Thank you for entrusting the care of your pet to our Practice. This letter details our Practice Terms and Conditions. Some aspects of the Terms may not be relevant to you. If anything is unclear, please ask for further explanation or clarification.

OUR STAFF

We undertake to provide veterinary care for your pet of the highest standards. Our veterinary surgeons are all members of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons, the British Veterinary Association and the British Small Animal Veterinary Association. They are all covered by Professional Liability Insurance and the Practice is covered for Public Liability.

OPENING HOURS AND EMERGENCIES

Our normal opening hours are advertised at each surgery, in our Practice advertising material and on our website (www.cedarvets.com). These times may change from time to time. All animals, except emergencies, are seen by appointment only. We run an emergency veterinary service out of normal hours, which is available 24 hours a day for 365 days of the year. To use this service, please phone the normal office number and you will be diverted to a vet or nurse from our Practice to answer your call. If you need to be seen, this will usually be at our Veterinary Hospital at Ringwood (69 Christchurch Road, Ringwood BH24 1DH). Please leave routine enquiries for normal office hours. Our night service is only normally available to registered clients, unless an animal is suffering. Our fees out of hours will be higher than normal to reflect the appreciable extra costs incurred in providing this service.

HOSPITALISATION

All animals which need to be kept on our premises overnight will be kept at our Hospital at Ringwood. The patients here are cared for by a Nurse at all times of the day and night. She is up and working all night, and is available to give medication, check intravenous drips, and monitor all in-patients at all times. A veterinary surgeon is available at short notice at all times. For security reasons, the nurses are not allowed to open the doors out of hours, unless a vet is also present. The Hospital is alarmed.

FEES

A sample of our fees are advertised on the wall in each waiting room, but please ask if you would like to know the cost of anything else. We would encourage you to discuss costs of procedures in advance with our vets and nurses. They are used to doing this, and are happy to provide estimates of costs at any time. Please bear in mind that estimates can only be approximate. Pet's illnesses will often not follow a conventional course. However we do undertake to attempt to discuss any changes in costs before continuing, unless treatment is essential for your pet's welfare. All fees are due for settlement at the end of the consultation, the discharge of your pet after hospitalisation or upon collection of drugs and diets. You may settle your account using cash, cheque with current banker card, or most Credit and Debit cards. We do not take American Express.

SETTLEMENT TERMS

Should an account not be settled, an administrative cost of 2% of the total will be added after 30 days and a reminder will be sent. Should it be necessary for further reminders to be sent, administrative charges will be added at a rate of 2% per month. After due notice to you the client, overdue accounts will be referred to our Debt Collection Agency, and any costs incurred by us in collection of the debt will be passed on to you. These will include the commission charged by the Debt Collection Agency, as well as any fees charged by the Court, and costs to us of correspondence, attendance at Court, phone calls, and home visits. Any cheque that is 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 administrative costs.

INABILITY TO PAY

If, for any reason, you are unable to settle your account as specified above, we ask you to discuss the matter as soon as possible with a member of staff. Please note that instalments or part-payments can only be sanctioned with the express permission of a Director or the Practice Manager.

PET HEALTH INSURANCE

We strongly support the principle of insuring your pet against unexpected illness or accidents. Under FSA regulations, we are not able to recommend a particular policy; however, we are happy to advise on potential advantages and disadvantages of policies as a group. We also have some application forms available in our waiting rooms. While we are happy to complete Pet Insurance claim forms at no extra charge, we do make an administration charge if you ask us to claim directly with the insurer. No charge will be made if you settle the account and the insurers make payment to you. Please remember that the contract is between you the client and the insurance company, and we cannot be held responsible for any matters which result in a claim being refused, and in these cases you will be responsible for settling our account in full. For referral clients, who are registered with another Practice normally, we will not claim directly with insurers, unless a pre-claim form has been completed successfully.

USE OF YOUR DETAILS

Cedar Veterinary Services Ltd is registered under the Data Protection Act. Your details will not be passed on to any third party. However, we may from time to time contact you by post with details of services we provide which may be of relevance to your pet's healthcare. If you do not want to receive any mailings, please let us know.

OWNERSHIP OF RECORDS

Case records are the property of, and will be retained by Cedar Veterinary Services Ltd. Copies will be passed on request to another veterinary surgeon taking over the care of your pet, or to the client following written request and payment of a small administrative fee. Ownership of radiographs, ultrasound scans and similar data will remain with the Practice. Any fee which has been paid will be for the preparation of these images and their interpretation only.

COMPLAINTS AND STANDARDS

We hope that you never have recourse to complain about the standards of service received at any of our surgeries. However, if there is something which you are not happy about, we would encourage you to let us know, so that we can take appropriate action. Please contact the Practice manager in the first instance. We will reply to all instances promptly.

SECOND OPINIONS AND REFERRALS

If you would like a second opinion on your pet's care, please do not be embarrassed to ask our vets. They will be able to arrange for you to see a vet with the necessary experience and expertise, and can ensure they have all the clinical records available. We do have several vets who are specialists in their fields and who see referrals from other Practices. We can refer you to see them. Their fees are higher than normal vet fees, reflecting the fewer clients they see in a day and also the high costs of obtaining such credentials. They do see our clients for reduced prices, but these are still a lot higher than those for our General Practice vets. Please ask for an estimate of costs first.

REPEAT PRESCRIPTIONS

We have many patients who are on continual medication. Please give us 24-48 hours notice of your requirements, as all medications must be prescribed by a vet before they are dispensed. Therefore this cannot be done while you wait. We have to see patients regularly to continue their prescriptions by Law, but will make every attempt to make this examination as infrequent as possible. This will depend on your pet's condition. Current guidelines suggest an average of every six months for most pets.

RETURN OF MEDICINES

Although we will try to be helpful, we can only give a refund on medicines or products if we are able to re-sell them. They must be in original packing. Only tablets or capsules in blister packs can be refunded. There must be sufficient time before the sell-by date for us to re-sell them. If the medicine needs special storage conditions, eg refrigeration, then we cannot refund them. In all cases, we will also apply a 10% charge to cover the administration of the refund and correction to our stock control system. Many food products are covered by manufacturers guarantees and a call to their helpline will usually result in a full refund.

Cedar Veterinary Services Ltd
July 2006

Cedar Veterinary Services Ltd is a Registered Company No 5210530. Registered address is 69 Christchurch Road, Ringwood, Hampshire BH24 1DH