Agency Nursing: Your guide to staying properly insured

Working through a nursing agency? Learn how Professional Indemnity and Public Liability Insurance can help protect you across different placements and healthcare settings.

Many nurses choose to work through agencies, providing flexibility, variety, and additional income. Agency nursing allows practitioners to work across hospital wards, aged care facilities, community health services, or specialist clinics, taking on short-term assignments or sessional shifts that vary day to day.

While this flexibility is appealing, it can introduce complexity when it comes to professional protection. Agency nurses often move between multiple employers, sites, and roles, sometimes combining agency shifts with permanent positions. With so many assignments to manage, it can be difficult to know which work is covered by employer-provided insurance. This can create potential gaps that could leave nurses personally liable if a claim arises. Having personal professional indemnity and public liability insurance that covers all roles and assignments is essential for safeguarding your practice.

Why insurance gaps can occur for agency nurses

Some agencies or employers have insurance arrangements in place for their staff, but these policies generally only cover work performed under that specific employer or agency. Nurses who work across multiple agencies, or combine agency shifts with permanent roles, may need to obtain their own individual Professional Indemnity and Public Liability insurance to ensure they are fully covered for all of their shifts.

Typical situations include:

• Working for multiple agencies: If you work for more than one agency, it can be hard to keep on top of which agency provides full, comprehensive cover and which one doesn't.
• Holding a permanent position alongside agency work: Your employer's insurance covers your permanent role, but it does not extend to agency shifts or work outside that employer.
• Practising across more than one profession: Nurses who also work as paramedics or in another eligible healthcare profession need insurance that explicitly covers both professions.
• Working for a single agency with limited or no cover: Some agencies provide minimal insurance or none at all, leaving you personally liable if a claim arises.

Without personal coverage that follows the nurse, not the employer, there's a risk that a claim could arise for work not fully covered by an agency's insurance.

[Read: Working Across Multiple Healthcare Professions: What Nurses Need to Know about Insurance]

Types of agency work and work environments

Agency nurses can be found across a variety of settings, each carrying its own responsibilities and risks:

• Public and Private Hospitals: casual or sessional shifts across wards, units, or campuses
• Aged Care Facilities: short-term or relief assignments across multiple locations
• Community and Home Health Services: providing care independently in patients' homes
• Specialist Clinics: covering shifts in outpatient services, rehabilitation, or education roles

The diversity of these roles makes it challenging to track who covers what. Each environment presents unique risks, so comprehensive personal insurance is essential for peace of mind and meeting your compliance obligations.

How personal professional indemnity insurance can help

A robust Professional Indemnity and Public Liability policy designed for nurses ensures that you are covered across all roles and assignments, regardless of employer or location. Key benefits include:

• Legal Advice: access to legal advice when a complaint has been made against you
• Legal Protection: legal representation if a claim arises
• Financial Security: coverage for settlements, damages, and defence costs
• Coverage Across Multiple Employers: protection extends to agency shifts, permanent roles, and a combination of both
• Claims-Made Protection: the active policy responds when a claim is made, even if the work was performed weeks, months, or years earlier (subject to the retroactive date)

By choosing a policy tailored to the nursing profession, agency nurses can work with confidence, knowing that their practice is fully protected no matter where they work.

What to consider when choosing a policy

When selecting personal insurance, ensure that your policy:

• Covers multiple employers, agencies, or placements
• Includes access to legal advice even before a claim is made
• Provides legal representation when a claim is made
• Provides sufficient coverage limits for the types of settings you work in
• Includes retroactive cover, which may respond to claims arising from incidents that occurred in the past (subject to the policy's retroactive date)
• Has run-off cover, which may protect against claims made after you cease practising or retire
• Lists all practising professions when applying, ensuring dual roles are included if relevant

Taking the time to review these elements helps you avoid gaps in coverage, as well as meeting your professional requirements.

Nursewise Supports Healthcare Professionals

Agency nurses need insurance that reflects the way they work. With NurseWise, a single policy can cover multiple employers and agencies, as well as dual professions such as nursing and paramedicine, ensuring you are protected in all environments.

Ready to secure your cover? Apply online in minutes and receive confirmation quickly so you can continue practising with confidence.