Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty's Government whether legal costs related to any (1) inquest, (2) regulatory, (3) employment, and (4) criminal, proceedings against healthcare professionals, including pharmacists, resulting from an inadvertent error made in the workplace when dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic will be covered by their professional indemnity scheme.

The Clinical Negligence Scheme for Trusts and the Clinical Negligence Scheme for General Practice, both administered by NHS Resolution, provide indemnity for clinical negligence liabilities for healthcare workers for the majority of NHS services in England. Some staff, such as community pharmacy professionals, are indemnified by their employer or hold their own personal indemnity product. Sections 10, 11 and 12 in the Coronavirus Act 2020 enables the Secretary of State to provide indemnity for clinical negligence liabilities arising from National Health Service activities carried out for the purposes of dealing with, or in consequence of, the coronavirus outbreak, where there is no existing indemnity arrangement in place. Together these schemes cover healthcare staff for clinical negligence liabilities arising during the COVID-19 pandemic. The new sections in the Act are effectively a backstop where other indemnity arrangements do not apply.

NHS Resolution also meets legal representation costs at some inquests, on a discretionary basis, under the Clinical Negligence Scheme for Trusts. The state schemes do not extend to the costs of legal representation at regulatory, employment or criminal proceedings and many healthcare professionals obtain their own cover for these contingencies.

We also recognise the importance for healthcare professionals of access to medico-legal advice and support, and the Medical Defence Organisations and other indemnity providers and are providing this advice and support to healthcare professionals assisting with the COVID-19 response.