Our Aim

The NBMS is a long-established registered Friendly Society which provides financial assistance to its members and their immediate families in times of hardship and need. Our ability to provide support to those in need has always been with the help of paying members’ subscriptions.

Despite NHS pensions and the personal insurance policies held by many doctors, individual cases of financial difficulty continue to arise on a regular, if fortunately infrequent, basis.

A typical combination of circumstances where this may occur is in the unexpected development of terminal or chronic disease or even a serious accident in a relatively young doctor – often with a young family; pension benefits will be small and insurance cover inadequate. Without help from NBMS there may be severe social dislocation and financial distress.

Medical students may also experience severe financial problems during their training.

Who is eligible to join the NBMS?

Any registered doctor working in Norfolk at the time of their election to membership is eligible to join. Prospective members are proposed by existing members – generally this is a formality.

All UEA Norwich Medical School MBBS students are automatically eligible to support from the society if they are referred to us through the UEA’s Hardship or Access to Learning funds.

How to join

We are always keen to recruit new members. You can apply for membership online or request a paper copy of the membership application from our office address (see below). The current annual membership is only £15/year for a doctor. The potential support however in a severe crisis may be hundreds or even up to thousands of pounds.

Benefits awarded are at the discretion of the management committee of the society.