Terms and Conditions of Business - Small Animal
Thank you for entrusting the care of your pet to Fenton Veterinary Practice.
Conditions of Registration
By registering with Fenton Vets, or carrying out any transaction with Fenton Vets, you are agreeing to, and accepting our Terms and Conditions of Business.
Updates to our Terms and Conditions will be made from time to time. The current version of our T&Cs and will be displayed on the practice website (www.fentonvets.co.uk). The terms and conditions published on the website are current and will supersede any previous versions.
No addition or variation of these conditions will bind the practice unless it is specifically agreed in writing and signed by a Director. No agent or person employed by, or under contract with Fenton Veterinary Practice has the authority to alter or vary these conditions in any way.
For clients transferring from another practice we require a full clinical history. It is a condition of registration that you consent to a full history being provided from all previous veterinary practices. Fenton Vets reserve the right to decline or cancel your registration request. Please ensure you allow enough time for your history to be obtained before making an appointment.
Responsible Pet Ownership
Fenton Vets believe in the principle of responsible pet ownership and the benefits of preventative healthcare, this includes regular appropriate vaccinations, worm and flea control for dogs, cats and rabbits. Fenton Veterinary Practice recommends microchipping as the best permanent means of identification for your pet. An ID chip is a legal requirement for dogs in Wales, along with a name tag. ID chips are strongly recommended for cats
Pet Health Insurance
Fenton Veterinary Practice strongly supports the principle of insuring your pet against unexpected illness or accidents. Please ask our trained insurance advisors for further information. Please be aware that Practice policy is for you to settle your account at the time of treatment, in full and to reclaim any fees from your insurance company. We reserve the right to make reasonable charges for administration of insurance claims, and we will advise you in advance of any expected cost
Fees
There is no National Health Service for pets, and Fenton Veterinary Practice relies on fee income to invest in the best possible standard of facilities, equipment and staff to the benefit of our patients and clients.
Please ensure all fees are paid at the time of treatment as this helps to keep the level of fees as low as possible for all our clients. Outstanding invoices will incur surcharges if they remain unpaid.
All professional fees, accessories and medicine charges are subject to VAT at the current 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. Itemised fee breakdowns are always available for every treatment. You are liable for any fees incurred in the diagnosis and treatment for your pet even if your pet is brought to us on your behalf by a relative, friend or agent.
No medicines or accessory items can be dispensed without payment being received at the time of collection.
The Veterinary Surgeons and staff will be pleased to discuss likely costs at any time – please don’t hesitate to ask.
Methods of payment
Invoices are due for settlement at the end of each consultation, the discharge of your pet or upon collection of medicines and other pet requisites. You may settle your account using: Cash or Credit /Debit card – we accept Maestro, Solo, Mastercard, Visa and Delta. We are also able to accept payments by bank transfer by arrangement. In some cases we accept relevant vouchers that are valid and in date.
With regret, we no longer accept cheques as a payment method in the practice.
Estimates of Treatment Costs
We will provide written estimates as to the expected 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, and often a pet’s illness will not follow a conventional course. We will try to contact you on the contact numbers you have given us if we believe the treatment costs are going to exceed the estimated costs, however if you are not contactable we will treat your pet as necessary for the prevention of pain and or suffering.
Settlement terms
All accounts should be settled in full at the end of each consultation, on discharge of your pet, or on collection of food, medication or accessories. If for any reason an account is not settled in full by the end of the month, an invoice will be sent incurring an additional accounting fee in respect of administration costs. Should it be necessary for further statements to be sent, further charges will be incurred. After due notice to you the client, overdue accounts will be referred to our debt collection service 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, home visits etc.)
Any cheque returned by our bank as unpaid, any credit card payment not honoured and any cash tendered that is found to be counterfeit will result in the original account being restored to the original sum with further charges added in respect of bank charges and administration costs.
All missed appointments will be charged unless reasonable notice of cancellation is given. It is at Fenton Veterinary Practices sole discretion not to charge for a missed appointment.
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 senior member of staff (Practice Manager or a Director). Arrangements other than full payment at the time of treatment are at Fenton Veterinary Practice’s absolute discretion.
Out of Hours policy
Should your animal require veterinary attention outside of surgery hours, we provide 24hr Emergency Veterinary cover. Between the hours of 10pm and 8am your call will be handled by MiNight Vets in Carmarthen. No staff are resident at the practice overnight, however your pet will be monitored by the Out of Hours team as often as is considered appropriate for their condition.
