Medical Malpractice insurance
Key facts and frequently asked questions relating to the RCM's Medical Malpractice Insurance Policy
For more than 90% of RCM members Medical Malpractice Insurance (MMI) is very straightforward and you are covered for all of the midwifery, nursing or maternity support work you provide as a midwife, student midwife, nurse or maternity support worker under contract to the National Health Service (NHS) and other national or local authorities in the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands. This includes midwives and nurses employed to undertake nursing and midwifery duties in local government or in arms length bodies such as Public Health England. This is because these governmental bodies assume the ‘vicarious liability’ for the care services you provide.
However as contracts of employment or health care service arrangements become more complex, it is important that you understand how the RCM MMI cover applies to you.
If after reading this information you are still unsure about your cover, please contact us at membership@rcm.org.uk.
The RCM provides MMI cover for full midwife and maternity support worker members employed in providing health care services through the National Health Service (NHS) or other national or local authorities charged by the United Kingdom Government (including Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland) to provide health and social services directly, through agencies or through an NHS or national or local authority contract.
It also covers midwife teacher members employed in universities with arrangements with the NHS, and student midwife members undertaking clinical and elective placements in the UK. Coverage is also extended on the same basis to national or local authorities in the Isle of Man or the Channel Islands and the British Armed Forces.
In addition, some members who operate under the basis described above may be additionally engaged in giving care in other settings, including:
- on an occasional basis and in their own time providing some additional maternity care or related services,
- undertaking voluntary work either in the UK or overseas,
- undertaking overseas elective placements as a student midwife
Whilst the RCM cannot give a blanket extension to our Insurance, we can provide cover for these activities in some circumstances, and these are described more fully below in our Key Facts and Frequently Asked Questions.
They are not legally binding and if you are not clear whether you are covered, or remain concerned that you do not fit into any of the categories described below, please email the RCM on membership@rcm.org.uk.
Medical Malpractice Insurance Benefits – The Key Facts
The main benefits of the RCM MMI are as follows:
- Insurance cover for all full members who are providing midwifery and nursing care (dependent on your qualification and registration) within the NHS and other local or national authorities; for maternity support worker members and for student midwife members
- The limit per claim is £5million (for defence costs and damages). The total limit in any one year for all RCM members is £10m
- Legal expenses cover of up to £50,000 per claim
- Good Samaritan Acts
- A member providing unpaid first aid nursing services at a voluntary or charity event
- Overseas voluntary work/teaching assignments and placements may be insured, depending on the nature of the role and the country where the assignments took place. Advance notice to the RCM is required for cover to be considered
- Ancillary health care services, such as antenatal and postnatal education, complementary therapies and exercise classes, including aquanatal classes, where provided outside of the NHS on an occasional basis
- Cover for past liabilities extends to retired and associate members
This insurance cover is only available to those who were a member of the RCM at the time of the incident and who have continued to be a member at the point at which any claim is notified. Lapsing or discontinuing your RCM membership will invalidate your access to this policy.
Medical malpractice insurance for independent midwives
Our MMI cover for its eligible members, being primarily employed in the NHS (or some other employed midwives as detailed within the Our FAQ’s) is designed to protect them, should their employer fail to honour its vicarious liability. In practice, this means that we would always expect and anticipate that the NHS or respective employer takes responsibility for the acts and omissions of its staff or any liability that might be caused by their actions. Should an NHS or respective employer not respond, the RCM MMI cover would protect our members.
The cost of the RCM’s MMI reflects that it is a contingent cover. Independent midwives, regardless of their scope of practice, do not benefit from vicarious liability or cover under the RCM’s MMI and as far as the insurance market is concerned, Independent midwives are most akin to private obstetricians who purchase MMI through the medical defence organisations or commercial insurers at considerable cost. No insurance provider has shown any appetite to provide MMI for independent midwives at a cost that makes it affordable. The RCM has recently explored again whether insurers could be persuaded to offer MMI to independent midwives, but this continues to be completely unaffordable.
