Professional Indemnity Insurance
There is no professional indemnity insurance (PII) available to Independent Midwives.
For the history behind this situation please see the Independent Midwives UK website
In the UK, "no-blame compensation" is NOT available whether you have your baby with the NHS or with an Independent Midwife. Insurance is only available within the NHS if medical negligence is proved against a doctor or midwife.
The implications of Independent Midwives not having indemnity insurance is that in cases where a baby is born damaged and medical negligence is proved in court, there would be no financial recompense via an insurance company.
If negligence was proved, any compensation offered would be based on the Independent Midwife’s personal circumstances. You may be advised against pursuing this, since the amounts involved would be relatively small and legal costs high. Within the NHS cases rarely get to court because Trusts often settle before this to save the heavy costs of a legal case. Therefore, it is hard to evaluate how easy it is to actually prove negligence in any case.
You need to think carefully how you would feel, should the outcome of your pregnancy not be as hoped. Unfortunately, unexpected tragedies do occasionally occur and in most cases, no one is to blame. Of course, having insurance does not reduce the possibility of such a tragedy occurring.
I will discuss this with you at our first meeting, before you make the decision about booking me to be your midwife. It’s important that you only go ahead with booking me once you feel you fully understand all the facts surrounding this issue.