Hospital doctors, GPs and locums face different gaps
Resident doctors and consultants on NHS contracts get sick pay that builds with continuous NHS service. Rotating between trusts usually keeps that service intact, but a doctor who has spent time abroad or outside the NHS may find their entitlement is shorter than expected.
GP partners are self-employed. When a partner is off, the practice still has to pay for a locum, and partnership agreements often limit how long a sick partner keeps drawing full profits. Locum doctors have no sick pay at all. Each of these situations calls for a different deferred period.
- NHS employed doctors: line the deferred period up with the end of half pay
- GP partners: check your partnership agreement for sickness clauses
- Locums: a short deferred period protects income straight away
- Consultants with private work: cover the private earnings too
Why own speciality cover matters in medicine
Insurers sort jobs into risk classes and use a definition of incapacity to judge claims. For a surgeon, a tremor or hand injury could end their operating career while leaving them able to teach or work in another field. A suited occupation definition might not pay in that case. An own occupation definition looks at whether you can do your own job.
Some insurers will write cover around your speciality, which is worth asking about if your income depends on a particular skill. Terms always depend on the insurer and your health.
Stress, long rotas and infection risk
Long rotas, night shifts and on-call work wear doctors down, and burnout and mental health problems are a leading reason for long absences. Insurers will ask about any time off for stress, so it helps to have dates and details ready.
Exposure-prone procedures carry a risk of picking up a blood-borne virus, which could restrict the work you are allowed to do. If that would affect your income, mention it when you apply so we can look at how each insurer would treat it.
Life cover, mortgages and the NHS Pension Scheme
If you are an active member of the NHS Pension Scheme, it provides death benefits that may include a lump sum and survivor pensions. They stop if you leave the scheme. Doctors who opted out of the pension for tax reasons can find they gave up this cover without realising.
Doctors often carry larger mortgages and later start dates on their careers, so a personal life policy written in trust can make sure your family keeps the home. Critical illness cover is worth a look too.
How Hi Tomorrow helps doctors
We map your income sources first: NHS salary, private sessions, partnership profits and locum work. Then we compare how insurers on our panel define incapacity for your speciality and how much of each income stream they will cover. We help you present any health history clearly, including occupational health records.