Medical or dental indemnity is non-negotiable. Income protection and life cover are the ones doctors and dentists most often underinsure — here's why they matter.
Whether via a medical or dental defence organisation (MDO/DDU/DDO) or a commercial indemnity provider, cover for clinical negligence claims is essential and, for most NHS clinical roles, mandatory. State-backed schemes (such as clinical negligence schemes for general practice and for hospital trusts) cover clinical negligence claims arising from NHS work, but gaps can remain for private work, Good Samaritan acts, or GMC/GDC representation and disciplinary support — check exactly what is and isn't covered for your specific role, and note that dentists typically arrange indemnity separately through a dental defence organisation rather than a state-backed NHS scheme.
State indemnity schemes typically cover clinical negligence for NHS work specifically. Separate cover is usually still needed for GMC investigations, disciplinary support, and any private practice — check your specific arrangement rather than assuming blanket cover.
Pays a proportion of your income if you can't work due to illness or injury. NHS sick pay is generous short-term but tapers over time — income protection fills the long-term gap, which matters given how income-dependent most clinicians' finances are.
The NHS Pension Scheme provides a death-in-service lump sum, but this may not be enough alone if you have a mortgage and dependants — worth calculating the actual shortfall rather than assuming the NHS benefit covers everything.
Pays a lump sum on diagnosis of a specified serious illness, regardless of ability to keep working — a different (and complementary) protection to income protection, not a replacement for it.
"If I couldn't work for a year starting tomorrow, what would actually happen to my mortgage, my family, and my long-term savings?" Whatever gap that question reveals is roughly the gap your income protection and life cover should be closing.
NHS sick pay is relatively generous but time-limited and tapers down the longer you're off. For anything beyond a short-term illness, private income protection is usually the thing standing between you and a serious financial gap.
It depends entirely on your personal circumstances — mortgage size, dependants, other savings. It's worth actually calculating the figure rather than assuming, since for many doctors and dentists with a large mortgage and young children, it falls short on its own.