Members who are independent or privately practising midwives may have noticed an update to the Branch’s professional indemnity insurance (PII) coverage. Previously, PII coverage did not extend to these members; now the exclusion is limited to privately practising midwives providing intrapartum care.
ANMF negotiated the change with the insurers as the exclusion was previously being triggered for very low-risk activities such as lactation consulting and childbirth education. So while it’s a small change, it’s a great improvement for those privately practising midwives providing care in the antenatal, postpartum and domiciliary spaces who are now covered under our PII policy.
Midwife Christine Guymer, who has been in private practise for 20 years, welcomes the update – despite having just retired after 50 years.
‘There’s not a lot of insurers who do medical private insurance for midwives,’ she says, ‘so we had to use a broker to find an insurance company who would cover us. It’s expensive.’
‘It’s fantastic’
Christine thinks it’s ‘both pretty fair, and huge’, that ANMF’s PII is now inclusive of antenatal and postnatal but still excludes intrapartum. ‘It’s fantastic,’ she says. ‘I think it’ll make a huge difference to midwifery members in private practice because it’s good to have an insurance that understands the care that we give.’
The kinds of care Christine and her small team of midwives would provide that was previously falling foul of the exemptions includes wound care, perineal care, advice about baby care and breast feeding, formula demonstrations, SIDS advice, and checking up on women who have hypertension. It also covered jaundice assessments and performing TCB (transcutaneous bilirubinometry) recordings in the home, and newborn screens.
For privately practicing midwives providing this care, not having to purchase separate insurance will make a huge difference. ‘Going forward, I expect the cost will be much more reasonable,’ she says.
