Terms and conditions of business – Animal House Veterinary Services

Consultations and appointments
Consultations by appointment only:
Monday to Friday 9.00am – 12.00pm and 3.30pm – 7.00pm
Saturday 9.00am – 12.00pm

• If it is an emergency, if possible, please call us prior to arriving so we can prepare for your pets visit. Upon arrival your pet may be triaged by one of our Registered Veterinary Nurses or Veterinary Surgeons.

• Home visits are available, however at busy times this may be something we cannot commit to.
  

Out of hours
Our out of hours service provider is MiNightVet Canterbury. Should your pet need treatment outside of our opening hours please contact them using the telephone number below or by calling our normal number to be redirected.

MiNightVet Canterbury (Located inside Barton Veterinary Hospital)
34 New Dover Rd, Canterbury CT1 3BH
01227 941 140

Pet health insurance
We recommend that all owners take out suitable pet insurance to cover their animal.

• We cannot recommend an insurance company, however we are more than happy to provide
  information about the different types of policy on offer

• Unless authorised by management, you will be expected to settle your account and reclaim the fees from your insurance company

Insurance claims processing fees:

• Processing a new claim £20

• Continuation claims £20 every 6 months

• Direct claim pre-authorisation £25
  

Payment

• Unless otherwise agreed with management, payment is always expected; after each
  consultation, upon your pets discharge or when you collect any medications or food.

• Payment methods accepted: Cash, credit/debit card or BACS. We do not accept cheques.
  

Dispensing medications

• In order for our Veterinary Surgeons to dispense prescription-only preventative healthcare the animal must be under the care of the practice and have had a physical examination with one of our Vets. This is to ensure your pet is fit and healthy to receive the medication.
  

• Legally, an animal must be seen by a Vet every 6 months in order to prescribe prescription only medication, this appointment is chargeable
  

• Written prescriptions are available for clients to source their pets medication online, the cost of this prescription is £20. We recommended researching the company you are using and checking reviews on Trustpilot.co.uk to make sure they are genuine.

Consent

You will be asked for your signed consent for:

• Procedures requiring your animal to be admitted to the practice
  

• Where medications are prescribed which are ‘not licenced’ either in a particular species or for certain conditions
  

• Euthanasia

Estimates

Estimates are valid for 30 days

• Estimates may change due to the uncertain nature of medical care. Should the estimate change we will endeavour to contact you as soon as possible

• Estimates are provided to clients via email for pre booked procedures, this is usually the day before

• Should you require an estimate for a non booked procedure please contact us

• During your consultation, you may ask the Vet for an estimate for the treatment they are proposing, this will be emailed to you if immediate care is not needed that day

Data Protection

• The practice will not share any data relating to the owner or animal with a third party for any reason without prior consent of the owner.

• We may need to disclose your information in the case of animal welfare, fraud prevention or to comply with any legal or regulatory obligations.

• We will use the data we have on file to contact you with information beneficial to your pet’s health, for example; vaccination reminders, drug recall information, other relevant products and newsletters. Please contact us should you wish to opt out of this service

• Case records, including laboratory results, radiographs and similar documents are the property of, and will be retained by, Animal House Veterinary Services

Standards of Service

All our veterinary services are determined and performed by qualified veterinarians, assisted by qualified registered or trainee veterinary nurses. All our vets and qualified nurses are registered with the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons (RCVS) and act in accordance with their guide to professional conduct at all times.

Complaints

Animal House Veterinary Services is committed to providing an exceptional level of service and care and
we sincerely hope you never have cause to complain about the standards of service you have received from us.
However, if there is something you wish to discuss or you have a complaint, please direct your comments in writing (email or letter) for the attention of the Practice Manager. Please include your details, the staff member(s) concerned and the full circumstances of your complaint. We will acknowledge your complaint within 24hrs and endeavour to respond within 5 business days. thoroughly. We take any complaint seriously and any comments which will help us to improve our services are always welcome.

Client Care
We ask that all clients have mutual respect to all of our team, we have a zero tolerance policy to
threatening or abusive behaviour. We reserve the right to de-register clients should this be breached.

Miscellaneous

• We record all of our incoming and outgoing calls for training and monitoring purposes
  

• Users of our car park do so at their own risk. Animal House does not accept any responsibility for
  damages or losses while using our car park.