Clients and their pets are attended to, by veterinary surgeons and staff during consulting hours. The charging process is based on the allocation of appointments, or/and the consultation process, with or without a pet present. There are two open surgeries Monday to Friday and one on Saturday mornings. Appointments are available at other times, which can be booked in advance. Urgent cases will be seen out of consulting hours during the day. All prices are inclusive of VAT at the current rate. A fee may be charged for missed appointments for operations and consultations.

All out of hours emergencies are attended to by Fishguard Veterinary Services Ltd. Out of hours fees apply and will be provided on request.

The practice can provide written estimates of probable costs for procedures and treatments. It is important to consider that treatments and procedures may not follow a conventional course and therefore an estimate may only be approximate. However, we will do our best to keep clients fully informed of costs during the course of treatment and will do so if the expected fee is to be more than 20% greater than the original estimate. In the case of routine procedures we will give quotations. Some additional fees may be added to quotations for additional services and goods provided in unforeseen circumstances.

All transactions (a transaction is defined as the transfer or sale of goods, services, treatments and fees from the practice to the client) are to be paid for immediately. The practice accepts cash, credit and debit cards and payment in advance. Payments by non “chip and pin” cards will not be accepted. In cases where a patient is admitted to the practice for a period for disease investigation, surgery and/or treatment, payment is due at the end of the period.

The practice welcomes forewarning of genuine inability to pay as specified in clause 4. Terms of payment to pay in installments, or in full at an agreed date, must be arranged at the time of the transaction. Fees for vaccinations and other routine procedures do not attract payment terms in any circumstances. If payment terms are not met, the outstanding amount will attract interest from the payment due date and will be subject to an accountancy fee each time a statement or invoice is issued for the outstanding amount. If no payment terms have been agreed, or if no forewarning of inability to pay is received, interest and accountancy fees may be applied from the day the debt is incurred. Goods and services, which have not been paid for, will remain the property of the practice until payment is received in full. If payment terms are not met, the practice will withhold routine treatments, goods and services until full payment is completed. If patient records are requested to be released to another practice where the client owes money to Fishguard Veterinary Services Ltd, then the request will be met when payment is made in full, but due consideration will be made regarding the health of the patient. If we use a debt collection company to retrieve unpaid accounts, all of these fees will be passed onto the client.

Clients with insured pets, which have incurred fees are required to pay Fishguard Veterinary Services Ltd in full in accordance with clause 4 above. Clients will be requested to make a claim to their insurers for direct payment to the client. However, in exceptional circumstances, where the full amount cannot be paid, then an agreement for payment arrangements must be made with the practice. In such circumstances the client must provide evidence of a valid and appropriate policy. The policy is a contract between the client and the insurer – the practice cannot complete claim forms with client details, advise clients or liaise between clients and the insurers. We reserve the right to charge for processing claim forms – fees for this service are not covered by such policies.

Small Animal Clients: Fishguard Veterinary Services Ltd does not provide an account service. The issuing of invoices and statements is a service provision for clients who have agreed a payment regime as all payments are due at the time of the transaction in accordance with clause 4. Payment, within the terms of a payment agreement, as set out in clause 4, is due immediately on receipt of a statement or invoice. Fees will be applied in accordance with clause 4 in cases of non-payment and late payment. Charges for non-payment and late payment will be shown on subsequent statements, but will be applied to the account on the payment-due date. Statements are issued every month. In the event of failure to settle the account, debt recovery will be actioned. Severely overdue accounts will be referred for recovery via a debt collection agency or the County Courts and further charges will be levied in respect of the cost incurred in collecting the debt. Should this action become necessary, this may lead to the withdrawal of our veterinary services.

Farm and Equine Clients: Fishguard Veterinary Services Ltd offers account service with strickly 30 days settlement terms. A paper invoice will be sent via post to the farm address unless otherwise stated. You may settle your account using direct debit, bacs, cash, credit or debit card. Payment, within the terms of a payment agreement, as set out in clause 4, is due immediately on receipt of a statement or invoice. Fees will be applied in accordance with clause 4 in cases of non-payment and late payment. Charges for non-payment and late payment will be shown on subsequent statements, but will be applied to the account on the payment-due date. Statements are issued every month. In the event of failure to settle the account, debt recovery will be actioned. Severely overdue accounts will be referred for recovery via a debt collection agency or the County Courts and further charges will be levied in respect of the cost incurred in collecting the debt. Should this action become necessary, this may lead to the withdrawal of our veterinary services.

When a client of Fishguard Veterinary Services Ltd has defaulted on a payment, either at the time of a transaction or on a payment agreement, for any reason, veterinary surgeons and staff employed by the company will not attend to any animal owned by that client, or attend to any animal registered at that client’s home address, until full payment is received. If the company agrees to retain a client with a payment default record, all future transactions will be on a strictly cash only, payment at the time basis.

