Deferral of membership benefits - explanatory note

Retired or deferred status is granted to members who have retired from practice or are not working as a doctor, dentist or allied health professional for a period of three months or more.

A condition of this benefit is that membership of MDDUS has been in place for a minimum period of one year prior to the application for retired or deferred cover. Additionally, the furthest we can backdate this cover is three months from the date we were first contacted about this cover.

This cover is provided free of charge and offers cover for worldwide Good Samaritan acts only. Under the terms and conditions of retired/deferred cover, doctors and dentists should not be working in any medical or dental capacity whilst on retired or deferred cover.

Any liability arising from partnership arrangements will not be covered through this cover and members who wish to retain cover for such actions should contact the Membership Services Department.

Upon application for deferred cover, there is an option to intimate a return to work date. This will allow us to make contact with applicants in advance of their return to work, enabling them to reinstate active cover. If this section is left blank or the applicant returns to work earlier than anticipated, it is vital an application to reinstate active cover is received by MDDUS at least 15 working days before the return to practice date, to ensure adequate and appropriate indemnity is in place.

An application form for restoration of cover, which will be subject to approval and re-underwriting, is available on the MDDUS website (www.mddus.com).

Retired/deferred status confers no right to be restored to the full benefits of membership of MDDUS.

Doctors or dentists who plan to return to practice for a short period of time are able to apply for short-term cover, which is offered for a minimum of four weeks at a time and providing this is applied for on no more than three occasions in any 12-month period, up to a maximum of 90 days in total in any 12-month period.

In the rare event of retired/deferred cover being terminated, MDDUS will provide no less than six months' notice to you.