When considering what type of indemnity to get, bear in mind that adverse incidents may not come to light until many months, or even years, after your contact with a patient. This makes it very different to the types of insurance you may be more familiar with, such as for your car or house.

Your car or house insurance is likely to be on a claims-made basis. This means you can request assistance as long as that request is made when your policy is active. This model generally works well for car insurance, as you're likely to know immediately if you've crashed your car.

Dental indemnity and insurance are both also sometimes offered on a claims-made basis, and can be a suitable option if a claim is brought soon after the incident that caused it. However, if an incident occurred during your claims-made period but the patient wasn't aware there was a problem with treatment at the time, they may not bring a claim until they discover something went wrong - which could be some time afterwards.

This means that once a claims-made period comes to an end, you'd need to arrange and pay for additional 'run-off', so that you have the necessary clinical negligence indemnity or insurance for incidents that have already occurred, but where the problem is yet to come to light.

In contrast, occurrence-based membership with the DDU means you have the reassurance that you can ask for our assistance as long as you are (or were) a DDU member when the incident happened. This applies even if you're no longer a member, have retired or stopped practising. Your estate can ask for our help even after your death.

See our member guide or contact our membership team to find out more.

Professional indemnity

Frequently asked questions

GDC guidance on indemnity