Safety policy
Please make us aware at the time of booking your appointment if your pet has shown any aggression to strangers before. We will be visiting your pet’s territory, therefore their behaviour might turn towards either defence or aggression. In these situations it is best we have an initial discussion before performing the vet check up.
We reserve the right to refuse treatment if a visit becomes unsafe, aiming to provide advice on alternative treatment options. Please be aware that the visit will still be charged.
Payment
Payment is due in full at the time of treatment to be able to order the products. A treatment plan will be discussed for the time being. We accept cash and credit/debit cards. All invoices must be settled in full upon receipt of the invoice.
We reserve the right to offer discounts to any service provided. If further diagnostic procedures are required, like blood tests, skin scraping, longer procedures like bandaging and wound care, we will inform the owner prior to the procedure and it needs to be agreed by both owner and vet before proceeding.
All services and products provided are charged according to the current price list, which is available on request, often being pre-arranged while booking the home visit. When booking an appointment please be aware that is just the cost of the home visit and service mentioned and further treatment plans could be made and will not be included initially. Please be aware that estimates for certain procedures cannot be given over the phone, in which case they will be discussed with you by the vet at the time of the visit.
Liaising with other practices
The mobile veterinary service aims to complement the existing veterinary practices. We encourage owners to have their pets registered to a regular practice. In case of more thorough investigation needed, we would need to contact the “brick and mortar” practice in order to provide the clinical findings and communicate/agree on further investigation that might be necessary.
If we’ve not seen your pet before, we will request a history from your regular/previous practice. We will inform them of any treatment and medication given. GDPR rules will require Owner’s permission to exchange information.
We can send your pets clinical history to other vet practices but will need your consent prior to doing so.
Emergencies
PLEASE USE THE PHONE NUMBER PROVIDED ON THE WEBPAGE FOR ANY EMERGENCY.
Emails, Facebook messages and voicemails are not monitored outside of working hours.
We are not an emergency service. If you think your pet needs emergency treatment please go your nearest veterinary practice with emergency facilities.
In case you were unable to reach the emergency vets, please get in contact with us and we will try our best to help. The context of emergency will be discussed over the phone, further actions also will be agreed at the time.
RCVS guidelines for practice standards and professional conduct of veterinary surgeons states: “Veterinary surgeons have professional responsibilities relating to the provision of 24-hour emergency cover (i.e. the provision of emergency first aid and pain relief). These responsibilities should be considered in conjunction with the owner’s responsibilities under current animal welfare legislation, to ensure the health and welfare of their animal.”
Please be aware of the out of hours emergency charge of £250, further treatment costs will be the same as daytime charges. In some cases we might not be able to stabilise your pet at your home, therefore we might need to seek further help. This means you will need to take your pet to an emergency practice where more equipment is available, like oxygen machines, surgical rooms, monitoring and supportive care equipment. Please be aware that this comes with further costs that are outside our responsibilities. Our aim is to direct you to the closest most appropriate practice for your situation.
We collaborate closely with a Pet Taxi service, and might be able to help with transport in difficult circumstances. This is unfortunately subject to availability, also coming with extra cost in case distance in more than 5 miles to destination.
Insurance
We strongly recommend getting your pet insured. Please ask for details about insurance if you do not have a policy in place.
We require payment for all treatment up front, you can then claim this back from your insurers. We do not currently do direct claims.
We can submit insurance claims for you directly to your insurer, please be aware we do charge a fee of £16.20.
Prescriptions
Written prescriptions can be issued instead of the actual product being dispensed from us. This comes at a fixed charge of £17.04 per prescription, our policy is a maximum of 3 months worth of treatment. Exceptions are for flea and worm treatments where the maximum will be 6 months worth.
Schedule 2&3 drugs come with totally different rules, VMD and RCVS requires us to dispense a maximum of 28 days worth of treatment at any one time.
The written prescription will either be issued at the time of visit and emailed, otherwise we can arrange Royal Mail delivery or other delivery services.
We cannot prescribe any medication for animals not seen in the last 12 months for flea and wormers, or last 6 months for chronic illnesses.
RCVS restricts vets in dispensing any type of POM-V medication without prior assessment.
Please note that written prescriptions are valid for 28 days from the date of issue. It is your responsibility as the pet owner to make sure you use it before it expires. If your prescription expires before you use it we will charge you another prescription fee to reissue another.
Missed and cancelled appointments
We require at least 24 hours notice if you cancel a home visit appointment. We will also ask you to pay for the next home visit in advance.
If you miss a home visit appointment, regardless of circumstances we will charge a £60 missed appointment fee.
