Understanding indemnity in practice nursing: part 2

In the first part of this summary of indemnity insurance in practice nursing, the author set out the ingredients of legal liability occurring as a result of the negligent treatment of a patient (Finch, 2019). We saw that it is not every instance of careless treatment causing harm to a patient which leads to legal liability.

In this second and concluding part, we look at the practical implications of having indemnity cover. The overall objective of indemnity insurance is to provide practice nurses with a cushion against a legal liability claim being successfully brought against them. Such schemes do not shift the legal responsibility for the nurse's actions away from the nurse. What they do is to take the financial responsibility away from the individual practitioner and to place the responsibility to pay compensation on the shoulders of the assurer. The nature of indemnity insurance is that of a simple contract.