Prescription Policy
We can only provide prescription medications for animals under our care. This means that the Veterinary Surgeon has to examine your animal before dispensing medication or at suitable intervals if your pet is on long term medication. The frequency of repeat medication reviews is at the discretion of the vet. A consultation charge will be payable for these checks which must be carried out at least every 6 months.
We are required to carry out a physical examination before prescribing every antibiotic, antiviral, antifungal or antibiotic medication. This is to comply with the laws on prescribing veterinary medicines overseen by the RCVS & VMD.
For improved efficiency and service, written prescriptions from Fenton Vets will be sent directly to a nominated and approved pharmacy only.
Disposal of Veterinary Medicines
We will accept the return of veterinary medicinal products that we have supplied, for safe disposal, and in particular encourage clients to return any unused antibiotics. Please note, that in line with medicine supply regulations, that all medicines supplied are non-refundable after they have left the practice premises.
Fenton Veterinary Practice may contact you either by letter, phone, text or electronic means in order to advise you of outstanding accounts, reminders of your pet’s preventative health care treatments and any marketing offers that might be of benefit to you or your pet. Please inform us if you wish no contact to be made. However, please be aware that this will remove the ability of the Practice to send vaccination reminders.
Reminders are provided as a complimentary service to our clients. Fenton Veterinary Practice accepts no liability for any loss, damages or costs which may result from the failure of a client to receive any reminder.
House Visits
The best facilities for the treatment of your pet are at the Veterinary Surgery. We recommend that on most occasions you bring your pet to the surgery for examination and treatment. However, there are occasionally circumstances when home attendance may be more appropriate. Please call us to discuss this, if you think this is the case. If you require a home visit, we appreciate as much notice as possible to help us accommodate your request. Visiting pets at home takes much longer than at surgery. We respectfully advise that home visits are more costly for this reason.
Complaints and Standards
Fenton Veterinary Practice is committed to providing an exceptional standard of service and care. Fenton Veterinary Practice provides ongoing training to its staff regarding all aspects of companion animal practice.
We realise however that things can sometimes go wrong and there may be occasions when you feel your expectations were not met. If this happens we want to hear about it so that we can try to put things right.
Most problems can be sorted out easily and quickly, often at the time they arise and directly with the person concerned.
If your complaint cannot be resolved in this way, you should follow the procedure below.
A Guide to Making A Complaint
If you wish to make a formal complaint, please let us know in writing as soon as possible; this will enable us to establish what happened more easily. Regrettably, we are unable to investigate complaints made more than 6 months after the event.
Please include the following to assist us in investigating the problem.
Why – the nature of the complaint/problem
When the problem occurred
Who – Which staff were involved
What you are hoping for as an outcome
Complaints should be addressed to the Practice Manager by post or by email (practice.manager@fentonvets.co.uk)
What we will do
We will acknowledge your complaint within five working days of receipt, informing you who is dealing with your complaint and when you can expect to receive a reply. In most cases we expect to give you a full reply within fifteen working days but if it is going to take longer, we will get in touch with you to let you know what is happening. We will then be in a position to offer you an explanation, and /or the results of our investigation.
When we look into your complaint, we will aim to:
Find out what happened and what went wrong
Make sure you receive an apology, where this is appropriate
Identify what we can do to make sure the problem does not happen again.
What to do if you are still unhappy
We hope that, if you have a problem, you will use our practice complaints procedure. We believe this will give us the best chance of putting right whatever has gone wrong and is an opportunity to improve our practice. If you remain unsatisfied with the outcome of our investigation and response, we will engage with a mediation process with Veterinary Client Mediation Service (VCMS). This does not affect your right to approach the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons if you are dissatisfied with the result of our investigation.
General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR)
Your personal information will be protected in accordance with the Data Protection Act 1988.
More details are available in our Privacy Policy on our website (www.fentonvets.co.uk).
Zero Tolerance Policy (abuse)
Fenton Vets staff shall always show due respect and courtesy when dealing with you and your representatives. We respectfully request that you do the same when dealing with members of the practice team.
Fenton Vets operate a zero tolerance policy with regard to violence and abuse and the practice has the right to remove abusive clients from the registered list with immediate effect in order to safeguard practice staff, and other persons. Abuse in this context includes actual or threatened physical violence or verbal abuse which leads to fear for a person’s safety, in person, by phone or other communications.
If this situation arises, we will notify you in writing of the removal of your registration with Fenton Vets. We reserve the right to record the circumstances and facts of your removal in the records we hold about you and your animals.
