Out of Hours Emergency Service
As a practice we are committed to the care of all animals that are registered to us, whether that care is provided during normal working hours or out of normal working time. We are a 'mixed' Practice in that we care for small/companion animals as well as large animals, which in our case includes both farm animals and equines.
Currently all veterinary practices are required, by our code of ethics, to supply Out of Hours cover to those animals requiring veterinary attention outside of normal working hours. Veterinary practices offer a wide range of options to the general public under the umbrella of 24hour cover. This can range from the cover being retained 'in house' i.e. the entire operation is covered by the practice supplying the daily routine treatment, to a situation where the cover is contracted out to a dedicated 'out of hours' provider situated away from the practice supplying the daily treatment.
We feel it is extremely important that anybody registering their animal with our practice, be they companion animal or large animal, is fully aware of exactly what we, as a practice, offer to our registered clients in the way of out of hours cover.
We take great pride in offering a comprehensive out of hours service to our registered clients and do not delegate the care of your animal to a third party. By providing this level of care the clinical records of the animal concerned will be instantly available to the duty veterinary surgeon, this enables us to provide a level of ongoing treatment without duplication.
Out of normal working hours, we are contactable by telephoning the surgery that you routinely use for day to day treatment, a telephone message will inform you of the number on which you can speak directly to the duty veterinary surgeon. Once contact has been made with the duty veterinary surgeon, the perceived problem will be assessed and discussed and if further treatment is deemed necessary then we will arrange to examine your animal at the surgery that you normally attend, if at all possible.
House visits
During out of hours, we generally will seek to examine your pet at the surgery, what we can accomplish in the home is extremely limited from the point of both diagnostics and treatment. However, we recognise that there will be rare occasions when a house visit has to be made and we will endeavour to provide this service.
Out of hours cover is expensive to provide and there will be an additional charge made, this charge will vary according to the time of day/night when the service is provided, details of these charges can be supplied on contacting the surgery.
