Individual Indemnity Insurance

The Department of Health is reported to have recently withdrawn it’s proposals to force all registered nurses to get their own indemnity insurance.

Dr Peter Carter of the Royal College of Nursing reported that the DH were proposing to make individual indemnity insurance a condition of registration, and that they wanted to push the legislation through very rapidly.

As Dr Carter rightly pointed out, this would shift the responsibility for insurance from the employer to the individual thus placing the entirety of nursing practice in the hands of the insurance industry. The RCN conveyed its “serious reservations” about the proposal and the Nursing Times today confirms that the DH are withdrawing the proposals and sending them back to be reviewed.

This is great news, as it would have lumped the cost of approximately £500 a year onto every registered nurse in the country.

Watch the RCN webcast.