ANFTAS | Archive | National Registration and Accreditation Scheme

Professional Indemnity Insurance Revised Standards

The Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia (NMBA) states that nurses and midwives must not practice unless they are covered by appropriate Professional Indemnity Insurance (PII) which covers the full scope of their practice.

PII refers to protection against claims for loss, injury or damage to a third party arising from an act, error or omission in the performance of a nurse or midwife’s professional services.

The NMBA has recently released two new documents:

(i) Professional indemnity insurance arrangements registration standard and;

(ii) Guidelines for professional indemnity insurance arrangements for midwives.

Both are effective from 10 January 2012.

The registration standard recommends that the following types of PII cover be considered

(a) Civil Liability Cover – Protection against claims for loss, injury or damage arising from an act, error or omission in the professional conduct of a nurse and/or midwife.

(b) Retroactive Cover – PII for claims arising out of or as a consequence of conduct undertaken by a nurse and/or midwife in their professional practice.

(c) Run-Off Cover – PII for those practitioners who have ceased the professional practice of nursing and/or midwifery for claims that may arise as a result of the activities undertaken by them when they were practising.

It is the responsibility of the nurse and/or midwife to ensure that they have adequate PII cover and that they understand the nature of the cover under which they are practising.

Due to the discretionary nature of the provision of indemnity under Ministerial Direction Number 8, ANF does not believe that public sector nurses in Tasmania have the appropriate level of insurance cover from their employer (DHHS).

The ANF (Tas Branch) has taken legal advice in relation to the suitability of MD8 for the purposes of indemnification and has been advised that, despite the assurances of the Minister, this policy is not insurance and falls short of the necessary requirements.

All ANF members have full PII arrangements which meet the new standards included in your membership. A certificate confirming your PII arrangements can be obtained from the ANF Information Line.

If you have any queries please do not hesitate to contact the ANF Information Office on 6223 6777, 1800 001 241 (outside Hobart area) or email info@anftas.org.