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KEYWORDS Accountability, Professional indemnity insurance
In 2004, the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) produced an updated version of its Code of Professional Conduct, entitled The NMC Code of Professional Conduct: Standards for Conduct, Performance and Ethics (2004). In part the aim of this latest version was to include for the first time certain groups of nurses. Specialist community public health nurses are named whereas the previous version (2002) referred to nurses and midwives only. However, the updated version also incorporates a new section - paragraph 9 - which concentrates the registrant's mind towards the issue of insuring their practice. This article discusses the ramifications of this addition.
Introduction
Paragraph 9 states in unequivocal terms that:
9.1 - The NMC recommends that a registered nurse, midwife or specialist community public health nurse, in aduising, treating and caring for patients/clients, has professional indemnity insurance. This is in the interests of clients, patients and registrants in the event of claims of professional negligence (NMC 2004, pll).
The terms as stated may come as a surprise to nurses. This is the first time that the NMC has mentioned such a topic, and note - they only recommend - they do not make this a condition precedent of being registered with the NMC. However, such principles will appear ordinary to other professionals, notably those who practice at the independent legal Bar. For some time now, the Bar of England and Wales has grappled with the problem of members who hold themselves out as being able to offer legal services when in fact they do not hold a valid practising certificate.
The purpose of this article is not to take the reader through a vital account of the Bar Council's efforts to restrain its registrants, rather, I intend to explore the NMC's response to the issue of nurses expanding their autonomous practice and, with such practice, their exposure to the rigors of professional legal accountability.
The common law and vicarious liability
Historically, the issues of accountability can be traced to the common law principles of the duty of care, i.e. those formulated in the case of Donaghue v Stevenson ( 1932) and rehearsed and reiterated in other more recent cases and academic articles: Capital and Counties PLC v Hampshire...