Thankyou for the replies and I will look into the mentioned companies, our last dog that died last May cost us over £5,000 in treatment as she had a long running kidney condition which with Pancreatitis sadly took her in the end, although we had the money and still have, I got so sick and tired of my OH complaining about the vets and making a rumpus every time I took her for vets etc(mainly because he knew they were a waste of money , but I had to go for the meds), I decided if we are shelling' out on a smaller basis regularly he wont moan as much as he will consider getting HIS moneys worth. Sadly in the time I had my girl treated the vets were basicly useless, I had to do the research and tell them what was wrong and what she needed and that's been the pattern throughout my 40 yrs of dog ownership. I went thro 8 vets before I came up with one I could actually talk to and get any sense, so far from veterinary treatment improving in those years it has markedly got worse, the equipment might be better but their training certainly isn't. I realised the issue with the insurance when one of my dogs had to have a mandiblectomy they quoted a price (at the time) of £2,500, then when I said I had no insurance it was reduced to £1700. We are being ripped off by both vets and insurances I am afraid.