Any cheques returned by the bank as not honoured, any credit card payments not honoured and any cash tendered found to be counterfeit would result in the client record being restored to the original sum. Further charges added in respect of bank charges, administrative charges and interest charged on the original sum from the date of the transaction will be applied to the account. Full payment will then be due immediately. Fraudulent transactions will be reported to the police.

A re-stocking fee may be charged if goods ordered by a client, for example repeat prescriptions, are not collected within a reasonable time. The full retail price will be charged for uncollected special order goods in addition to a re-stocking fee.

The practice does not accept the return of medicines for credit, refund or swap. There may be a charge for disposal of returned medicines. The return of non-medical products may be accepted in the original, undamaged package.

When another veterinary practice requires the details of a patient’s history for the purposes of a second opinion, a patient referral or if a client has changed practice, then the records will be passed directly to the second practice or to the client, but not both.

When a referral practice charges Fishguard Veterinary Services Ltd directly for the examination of radiographs (for example) to provide an opinion, Fishguard Veterinary Services Ltd will pass the fee from the referral practice to the client, as well as fees to cover arrangement, VAT and postage and packing. All fees incurred by a client at a referral practice are to be paid directly to the referral practice by the client.

All external laboratory fees are charged to the client at cost plus VAT. Fishguard Veterinary Services Ltd will charge professional handling and reporting fees as well as charges for consumables in relation to external laboratory work.

The care given to pets may require making specific investigations. The practice makes a charge for carrying out these investigations and interpreting their results. Ownership of the resulting record, for example a radiographic film, remains with the practice. If a client requests that a second practice has access to this record, then Fishguard Veterinary Services Ltd may charge the client a fee for the transfer of the record. Fishguard Veterinary Services Ltd reserves the right to give an opinion on radiographs, to pass them to the client without giving an opinion or to refer them to a practice for a specialist opinion. The latter will incur additional fees for the client (see clause 13).

Repeat prescriptions should be ordered at least 24 hours in advance. Drugs, and all other goods, are to be paid for at the time of collection or in advance (see also clause 10). Fishguard Veterinary Services Ltd will provide written prescriptions for treatments prescribed by the veterinary surgeons at the practice, if requested.

You may obtain POM-V (Veterinary Prescription Only Medicine) or POM (Prescription Only Medicine) from your veterinary surgeon OR ask for a prescription and obtain these medicines from another veterinary surgeon or pharmacy. There is a prescription fee. All pets requiring on-going treatment with a POM-V or POM are required to be examined by a veterinary surgeon regularly. The most common frequency is every three months, but varies depending on the condition being treated and the POM-V/POM being used. This examination applies to those clients who request a written prescription for their pet’s treatment and to those who purchase their drugs from Fishguard Veterinary Services Ltd. The standard charge will be reduced if we dispense the drugs. A prescription may not be appropriate if your animal is an in-patient or immediate treatment is necessary. You will be informed, on request, of the price of any medicine that may be dispensed for your animal.

All patients prescribed flea treatments are required to be examined at the clinic at least once a year.

In certain situations, Fishguard Veterinary Services Ltd may deem it necessary to treat your animal with drugs not licensed for use in your animal. This will only happen when appropriate drugs are not available for the species of your animal. This is referred to as ‘the cascade’. Full explanations will be given when requested.

Fishguard Veterinary Services Ltd operates a vaccination and parasite control reminder service, using SMS and email. To benefit you will need to provide us with an active mobile telephone number and/or an active email address. You may opt out at any time by following the instructions given through the reminder service. The provision of reminders for vaccinations and other services and products by Fishguard Veterinary Services Ltd is a courtesy – there is no obligation on the practice or the staff regarding the consequences of failure to provide such reminders.

If a pet which has been hospitalised at the clinic for treatment or surgery is not collected by the owner, or the owner’s representative, within a period of one calendar month after the agreed collection date, then the staff, having used all possible means to contact the owner, will take measures to rehome the pet. Money owed to the clinic will remain outstanding. Additional boarding fees will be added daily and, in the event of the pet being collected at a later than agreed date, these fees will be, along with all other outstanding fees, payable before collection of the pet.

The details (client name, date, time and reason for call) of all incoming telephone calls are noted in writing.

Fishguard Veterinary Services Ltd adheres to the Data Protection Act. Fishguard Veterinary Services Ltd uses a 3rd party reminder service, Virtual Recall, they too adhere to the Data Protection Act. Neither Fishguard Veterinary Services Ltd nor Virtual Recall will pass your data to third parties. In certain situations, such as an insurance claim or a request to send your history to another veterinary practice, the instruction to pass on your data is implied and will be acted upon accordingly.

We hope that you never have need to complain about the standards of service received from Fishguard Veterinary Services Ltd. However, if you feel that there is something you wish to complain about, please direct your comments to director Andrew Clemence.

Please complete the form attached with all your personal and contact details and those of your animals. We can add further animals in the future with the information provided verbally (there will be no need to provide them in writing).

From time to time we may contact you via SMS, email, letter or phone in order to advice you of treatments, marketing offers and outstanding accounts. Please inform us if you wish to opt out of any of the above.