Berry House Vets's home page
Hitchin 01462 451500
Shefford 01462 812746

If you are looking to book a cat vaccination, please be aware that there is an ongoing shortage of some cat vaccines affecting all UK Veterinary practices. Find out more here.

Making a Claim

Using your insurance

Please always remember the insurance policy (contract) is between you and your insurance company, not the veterinary practice. It is your responsibility to settle the account, not the veterinary practice’s responsibility to chase the insurance company. We would now recommend you claim for treatment within three months as some insurance companies are refusing to settle the claim if they have not received the claim within this time span.

Due to the Data Protection Act, Insurance Companies are no longer able to discuss insurance claims directly with the veterinary surgery, unless you have given them verbal or written permission to do so.

You are kindly requested to bring your policy and claim form with you when presenting your pet for treatment. Please ensure the policy holder has signed the form, together with his/her name and address and policy number. We will complete the veterinary sections of the insurance form.

You will be asked to pay on the day of treatment. We will complete the claim form for payment to be reimbursed directly to you, by your insurance company. If you are unable to settle your account on the day of treatment and we have agreed to a direct claim (we complete the insurance form and the insurance company pay us direct), we will ask you to pay the direct claim fee and your excess before the claim form is sent to your insurance company.

For completing your insurance form and sending it to your insurance company, we have made a small charge for the first claim – continuation claims are free of charge if your account remains clear. We are please to be able to offer this free to VIP members.

For a direct claim we have set a fee. This will be charged every time we make a direct insurance claim on your behalf, i.e. we hold the debt and the insurance company pay us direct.

If your claim has not been settled within three months, we will contact you and ask you to settle the account with us.

Finally, if you are in doubt about your cover or if you want to take out a new policy please feel free to bring in details and we can look at the policies together, but please note we are not insurance advisors and can only offer you the benefit of our experience and that of other clients.