Nurses must be protected to act in a public emergency

Our survey reveals great confusion regarding legal risks and nurses’ indemnity. At work healthcare professionals are indemnified by their employer but outside working hours, the position is muddled. Over two-thirds of nurses do not know whether or not they are covered by their employer’s insurance – they are not but they may be protected by professional association indemnity insurance in the case of a public emergency.

According to our survey, few know this.

The majority of nurses would use their clinical skills in a public emergency as they believe it is their duty to do so. Almost nine out of ten nurses in our survey said that despite concerns over whether or not they would be protected if they were found negligent, they would still intervene to help.

It is ironic that a member of the public who does the same cannot be sued if things go wrong but a nurse could face litigation if deemed to have been negligent. And although it is very unlikely that anyone would take legal action against their Good Samaritan, the position of nurses must be clarified.

Professional associations need to make it clear that their indemnity insurance covers nurses when not at work. The NMC must clarify relevant paragraphs in the code of conduct.

Nurses should not have to fear performing Samaritan acts. Their skills in an emergency can save lives and reduce harm.

No complacency over infection control

Nurses must take much of the credit for the significant fall in MRSA rates. The HPA figures issued last week (p2) show a 57% reduction since the target to halve the rate was set in 2004.

However, there must be no complacency. The national picture shows trust variations in tackling infections. Meanwhile rates of Clostridium difficile are climbing. Therefore infection control must remain top of the agenda and staff must always abide by the procedures, which this week’s figures show are working.

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