Professional indemnity insurance for nurses answers a narrow and important question: what happens when something goes wrong outside the part of your work an employer covers. Registration puts the obligation on the registrant, and most nurses meet part of it through employment and part of it not at all.
What registration requires
Registered nurses and midwives must have an appropriate indemnity arrangement in place as a condition of registration, covering the scope of their practice. The regulator does not name a product: it requires that the arrangement is appropriate and that the registrant has satisfied themselves it is, which puts the check on the individual rather than on the employer.
Where employer cover stops
NHS and most employer arrangements cover the employer's liability for work done in that role. They frequently do not extend to representation at a fitness to practise hearing, to agency or bank shifts elsewhere, to private or voluntary work, or to a claim arising after you have left. Those four gaps are what personal cover is bought to close.
What personal cover adds
Representation at a fitness to practise hearing. Cover for agency, bank, private, voluntary and teaching work. Continuity after leaving an employer, so a claim about earlier work still finds a live arrangement. And usually an advice line, which is used far more often than the indemnity itself.
What personal cover costs
Personal indemnity for a nurse is among the least expensive professional covers in the United Kingdom, and professional associations and unions frequently include it in membership or offer a member rate. It is worth checking what your membership already provides before buying separately, because many registrants are covered twice without knowing it.
Questions people ask about professional indemnity insurance for nurses
Is the employer's cover enough?
For the employed role usually. It rarely covers hearing representation, work elsewhere, or claims after you leave.
What does registration require?
An appropriate indemnity arrangement covering your scope of practice, which the registrant must check.
Where do I get it?
Frequently through a professional association or union membership, which may already include it at a member rate.