Practice terms & conditions
The Hampshire Vet Ltd
Address: The Hampshire Vet, Woodland Court, Shortwood Copse Lane, Beggarwood, Basingstoke RG23 7NL
Our contact details and opening times
Fees and Payments
- The fees charged by The Hampshire Vet are reflective of the time and expertise invested in caring for your pet, and the investment made in our equipment, facilities, medicines and expert team. All of these elements allow us to provide your pet with the best possible care available.
- Payment for treatment is expected at the end of each consultation, on the discharge of hopitalised patients and the collection of any medication or food.
- Clients will receive an itemised invoice for every consultation, surgical procedure or transaction. These will generally be emailed to you but hard copies can be requested.
- Fees, diets and drug charges are all subject to VAT at the current rate.
- If for any reason you are unable to settle your account we ask that you contact us straight away.
- If your account has not been settled at the end of a consultation, we will send you an invoice and payment link. Payment is expected within 3 days.
- Any accounts that have not been settled after 7 days may incur an additional administration cost, as will referral to our debt collection agency.
Estimates
- We aim to be as transparent as possible regarding our costs. Estimates are either provided verbally or in a written format. We endeavor to provide written estimates for all surgical procedures and in patient care.
- Estimates provided are an approximation and unfortunately unwell patients can often not follow a conventional course, and there is an element of unpredictability.
- Our policy is to provide treatment estimates for any surgeries or inpatient stays. Please be aware that not all animals’ treatment follows a linear path and there can be variations in costs. We will contact you as soon as possible to inform you of any additional costs for your pet’s treatment.
- We will endeavour to contact you as soon as possible if our costs are significantly higher than the estimate provided. If we are unable to contact you, we will use our clinical judgement to provide any treatment that will prevent pain or suffering.
Home Visits
- The Hampshire Vet started as a mobile veterinary service, and it is a service we hope to continue to provide. Home visits incur an additional fee due to time and travel that is involved.
- There may be occasions when we ask you to bring your pet to our premises instead, as we feel that we will be able to better treat your pet’s needs with the equipment in practice.
Animal Insurance
- We strongly encourage all owners to invest in pet insurance for both accident and injury.
- Direct claims are possible on a case-by-case basis, at the discretion of the directors. Please note we are unable to work directly with some insurance companies.
- Where we deal with your insurance company directly, we ask that you settle your account within 30 days if your insurance company has not made payment by this point.
- Any shortfall owed after your claim has been settled will need to be paid immediately.
- All insurance claims incur an administration fee of £5.00.
Personal Information
- It is important for us to keep accurate records of client and patient details. We may contact you intermittently to confirm the details we hold for you. If your personal details or the ownership of your pet changes we ask that you contact us with the information as soon as possible.
- We may contact you by letter, phone or email regarding preventative health care or an outstanding account. If you do not wish to be contact please let our client care team know.
- Your personal information and privacy are important to us. We endeavour not to share your personal information without your prior consent.
Phone Calls
- All phone calls, both incoming and outgoing are recorded for monitoring and training purposes.
Prescriptions
- We dispense any medication prescribed during a consultation directly from our premises in line with Royal Veterinary College of Surgeons and Veterinary Medicines Directorate Guidelines.
- All Prescription Only Medication (POM-V) is dispensed under the authority of a veterinary surgeon.
- In line with the British Veterinary Association’s guidelines, we are unable to accept the return of any drugs that have been dispensed and taken away by clients from the premises.
- We are happy to dispose of any unused or out-of-date medication at the owner’s request.
- Written prescriptions are available on request.
Off-license medication
- On occasion it maybe appropriate for our vets to prescribe medication for your pet which has not been licensed for veterinary use.
- Off license medication is only used when there is no other suitable alternative.
- These medications may include drugs that are human medications but not available in veterinary form or allowed for use in a different species of animal.
- We will ask you to sign a consent form when off-license medication is used.
Vaccination Reminders
- We endeavour to make preventative care of our pet as simple as possible. Part of this service includes sending an annual vaccination reminder for your animals, unless you have opted out of this service.
- Our annual reminder is a courtesy and does not mean that The Hampshire Vet has any obligation if the reminder fails. It is ultimately the responsibility of the client to ensure that their pet receives their annual vaccination and other preventative treatments.
Missed Appointments
- We understand that appointments can be forgotten, and sometimes life gets in the way. As a small independent business it does impact on us when appointments are booked and missed. It means we are unable to offer to other clients and patients that may need them.
- We will always send a confirmation email when appointments are booked and also a reminder.
- The Hampshire Vet allows for two missed appointments but if a third is missed a consultation fee will be applied.
Out of Hours & Overnight Care
- The Hampshire Vet will provide Out of Hours care either ourselves or via a third party out of hours provider such as Vets Now.
- Where we are able to offer an out of hours or emergency service higher fees will apply.
- It will be discussed with you if your animal requires an overnight stay. The Hampshire Vet provides overnight inpatient care for stable patients that do not require intensive monitoring.
- If you pet is deemed to be unstable, we may suggest that they are transferred to a local emergency and critical care provider than can provide more intensive management and care.
- The overnight care provided by The Hampshire Vet is nurse lead with a Veterinary Surgeon on call.
Consent
- We require signed consent for all patients being admitted into the hospital for a procedure or inpatient treatment.
- Consent with be sought by either an online e-signature or a signed consent form.
Brucellosis Testing
- Brucellosis is an endemic bacterial infection in Eastern Europe, Africa and Asia. It can be spread to humans from dogs through direct contact and can cause serious illness.
- Our policy is that all dogs imported into the UK from countries where Brucellosis is endemic must have a serology blood test to show they are free from disease prior to being treated.
- We have adopted this policy to protect not only our staff but your families.
Feedback, Standard & Complaints
We hope that you never have reason to be disappointed with the service provided by The Hampshire Vet. If you have any concerns or complaints, we ask that you contact our team straight away so that we can discuss your concerns and resolve any issues.
More information is provided within our Client Welcome Pack.
A link to this is found below:
