clinically led by Dr X'?

Only with the adviser's licence to use their name and credentials, approval of the wording, and a role that matches the description. The agreement licenses the use and keeps the company responsible for the claim.

Does the adviser's medical indemnity cover their advice to us?

Usually not; practice cover is for clinical work with patients. The agreement requires the company to indemnify the adviser for the company's use of the advice and to arrange cover, or to pay for the adviser's separate policy.

Can we pay an NHS consultant to advise us?

It is permitted, with transparency, within their employer's and regulator's rules on outside work, and without any link to prescribing or purchasing decisions that could be an inducement. The agreement states the fee and the role and requires the disclosures.

Related guidance and services

• Consultancy and contractor agreements, £595, the service this page describes
• Contract review, £495
• Employment contracts and handbooks, £595
• Terms for a SaaS product handling health data
• Consultancy agreement for a non-executive adviser

This page is general guidance for businesses in England and Wales, not advice on your own circumstances. Last reviewed: October 2026. Email geoffrey@caesar.co.uk.