Lurking beneath the surface
As he squinted in the sunlight of a fine June afternoon, Eric quietly marvelled at the sums of money... | 3 min read
Picture the scene; a full waiting room, Mrs Fromage’s Great Dane, Winston, helping himself to the dog treats from the reception desk, Mr and Mrs Wild’s triplets staging an impressive re-enactment of the Battle of Agincourt while Hagrid, their Staffie howls in encouragement, and Mr Seething’s teenage son bemoaning the slow WiFi and how long he’s been waiting with Kanye, his bearded dragon. Huw called his next client in and shut the consulting room door, the din thankfully subsiding. He never tired of a first puppy consultation and today’s contender for the practice’s monthly cuddly pup prize was Destiny, a bouncy Labrador pup. Huw ran through his ‘puppy patter’ whilst trying to keep Destiny still for long enough to be examined. As he came to administer the vaccine, Destiny attempted a nose-dive off the table, fortunately caught by her owner but prompting Huw to suggest pet insurance. Huw explained that, whilst the practice could not recommend a pet insurance provider or a product, he could point her towards a supplier purely by way of introduction. The owner, attempting in vain to remove Destiny’s head from the clinical waste bin, agreed insurance sounded sensible. Huw explained he would ask the receptionist to send the necessary information to the insurance company who would in turn send a link to the owner. He also pointed out there was a leaflet in the puppy pack explaining the process in more detail. As Huw let the client out of the consulting room into the melee, Winston approached him at ramming speed and crotch height. Grabbing the reception desk for support after impact, eyes watering, Huw managed to whisper hoarsely to the receptionist, who was currently taking at least three phone calls, instructions regarding Destiny’s insurance. Hobbling back to his consulting room, Huw clicked on the diary page with a quivering finger and weakly called the next client in.Missing Link | 3 min read
The following week Destiny was back, her insatiable appetite had been rewarded upon discovering a packet of chocolate raisins and she had subsequently spent an expensive night enjoying the hospitality of the practice’s OOH provider. The owner also mentioned to Huw in somewhat clipped tones that she had discovered Destiny was not, as she had anticipated, insured. A shiver ran down Huw’s spine as he realised his breathy, watery-eyed message to the receptionist may not have been understood or actioned. Destiny was ultimately pronounced well but a few weeks later an email from the owner popped into Huw’s inbox. She felt Huw had breached his duty of care as she had assumed he had arranged insurance cover for Destiny and having failed to do so she was out of pocket as a result. Huw hit the VDS on speed-dial. The consultant was sympathetic, fully appreciating the difficulty in completing administrative tasks during the chaos of the average evening surgery. She explained such claims were challenging, as the role of the practice in this arrangement was often not clearly understood by the owner or practice staff. In this situation the practice's role in facilitating their clients’ acquisition of pet insurance is to act purely as an introducer by passing the client's contact details (with consent) to the pet insurance provider who, bein a regulated insurance company, is then able to offer their insurance product and arrange cover. Therefore, the practice is not arranging the pet insurance cover and introducer practices should make the situation abundantly clear when discussing such insurance with clients. Huw resolved to ensure practice protocols and training were up to date and was pleased to learn that the Society would take over the claim and defend it. It was the Society’s view that in this case the practice was acting as an introducer as Huw had made it clear to the owner that she should expect a link from the pet insurance provider even directing her to the leaflet confirming the same. Had Huw done none of this and merely said he would ‘sort out’ the insurance cover (which the introducer arrangement does not allow him to do in this circumstance), his may well have been a difficult claim to defend. A client cannot expect any insurance policy to be in place when they have had no direct contact with the insurer, nor been provided with a policy, nor had any opportunity to review the policy terms. The morals of this story are as follows. To avoid suffering similar embarrassment and angry clients, members would be wise to ensure their protocols are tightened up. Owners should also be advised it is their responsibility to arrange pet health insurance and not the practice’s, unless the practice has the relevant regulatory permissions and practice staff are specifically and suitably trained to arrange pet insurance.
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