MUMN reaches agreement on indemnity insurance

The Malta Union of Midwives and Nurses (MUMN) has today said that it reached an agreement with the Health Department over insurance payments in the event a negligence claim is filed by a patient against a nurse or midwife.

In the agreement, government assumed responsibility for civil liability in the event of claims for damages, including reasonable legal costs, against nurses and midwives or members of other  health care professions in government employment, arising out of the exercise of their professional duties within the Public Service.

MUMN underlined that government will be paying legal fees in civil claims but not in criminal suits.

Earlier this month the union had threatened to table an industrial dispute over what it described as the Health Division's persistence on reserving its right to request hundreds of thousands of euros from nurses and midwives but not from any other employee in the civil service, in the event a negligence claim was filed by a patient against a nurse or midwife.

MUMN president Paul Pace said that an agreement was reached following a "noisy meeting" with the Attorney General on 27 January.

Explaining that "finding the rightful words to satisfy both the Government lawyers and our lawyers was not easy at all," MUMN said that "contrary to what the Minister said," things have changed drastically since the element of refund was being officially recognised in the Public Service.

The union said that it has now managed to conclude negotiations and obtained "a more specific document on when a refund is to take place from the nurse/midwife."

Government will only have the right to request a refund if there is proof of "voluntary damages" or in he case of gross negligence amounting to recklessness, in extreme circumstances where the nurse or midwife could have been under the effect of drugs or alcohol or latterly proven that the nurse/midwife did not care less and abandoned her ward and her nursing/midwifery duties.

The indemnity is subject to government being immediately notified by the nurses and midwives or members of other health care professions cannot negotiate or accept liability.

"As MUMN we have achieved a certain peace of mind on the civil liability claims as for the first time there is an official document on the remits of the responsibility of the Government which in itself is a great achievement. In fact MUMN's claims are now attributed to all health care professionals."

However, Pace explained that the union was not entirely satisfied because the issue of criminal procedures which can be initiated after an investigation from a Magistrate or from any police inspector has not been resolved.

Such criminal claims can be started either by relatives or patients for normal day to day involuntarily negligence which patients and relatives might claim to have suffered by a nurse/midwife. This could still inflict substantial financial losses, imprisonment and dismissal on health care professionals.

"Only a part of the problem has been addressed. MUMN will be having further meetings on Monday trying to assure that the Government will be paying a reasonable fee for legal assistance in such cases (criminal)," the union said.

Pace also warned that if the outcome is not to the union's expectations, MUMN will be once again organising a meeting with the nurses and midwives and decide what industrial actions are needed to safe guard its members' interests and the patients' safe practice.

"Nurses and midwifes are vulnerable especially with the pressures of work and the lack of staff compliment not to mention that in Mater Dei Hospital no guidelines and protocols exists on patients safety...but yet again these are not enough 'reasons' to safeguard our members from imprisonment or financial claims or interdiction due to criminal charges which include even day to day 'negligence'."