Payments

All surgical procedures and treatments carried out at Animal Trust should be paid for at the time of the pet being admitted. Payment can be made at the front desk to a member of our client service team at all Animal Trust surgeries.

We are a cashless organisation and ask that clients pay for any treatment/medication by debit or credit card as we cannot accept cash.

Insurance Policies

We are happy for clients to cover the cost of treatment via their pet insurance policy. Payment via an insurance policy will incur an administration fee of £8.25. If you plan to use your insurance policy to pay for treatment, we ask that you inform us as soon as possible. Please ensure prior to claiming on an insurance policy, that the policy covers the proposed claim.

When claiming via an insurance policy, there are two types of claim;

• Direct claim: If your insurance policy claim is over £300, Animal Trust may be able to claim the amount from your insurer directly. If you are able to provide pre-authorisation for the claim from your insurance company, you will only need to cover the cost of your insurance excess. If you aren’t able to provide pre-authorisation before the medication or procedure is required, you will instead need to pay an up-front fee of £150.

Once the claim has been processed, any overpayment will subsequently be refunded to you.

• Indirect claim: If your claim is less than £300 you will be required to pay the total cost of the treatment directly to Animal Trust and then claim the amount back from your insurance provider.

It is important to be aware that in both direct and indirect insurance claims, it is the pet owner who is liable for the total cost. If, for any reason, the insurer does not make payment within the allocated time frame specified on the policy, Animal Trust will contact the pet owner directly and request that they make the payment. Animal Trust has no relationship with pet insurers and therefore cannot oversee individual claim processes on behalf of clients.

If a pet receives regular treatment (e.g. monthly medication) and the pet owner wishes to claim this amount via their insurance policy they will be liable for a fee of £8.25 for each individual claim. Pet owners also have the option to pay for long-term medication up front and later claim for a number of prescriptions in a single claim, which will reduce the overall cost of the admin fees. It is important when considering this option that the pet owner has made contact with the insurer prior, to confirm if there is an expiry period on claims.

When a new client has not claimed on an insurance policy before, Animal Trust may require pre-authorisation from the insurer and the relevant surgery will explain the requirements of this process. When a pet is referred to another Animal Trust surgery, communication in regard to insurance and pre-authorisation should remain with the initial Animal Trust surgery.

At Animal Trust we cannot offer advice on the purchase of an insurance policy, or on an existing policy. If at any time a you have any questions about insurance policies we advise you to make contact with the insurer directly.

We recommend that you carefully evaluate the level of cover provided by any insurance product before signing up to it.

At Animal Trust we strive to provide pet owners with affordable, all-inclusive, high-quality veterinary care and to help keep our costs low, we do not offer payment plans for our services.

We do understand that veterinary bills can be unexpected and you may have concerns over payment. If at any time you may be experiencing financial difficulty, we ask that you discuss this with the team at the surgery as soon as possible.