April is National Pet Month – a time to celebrate our love for our pets and the companionship they provide.  It’s also a time to perhaps reflect on where our pets would be without veterinary care and how veterinary practice insurance provides the business continuity that ensures veterinary care is available to our pets, when we need it.

Such business continuity is a key consideration for vets. In the pandemic, veterinary clinics initially struggled to deliver veterinary care outside the confines of premises that could not open.  So, if a veterinary clinic cannot open its doors, due to a flood, fire or storm damage, that’s a major issue.

Commercial property insurance for veterinary practices

For this reason, veterinary practices need robust commercial property insurance – both comprehensive buildings and contents cover-  but also a well thought-through business interruption policy.  Whilst the former will compensate for losses brought about through property damage, the latter focuses on income losses and additional costs that result from not being able to open the practice doors.

It can also offer the financial support that facilitates a move to temporary premises, if necessary, to keep the veterinary practice trading.

Calculating the sums insured, for both elements, has to be done with accuracy, which is where a broker’s services can be invaluable.  Get the calculations wrong and there can be a big price to pay for underinsurance.

Here at Gauntlet, our local brokers have tools that can help prevent this eventuality, providing accuracy for your buildings and contents’ sum insured.  Their years of expertise also help calculate your business interruption cover requirement with great skill.

Other insurances that veterinary practices need

Your veterinary practice will also need other key insurances that our local brokers can provide, whether you are a small furry animal specialist, a more generic family pet practice or a specialist exotic or equine animal surgery.

You will need to have public liability insurance, to cover any incidents or accidents that members of the public may have when visiting your surgery.  That will cover everything from slips on the newly mopped floor, to unexpected shocks caused by electrics.

If you employ other members of staff, you will have a requirement for employer’s liability insurance, to offer protection to your employees, should something befall them.  However, as an employer, you might also want to protect yourself against the costs of any potential employment tribunal, by also taking out Employment Practices Liability Insurance.

Employees in a veterinary practice can easily suffer personal injury when treating sick and nervous animals.  For this reason, personal accident cover might be advisable.

They could also need to transport vehicles, creating a motor risk that your veterinary practice needs to cover through relevant van insurance.

Cyber crime and theft insurance for veterinary practices

No business is immune from the risk of a cyber-attack or hacking incident, so having standalone cyber insurance is important.  As veterinary surgeries hold sensitive client data, this is even more imperative.

If you watch the soap opera, Emmerdale, there seems to be an ever-open pharmaceuticals cabinet, just waiting for opportunist thieves to swoop.  Unlikely though this is in the real world, your veterinary supplies can be a target for thieves and your stock can also be impacted by weather events too.  Having stock insurance to cover all those valuable supplies might be a good idea.

Professional Indemnity cover and malpractice cover for veterinary surgeons

Then, we have to remember that pets are often our best friends in the world and having something happen to them can be one of the most stressful situations we endure.  Amidst this stress, and the grief of losing an animal or not having its care turn out as we had hoped, it is easy for accusations of veterinary malpractice to emerge.  For this reason, you probably need both Professional Indemnity insurance and perhaps a more specific veterinary malpractice policy.

The key is to get in place the compulsory legal insurance cover, plus policies that will help keep your business operational, should the worst occur, and others that will protect you from hefty legal charges.  This is easy, if you work with a Gauntlet local broker.

We have local brokers all over the UK and all can assist you with the variety of insurances that you require for your veterinary practice.  As importantly, they can review your business as an individual entity and advise on the covers that you really should take out, but which may have never occurred to you.  Getting to know your business and having personal one-to-one contact is the key factor here, ensuring that worrying gaps in your veterinary practice protection are filled and that your own individual business – and how it operates – has been fully protected.

To find the local broker with whom you can have that rapport and one-to-one relationship, please call us on 0113 244 8686, or choose a local broker from the map here.