Veterinarian indemnity and liability insurance
Your line of work is unique, so we’ve tailored an insurance policy that best suits the needs of your profession to better protect your reputation and livelihood.
Principle partner of
If you're forced to defend your professional reputation, you'll want the best support behind you.
Our policies include three types of insurance in one designed specifically for veterinarians combining: professional indemnity insurance, public liability insurance, and product liability insurance.
Product liability
Insurance cover for liability for injury or property damage caused by goods sold or supplied by you. This can include cover for clients getting sick or injured from products you provide for example; Animal medications, flea treatments, bandages and other products.
Cover and benefits of this veterinarian insurance policy
Nil basic excess on liability claims
Run-off cover which protects you when you’ve ceased practising permanently
Cover for legal costs and expenses associated with complaints to your registration body, disciplinary proceedings or a coronial inquiry
Provides a 21-day cooling-off period, allowing you to change your mind after purchasing coverage
Ongoing education through our RiskHQ, providing you with relevant and informative information on the risks that matter to you
Round-the-clock support with 24 / 7 claim support line availability
To find out more or to get your hands on our policy wording, simply call us on 1800 810 213.
Common veterinarian FAQs
The law governs that any professional exercise the required skill to an appropriate level expected by that profession. A professional may be liable for financial loss, injury or damage arising from an act, error or omission of fault if the professional has not acted to the required level of skill deemed in that profession. Failure through this may result in the claimant (person who suffered the loss) be awarded for that loss, damage or injury.
Many professions require you to hold a professional indemnity insurance policy by law, such as Ahpra registered professions, but can be for other industries such as financial institutions also. Please check with your registration body or associations of your profession to know if it is required by law to have professional indemnity insurance. It is often also required by companies who take on contract workers that are not governed under the companies own insurance policy. It is acceptable for a company to ask you as the professional contractor to provide evidence of cover for professional indemnity before starting the contract period.
As stated above professional indemnity insurance covers you for breaches in relation to your professional duty. Liability insurance covers you for activity that results in personal injury or property damage as a result of your business activities that do not relate to your specific profession. An example may be someone who trips and is injured from spilled water within your office may be covered under liability, because it is your duty of care as business person to provide a safe environment. Whereas a person who suffers a loss or injury because of your professional treatment in relation to your job has caused it would usually be consider as an indemnity breach.
Generally business insurance is to cover the physical assets of your business for material damage loss and options for theft cover. It can also include cover for financial loss due to business interruption. Usually basic insurance does not cover breach of duty or flood cover, but if you speak to an insurance specialist it can often be added to your policy for a nominal fee.
Depending on the policy you are taking out, covers will often vary. At Guild insurance we specialise in making a policy to suit your business so that you are not over paying for covers you wouldn't normally need. The best thing to do is call 1800 810 213 to speak to an insurance specialist, they can find out what activities and structure your business is in to then provide you with adequate cover for you.
A certificate of currency (or COC for short) is a written document that confirms that your insurance policy is current and valid at a specific date and time. At Guild we provide easy access to your COC at any time within a few clicks of our online portal PolicyHub. If you are a new customer we can provide you with one post purchase.
Our partnership with AVA
Guild is the principal partner of AVA and has been for over 20 years.
We work closely with your association to tailor an insurance policy suited to your unique needs.
The AVA is Australia’s peak body for veterinary professionals, dedicated to advancing animal health, welfare, and veterinary science through advocacy, education, and professional support.
Insurance for students studying to be a veterinarian
As a student, we understand you’ve got enough to worry about between completing your studies, getting enough practice hours in and preparing yourself for working with clients. The last thing on your mind is insurance cover. But one small accident could set you back for life. And that’s why AVA has chosen Guild Insurance to look after your insurance needs.
Simply register with AVA under the Student Policy to be eligible for your cover.
Not just an insurance policy
Risk articles with RiskHQ
You can visit RiskHQ at any time to read up about the unique risks you face as an veterinarian. We cover a variety of risk management topics, from managing complaints, to social media risks, maintaining your vet, and much more.
Veterinary medication errors
Case examples
Tips for practice improvement
The cases outlined serve as a timely reminder about just how easily errors can occur. Fatigue, distraction, lack of decision support tools and poorly designed work areas are all recognised as common contributing factors. Therefore, take the time to evaluate your current prescribing and dispensing practices. Are you really doing everything you can to reduce the risk of error? Is your clinical workflow conducive to safe practice? That is, do poorly designed work areas make it difficult to access things like dosing charts, calculators or product information? Is your prescribing system easy to use and supportive of safe practice? Have you considered using software with inbuilt alerts to warn you of prescribing errors?
Always verify an animal’s weight before prescribing or dispensing medication. Weigh the animal at the time and reconcile what’s documented in the record. That is, does the recorded weight seem reasonable for the size, breed and condition of the animal? If it’s not possible to weigh the animal at the time, clarify the recorded weight with the client and again consider what is reasonable for the breed.
Instruct staff to be particularly careful to double check and dispense the correct size of any medication. For example, 20 mg and 50 mg tablets of some popular NSAIDs may look very similar, but dispensing the wrong ones may cause disastrous consequences.
Consider the benefits of asking another member of the practice to double check your calculation or selection, particularly if you are working under pressure or fatigued.
To reduce the chance of inadvertently selecting the wrong medication from the shelf, introduce measures to differentiate between medications that look or sound similar. Ideas include the use of separators and flags, along with avoiding the temptation to store stock in strict alphabetical order.
Instruct staff to point out all directions on the label and packaging when handing medications to the client. This not only helps to educate them, but serves as a final check against any error.
Ensure staff always take the time to explain to a client what is meant by using a medication ‘off label’. There have been cases where this has not been explained to the client and they have later complained when they have read the label and seen it is not recommended for their animal.
Use ‘alerts’ to help distinguish between the records for different animals belonging to the same client. Errors can occur when information, such as weight or test results, are inadvertently entered in the wrong record.
Promote a culture where all staff are confident to point out risky medication practices when they occur.
Finally, don’t believe these scenarios couldn’t happen in your practice. While the financial impact can be costly, the impact on your reputation shouldn’t be underestimated. Increasingly, people are choosing not to return to a practice once an error has occurred, instead venting their dissatisfaction via social media and the like.
- Veterinarians
- Professional
Insurance for veterinarian businesses
If you own a veterinarian and need insurance for your building, contents and more. Visit our information on business insurance for veterinarian businesses.
*Coverage up to $20 million requires your selection of cover up to this limit during the quote and purchase process.
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