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Executive summary

Introduction (b) persons, not employed under a contract of
This is a summary of the main points contained within NHS employment and who may or may not be a health
Indemnity Arrangements for clinical negligence claims in the care professional, who owe a duty of care to the
NHS, issued under cover of HSG 96/48. The booklet includes a persons injured. These include locums; medical
Q&A section covering the applicability of NHS indemnity to academic staff with honorary contracts; students;
common situations and an annex on sponsored trials. It covers those conducting clinical trials; charitable
NHS indemnity for clinical negligence but not for any other volunteers; persons undergoing further
liability such as product liability, employers liability or professional education, training and examinations;
liability for NHS trust board members. students and staff working on income generation
projects.
Clinical Negligence
Clinical negligence is defined as “a breach of duty of care by Where these principles apply, NHS bodies should accept full
members of the health care professions employed by NHS financial liability where negligent harm has occurred, and not
bodies or by others consequent on decisions or judgements seek to recover their costs from the health care professional
made by members of those professions acting in their involved.
professional capacity in the course of their employment, and
which are admitted as negligent by the employer or are Who is Not Covered
determined as such through the legal process”. NHS Indemnity does not apply to family health service
practitioners working under contracts for services, eg GPs
The term health care professional includes hospital doctors,
(including fundholders), general dental practitioners, family
dentists, nurses, midwives, health visitors, pharmacy
dentists, pharmacists or optometrists; other self employed health
practitioners, registered ophthalmic or dispensing opticians
care professionals eg independent midwives; employees of FHS
(working in a hospital setting), members of professions allied
practices; employees of private hospitals; local education
to medicine and dentistry, ambulance personnel, laboratory
authorities; voluntary agencies. Exceptions to the normal cover
staff and relevant technicians.
arrangements are set out in the main document.
Main Principles Circumstances Covered
NHS bodies are vicariously liable for the negligent acts and NHS Indemnity covers negligent harm caused to patients or
Omissions of their employees and should have arrangements healthy volunteers in the following circumstances: whenever
for meeting this liability. they are receiving an established treatment, whether or not in
accordance with an agreed guideline or protocol; whenever they
NHS Indemnity applies where are receiving a novel or unusual treatment which, in the

judgement of the health care professional, is appropriate for that
(a) the negligent health care professional was: particular patient; whenever they are subjects as patients or
healthy volunteers of clinical research aimed at benefitting
(i) working under a contract of employment patients now or in the future.
and the negligence occurred in the course
of that employment; Expenses Met

(ii) not working under a contract of
Where negligence is alleged, NHS bodies are responsible for
employment but was contracted to an
meeting: the legal and administrative costs of defending the
NHS body to provide services to persons
claim or, if appropriate, of reaching a settlement; the plaintiffs
to whom that NHS body owed a duty of
costs, as agreed by the two parties or as awarded by the court; the
care.
damages awarded either as a one-off payment or as a structured
settlement.
(iii) neither of the above but otherwise owed a
duty of care to the persons injured.