Terms & Conditions

Consultations

All consultations are by appointment only. Clients are requested to inform the surgery in advance, preferably at least 24 hours before your appointment time, if you wish to cancel, or reschedule your appointment. We reserve the rights to charge for missed appointments, or for appointments cancelled, or changed at short notice.Every effort is made to accommodate clients and to find available appointment slots and animals are never turned away in an emergency.

There is always a charge for repeat consultations except in the case of one complimentary post-operative check for surgical cases. Suture removal is also performed free of charge for operations performed at the surgery, for those done elsewhere there may be a consultation charge depending on the procedure.

There is a higher-than-normal consultation charge when an animal is seen outside normal consultation times or when an animal is seen without a prior appointment.

All animals brought into the surgery must be accompanied by an adult over 16 years of age.

All cats must be kept in baskets in the waiting room and all dogs must be kept on a lead.The safety of the pet, the client and our staff are of the highest priority and this may include measures to restrain the animal including the application of a muzzle or providing appropriate sedation. It is important for clients to realise that our patients can have the potential to be dangerous and the advice of our professional staff is to be heeded.

For pet travel it is entirely the responsibility of the client to ensure that all the requirements are completed correctly and at the appropriate time. Our vets will be happy to provide advice regarding travel. It is also entirely the owner’s responsibility to ensure that any rabies boosters are given at the correct time – due to the differing lengths of duration between rabies manufacturers we do not currently send out reminders for rabies boosters.

Our Services

All veterinary services provided by us are supplied by suitably qualified staff, considering the nature of the services to be supplied in each instance. We will always carry out the services with reasonable care and skill, and in accordance with the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons

(RCVS) Code of Professional Conduct.

We will provide veterinary services to you during our normal business hours. We will also provide emergency veterinary services to you outside our normal business hours either ourselves or by referring you to another local practice or veterinary service with whom we have an appropriate arrangement.

We reserve the right to provide any veterinary services at our discretion and at any time. We will carry out the veterinary services by the time or within the period which you and we agree.

If you and we have agreed no time or period, this will be within a reasonable time.

Responsible Pet Ownership, Us, and You

We believe in the principle of responsible pet ownership and the benefits of preventative healthcare. This includes regular appropriate vaccinations and regular flea and worm control for dogs, cats and rabbits. We recommend microchipping as the best permanent means of identification for your pet.

To help you budget for your pet’s routine healthcare needs, and to make bills more manageable, we are pleased to offer the healthcare plan. Please ask in practice for more details.

Pet Health Insurance

Animals can become ill or get injured without warning. We strongly support the principle of insuring your pet against unexpected problems. Please ask for details about insurance from any member of the team at your practice. You must advise us prior to any treatment if you wish us to submit a claim directly to your insurer in respect of our fees. If you fail to do so, it is your responsibility to pay our fees at the time of treatment and then reclaim them from your insurance company. Please note that the healthcare plan is not an insurance policy.

Fees

All professional fees, pet shop and medicine charges are subject to VAT at the prevailing rate.

Fee levels are determined by the time and skill-level required for a case, as well as medicines, materials, laboratory tests, consumables and diets used. Itemized fees are always available for every treatment. You are liable for any fees incurred in the diagnosis and treatment of your pet, even if your pet is brought to us on your behalf by an agent, for example a relative or friend.

No medicines or pet shop items can be dispensed without payment being received at the time the items are collected. This does not include items dispensed as part of the healthcare plan, which are subject to the terms and conditions of the plan.

Methods of payment

Accounts are due for settlement at the end of the consultation or treatment, the discharge of your pet, or upon collection of medicines and other pet requisites. You may settle the account using cash or a credit/debit card.

In some cases, we accept relevant vouchers that are valid and in date (RSPCA, Cats protection etc.)

Estimates of treatment costs

We will provide written estimates as to the probable costs of a course of treatment. Please bear in mind that any estimate given can only be approximate as it is not always possible to predict how a pet’s illness will progress. We will try to contact you on the telephone number you have given us if we believe the treatment costs are going to exceed the estimated costs. If, however, you are not contactable, we will treat your pet as is necessary for the prevention of pain and suffering.

Settlement terms

A reminder will be sent if an account is not settled within seven days. Additional charges will be incurred if further reminders are required. After due notice to you, overdue accounts will be referred to our debt collection agency and further charges will be levied in respect of costs incurred in collecting the debt (these include, but are not limited to, the production of reports, correspondence, court fees, attendance at court, phone calls and home visits).

Any cheque returned by our bank as unpaid, any credit card payment not honored and any cash tendered that is found to be counterfeit, will result in the original account being restored to the original sum to be paid within 7 days.

