Terms and Conditions
Premises & Opening Times
Telephone: 01474 534891/333141
The Shrubbery Veterinary Centre, 65 Perry Street, Northfleet, DA11 8RD.
Opening times:
Monday to Friday: 8.30am to 18.00pm
Saturday: 8.30am to 13.30pm, Saturday OOH: 13.30pm to 18.00pm
Sunday and Bank holidays OOH: 9.30am to 12.00pm
Clients use the practice premises and handle their own animals at their own risk.
In Patient Care
- In Patient are regularly monitored between 8.30am and 22.00pm, however after 18.30pm staff are not always on site.
- Critical patients may need to be transfered to our overnight emergency service Vets Now or referred to a specialist depending on their needs.
Out Of Hours (OOH) Emergency Cover
Provided by Vets Now: PDSA pet aid hospital campus way, Gillingham, ME8 0RR.
Telephone: 01634 366 846
Prescription Policy & Repeat Presciption Policy
- You may obtain prescription for POM-Vs (prescription only medicine category V) from a veterinary surgeon at this practice or ask for a written prescription and obtain medicines from another sources (pharmacy/online pharmacy).
- Veterinary surgeons can only prescribe POM-Vs for animals under their care. The general policy for this practice is to re-assess an animal requiring repeat prescriptions every 6months, but this may be more frequent for certain medical conditions. For prescription of flea and worming treatment, only an annual check is required.
- The 6 months repeat prescription check-ups are chargeable (unless you are part of our health care plan, or your animal is due for vaccination). Cost of the check-up available on request.
- You will be informed, on request, of the price of any medicine that may be dispensed for your animal. You may also enquire the price of a written prescription.
- A written prescription may not be appropriate if your animal is an in-patient or immediate treatment is necessary. Please give minimum 48hours notice to order repeat prescriptions.
Insurance Claims Form Policy
1. Please ensure that you have completed all sections relating to the policyholder including the ‘name of the illness or injury’ and the ‘date you first noticed the illness or injury’.
2. Please ensure that you have signed the form under ‘Policy Holders Signature’ as all forms are sent directly to the relevant insurance companies on completion.
3. Please DO NOT hand in your insurance claims forms until treatment has been completed or until you wish the claim to be sent as forms will NOT be held in the office.
4. Direct claims will NEED TO BE AUTHORISED 3 working days in advance of treatment. Our minimum amount is £350.00. This is for emergency treatment only. We are unable to claim directly for ongoing treatment/medications.
5. Please be aware that due to the work involved in processing your insurance claim forms there is a fee, cost is available on request.
Referrals Policy
Your animal may require referral for certain condition or further imaging. Referral can be made to a referral centre, please note available nearest centres include Southfield referral, North Down referral and the RVC. In house referral are also possible for orthopaedic surgery, heart scan and ophthalmology, where specialist will come to our practice to see your pet. Please contact us for further information. Please note because of the work required, referral to exterior centres will be charged, cost is available on request.
Practice Financial Policy Statement
1. All services will be invoiced immediately and must be PAID for at the time of delivery by cash or credit card. In the case of emergency where a client is unable to pay fees immediately and/or where an animal is suffering, pain relief (if indicated) and first aid will be given, and the appropriate fees charged to the client’s account.
2. We are not licensed under the CONSUMER CREDIT ACT 1974 and so are unable to offer credit facilities. Vets and Nurses are not authorised to offer credit (except in the case of emergency treatment where they are in sole charge of the practice).Any request for credit MUST be referred to the Practice Manager or an office staff member.
3. We do not release animals from our care until fees are paid.
4.Clinical records including copies of images (X-ray and Ultrasound) remain the property of the practice. Copies may be made available but may incur a copying charge.
5. We will estimate fees on request – this may be in the form of a range of fees however we will inform clients if any estimated fees are likely to be exceeded.
6. Except in emergency BAD DEBTS (previous treatment not paid for) must be paid before further treatment.
7. Practice property is not loaned without a deposit.
Privacy & Data Policy
We share clients data with outside organisations only if it is legally required or in the legitimate interests of our clients or their pets, for example, with specialists, external laboratories, when making insurance claims on behalf of clients, or debt recovery services.
We do not use data for marketing.
We will only contact you if it is in the best interests of yourself or your pet, for example, booster reminders, or to give important health information.
We will not record or use images of our clients or their pets without permission.
Clients are not permitted to record audio or video of other clients, pets, our premises or our staff.
Clients may request a copy of their data by email to shrubberyvet@btconnect.com and can withdraw consent to the processing of their data at any point.
Paper data: financial datas are destroyed after seven years, including invoices and consent forms. Non-financial datas are destroyed after one year.
We are contracted with a specialist veterinary IT company to maintain the security of our practice management computer system.
Practice Complaints Handling Policy
Complaints should be directed initially to the practice Director by email to the shrubberyvet@btconnect.com and if the complaint cannot be resolved to the RCVS.
For more information please call us on
01474 534891
Contact us now and make an appointment today