There is LIFETIME cover and PER CONDITION cover which isn't lifetime it ends when the money runs out. Some insurance companys word it so it sounds like lifetime cover but it's not.
My dog is insured for £7,000 EVERY year for LIFE not just until the money runs out that IS NOT lifetime cover that is only x amount per condition cover and this is where so many people get confused.

I made the mistake of choosing some policies that had a limit per condition so now I make sure I choose wisely and always opt for the premium policies.

I am with Homebase and they offer a policy which pays out a set amount per year, this is for any conditions whether it has been ongoing for ages or not, they do not exclude any condition after the year it was diagnosed so if your dog gets a lifelong condition they will pay out continually up to the amount you are insured for and any amount left can be used for other conditions/accidents etc up to the yearly amount insured for.

The limit resets to 0 at the end of the year, and will continue to cover you for accidents and ongoing conditions.

I think it is called platinum cover and is about £7K per year, the only one I could see better really was the petplan one which had £12k per year but the premiums were over double at around £50 so I took a risk/reward view!

Very helpful, thank you. I think you've answered my query

Many thanks for everyone who has kindly posted, I must now decide which one to go for....!