Inability to pay

If, for any reason, you are unable to settle your account as specified, we ask you to discuss the matter as soon as possible with a member of the team. Please note that instalment payments or part-payments of any account may only be sanctioned with the express permission of an authorized partner after appropriate checks have been made and you will need to sign an acknowledgement of debt. The granting of permission for instalment payments rather than full payment at the time of treatment is at our absolute discretion but will be given in most circumstances where it is reasonable to do so.

Out-of-hours Policy

Pawsome Vets has a responsibility to ensure that your pet is provided with veterinary care outside of our business hours. Pawsome provides this care through a third party out-of-hours emergency provider with whom pawsome have an arrangement. Details of out-of-hours care, including contact details, address and the estimated price of an initial consultation can be obtained on our website pawsomevets.co.uk, on posters within the clinic and at the clinic reception.

Prescription Policy

Prescriptions are available from our practice. You may obtain Prescription Only Medicines, category V (POM-Vs) from your veterinary surgeon. Alternatively, you may ask for a written prescription and obtain these medicines from another veterinary surgeon or pharmacy. Your veterinary surgeon may prescribe POM-Vs only for animals under his or her care. A written prescription may not be appropriate if your animal is an in-patient or immediate treatment is necessary.

You will be informed of the price of any medicine that may be prescribed for your animal. The general policy of Pawsome Vets is to re-assess every three-six months any animal that requires repeat prescriptions, but this frequency may increase or decrease depending on individual circumstances and the opinion of the veterinary surgeon. The standard charge for a re-examination for such purposes is the prevailing price of a consultation fee. There is a charge for providing prescriptions. Please ask a member of staff for the current prescription fee.

In-patient care

Our staff will provide appropriate and adequate in-patient care for your pet, as decided and instructed by the veterinary surgeon on duty. This care includes housing in a comfortable environment, monitoring and treatment commensurate with your pet’s condition, by persons with the requisite level of knowledge and expertise. During normal opening hours, a member of staff will always be present on the practice site and will be available to provide in-patient care for your pet.

If such a Centre is available, patients that require overnight care and hospitalization will be transferred, by either the practice or by the owner, to a dedicated out-of-hours provider. If such a Centre is not available, the veterinary surgeon will inform the client of the procedure for the continuous care of your pet, this may include your pet being hospitalized without continuous supervision. The veterinary surgeon will discuss the available options with you, including the frequency of in-patient checks.

Referrals and second opinions

The veterinary surgeon will facilitate a client’s request for a referral or second opinion. A referral may be required for a diagnosis, procedure or possible treatment. After a referral, the case is returned to the referring veterinary surgeon. A second opinion, on the other hand, is only for the purpose of seeking the views of another veterinary surgeon.

When will we refer?

Veterinary surgeons will recognise when a case or a treatment option is outside their area of competence and may refer it to a colleague within pawsome vets, or to an external organisation or institution, whom they are satisfied is competent to carry out the investigations or treatment involved.

The veterinary surgeon will make a referral appropriate to the case. When considering what is appropriate the veterinary surgeon will consider all relevant factors. These might include the ability and experience of the referral veterinary surgeon, the location of the service, the urgency of treatment and the circumstances of the owner, including the availability and any limitations of insurance.

In cases where the client does not accept the veterinary surgeon’s advice regarding referral and would instead prefer referral to a colleague, organisation or institution of which the referring veterinary surgeon has insufficient knowledge to determine appropriateness, they may need to advise their client accordingly. In some such cases, the veterinary surgeon may consider that they cannot be party to such a referral relationship.

Both the referring and referral surgeons will ensure that the client understands the likely cost of the referral.

Student Care

Pawsome vets is passionate about helping veterinary students obtain hands on experience within our practices. As a result, students may occasionally be involved in the care of your pet.

You will have the opportunity to give consent and you can withdraw this consent at any time.

Your Behaviour (and ours)

We take the health, well-being and safety of our staff, our clients and pets in our care very seriously. We therefore take a zero-tolerance approach against intrusive, offensive, violent or aggressive behaviour. Examples of behaviour that we deem unacceptable are: making malicious allegations about our staff or other clients; derogatory racial or sexual remarks; offensive sexual gestures or behaviour; using violent, threatening or abusive language (including swearing and offensive remarks); violent, threatening or abusive behaviour towards our staff, our clients or pets in our care; theft and other criminal activity; and non-compliance with the practice’s health and safety requirements.

