1) Appointments and consultations. All appointments and examinations with the vet attract a fee. Clients and their pets are attended to by veterinary surgeons and nurses during consulting hours by appointment. The charging process is based on the allocation of appointments, or/and the consultation process, with or without a pet present. Appointments are available in the morning, afternoon and early evening at times which vary according to the day of the week. Urgent cases will be seen outside consulting hours during the day, but a higher fee will be applied. A higher fee may be applied if clients arrive at the surgery without an appointment. A higher fee may be applied for a double booked appointment. All prices are inclusive of VAT at the current rate. A fee may be charged for missed appointments for operations and consultations.

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2) Out of hours.  All out of hours emergency telephone calls to Station Bridge Veterinary Surgery will be answered as quickly as possible. Out of hours fees will apply to animals seen outside of the surgery opening times. We have out of hours support with Vets Now who provide emergency services for our clients, they are located at: Vets Now Peterborough, Pengelly & Mizen, 89 - 93 Park Road, Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, PE1 2TR.

 

3) Estimates. 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 some routine procedures we will give quotations. Some additional fees may be added to quotations for additional services and goods provided in unforeseen circumstances.

 

4) Payment. 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 for disease investigation, surgery and/or treatment, payment is due at the end of the investigation/treatment.

 

5) Payment terms. The practice welcomes prior warning of genuine inability to pay as specified in 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 patient records are requested to be released to another practice where the client owes money to Station Bridge Veterinary Surgery then immediate payment in full should be provided. Transferred records may include comment on non-payment.

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6) Payment terms – insured pets. Clients with insured pets which have incurred fees are required to pay Station Bridge Veterinary Surgery in full in accordance with point 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. Payment of the policy excess(es) and payment for all goods not covered by the policy are due at the time of the transaction. 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.

 

 

7) Payment terms – accounts. Station Bridge Veterinary Surgery 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 two or four weeks.

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8) Payment terms - defaults. When a client of Station Bridge Veterinary Surgery 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.

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9) Payment – unsupported. Any cheques returned by the bank as not honoured, any credit card payments not honoured and any cash tendered found to be counterfeit will 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.

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

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11) Medicine returns. 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.

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12) Second opinions and referrals. 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.

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13) Referral practice costs. When a referral practice charges Station Bridge Veterinary Surgery directly for the examination of radiographs (for example) to provide an opinion, Station Bridge Veterinary Surgery 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.

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14) External laboratory fees. All external laboratory fees are charged to the client at cost plus VAT. Station Bridge Veterinary Surgery will charge professional handling and reporting fees as well as charges for consumables in relation to external laboratory work.

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15) Investigative care. 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 remains with the practice. If a client requests that a second practice has access to this record, then Station Bridge Veterinary Surgery may charge the client a fee for the transfer of the record. Station Bridge Veterinary Surgery 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 13).

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16) Prescriptions. Repeat prescriptions should be ordered in advance. Drugs, and all other goods, are to be paid for at the time of collection or in advance (see also clause 10). Station Bridge Veterinary Surgery will provide written prescriptions for treatments prescribed by the veterinary surgeons at the practice, if requested. Clients may then present the prescription to a high street pharmacy, internet pharmacy or another veterinary practice to obtain the goods. All pets requiring on-going treatment with a POM-V (Veterinary Prescription Only Medicine) or POM (Prescription Only Medicine) are required to be examined by a veterinary surgeon regularly. The most common frequency is every six months. This examination applies to those clients who request a written prescription for their pet’s treatment and to those who purchase their drugs from Station Bridge Veterinary Surgery. All patients prescribed flea treatments are required to be examined at the clinic at least once a year.

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17) Reminders. The provision of reminders for vaccinations and other services and products by Station Bridge Veterinary Surgery is a courtesy - there is no obligation on the practice or the staff regarding the consequences of failure to provide such reminders.

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18) Hospitalised pets – non collection. If a pet which has been hospitalised at the clinic for treatment or surgery and 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, along with all other outstanding fees, will be payable before collection of the pet.

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

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20) Data protection. Station Bridge Veterinary Surgery adheres to the Data Protection Act.

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21) Declining Registration. Submission of your details either by telephone, email, or online web-form does not constitute completion of the registration process. Registration will be confirmed by email after the details have been reviewed. We reserve the right to decline registration and notice of this will be provided.