ZEST Health Innovation Consulting Ltd (“ZEST”), an organisation providing services and support to independent midwives, today launched an innovative midwifery insurance programme in partnership with Acrisure affiliate, MGAM Limited (“MGAM”). Insurance will be acquired through Lloyd’s of London insurers while the programme will be brokered by Acrisure London Wholesale, the insurance intermediary of Acrisure Re.
The programme will be publicly available for purchase in England, Scotland and Wales from 24th January 2023 and follows the Nursing & Midwifery Council (NMC) determination that other available insurance policies were insufficient for the independent midwife community.
The new ZEST programme will cover independent midwives throughout antenatal, intrapartum and post-partum care, offering guidelines, support, and protection allowing them to focus on providing the highest quality service to their clients. As ZEST registrants, independent midwives will receive access to insurance products offering the full continuum of care, continuity, choice, and physiological birth. New annual policies can be purchased from the new online portal via the link here.
Tracy Thomas, Director of ZEST, said: “With this launch, ZEST seeks to ensure a twofold commitment. First, that midwives are comfortable and confident in accessing the services they need to care for families and their babies, and second, we seek to evidence our commitment to empower our members. This programme will provide a cost-effective, broad based insurance cover for midwifery support and I’d like to thank all the stakeholders involved, especially Acrisure, whose work has been instrumental in working to close the protection gap created by previous policies available to independent midwives.”
Jason Anthony, CEO of MGAM, said: “ZEST’s commitment to and passion for excellence and safe practice is coupled by decades of experience in midwifery. The new portal is quick and easy to navigate, and it avoids overwhelming midwives with unnecessary administration. It has been a pleasure to work with Tracy and the ZEST team to achieve a sensibly priced, broad cover for midwives.”
Gavin Johns, Senior Vice President at Acrisure London Wholesale, said: “The programme is backed by extensive field expertise introduced by Alan Stokes at ZEST, who played a pivotal role in making this programme possible. The deep product knowledge and insurance expertise from Acrisure, the Lloyd’s of London insurers as well as our innovative MGA partner, MGAM, makes this an exciting initiative for the midwifery sector.”