Insurance for medical personnel

How are medical professionals covered?

Under the RFU Public Liability insurance policy, medical professionals working in rugby are only covered for providing pitch-side emergency first aid. 

What’s covered?

If you’re a medical professional providing pitch-side treatment to a player or member of the public, you are only covered for emergency first aid (Good Samaritan acts). This falls under RFU club insurance, which covers an RFU coach, volunteer or someone else, including medical professionals, giving first aid. This means if you are sued for negligence or breach of duty for that act, the cost of the claim would be covered.

What's not covered?

Professional treatment carried out by trained medical professionals is not covered by the RFU public liability policy. Instead, you should have liability insurance with your own provider. You may have this as part of your membership of a professional body. Be sure to check that working in rugby is included in the policy conditions.

When does pitch-side first aid become professional treatment?

The difference between these comes down to the timing of the treatment and the type of treatment you're providing.

Emergency first aid 

This is generally considered to be treatment provided immediately after someone is injured. This would be either to stop the injury getting worse or until full medical treatment is available. 

If you provide this as a healthcare professional, it’s covered under the RFU club insurance policy.

Professional treatment

Treatment given some time after the injury has happened would generally not be considered to be emergency first aid. This means it would not be covered under the RFU club insurance policy.