Please note that we have the right to refuse to provide you services. We reserve the right, at our discretion, to decline to supply veterinary services, to ask you to leave our premises and/or to terminate our contract with you if you or any person accompanying or connected with you engage in any such behaviour, whether in our practice or when speaking to our staff via telephone, email or through our website. We understand that not all animals will respond to treatment as hoped, which can be very distressing, and will take this into account when dealing with such behaviour.

This goes both ways. If you feel that one of our staff members or other clients has acted inappropriately towards you or someone else, please let us know as soon as possible so we can investigate.

Termination of your contract with us

You can end your contract with us at any time and you can do so by visiting the practice (during normal business hours), or by sending an email or a letter to the practice informing us of your decision. When your contract ends, you will be responsible for collecting your pet from us (if it is in our care) and for paying any outstanding payments. We recommend that you register your pet with another veterinary practice from the date that your contract with us ends noting that we are not responsible for arranging this for you.

We also reserve the right to terminate our contract with you at any time for any of the following reasons: if the information that you provided to us on registration is inaccurate, incomplete or misleading; if you breach any of the terms of the contract, if you have failed to make payment to us when it is due and payment is not provided within 7 days of us reminding you; you do not provide us with information within a reasonable time that is necessary for us to provide the services; or in the event that the practice no longer provide services in whole or in part.

We will write to you by post or email, telling you that we have decided to terminate our agreement with you and our reasons for doing so.

Our responsibility for loss or damage suffered by you

We are not responsible for any loss or damage that is not foreseeable. Loss or damage is foreseeable if either it is obvious that it will happen or if, at the time the contract was made, both we and you knew it might happen. We are also not responsible for any damages resulting from you acting contrary to or failing to act in accordance with the instructions of us or our staff. If you purchase products from us (including medication), we will not be liable for your use of any products otherwise than in accordance with their instructions or as directed by our staff.

Our products and services are intended for domestic and private use only. If you use the services or any products that we supply in providing the services for any commercial, business or re-sale purpose we will have no liability to you including for any loss of profit, loss of business, business interruption, or loss of business opportunity.

We do not exclude or limit our liability to you where it would be unlawful. This includes liability for death or personal injury to human beings caused by our negligence or the negligence of our employees, agents or subcontractors; for fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation; or for breach of your legal rights in relation to our services.

Subject to the above exceptions, our liability to you for any damages, losses, claims, costs or expenses arising out of our supply of any products or services shall not exceed: (a) if the supply of those goods or services are covered by our public liability or professional indemnity insurance, the limit of that insurance for each claim or series of connected claims; and (b) if the supply of those goods or services are not covered by our public liability or professional indemnity insurance, the value of the total fees paid or payable by you for the products or services in question.

General

Pawsome Vets cannot register a pet or contract to provide veterinary services to anyone who is a minor. Persons under the age of 16 should request their parent or guardian to obtain

Pawsome’s services on their behalf. By engaging Pawsome’s services, you confirm that you are 16 years old or older.

Reminders are provided as a complimentary service to our clients. We accept no liability for any loss, damages or costs which may result from the failure of a client to receive a reminder.

No addition or variation of these terms and conditions will bind us unless it is specifically agreed in writing and signed by an authorised signatory of the company, save that we may amend these terms and conditions from time to time either because we are legally required to do so or to reflect changes in relevant laws, regulatory requirements, payment methods, operating practices, market conditions affecting our business or to implement minor technical adjustments or service improvements which are unlikely to adversely affect your use of our services. Please go to the Pawsome Vets website for the most up to date version of our terms and conditions from time to time.

We may transfer our rights and obligations under these terms to another person or company, for example in the event that we merge with another business, purchase another business, or another business purchases ours. We will always tell you in writing if this happens and we will ensure that the transfer will not affect your rights under the contract. You may transfer your rights or your obligations under these terms to another person if we agree to this in writing.

This contract is between you and us. No other person shall have any right to enforce any of its terms.

Each of the paragraphs of these terms operates separately. If any court or relevant authority decides that any of them are unlawful, the remaining paragraphs will remain in full force and effect.

Failure to insist that you comply with these terms or delay in taking steps against you will not mean that we have waived our rights in requiring performance of the contract or prevent us taking steps against you later. For example, if you miss a payment and we do not chase you but we continue to provide the services, we can still require you to make the payment at a later date.

These terms and conditions are governed by English law. If you wish to do so, you can bring legal proceedings in connection with these terms and conditions or our services in the English courts. If you live in Scotland, you can bring such legal proceedings in either the Scottish or the English courts. If you live in Northern Ireland, you can bring such legal proceedings in either the Northern Irish or the English courts.