BUCKINGHAM EQUINE VETS Ltd. – CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS
Thank you for entrusting the care and attention of your horses, ponies and donkeys to Buckingham Equine Vets Ltd. Below is set out the details of our veterinary practice Terms and Conditions:
FEES:
All fees, consumables and drug charges are subject to VAT at the current rate. Feed supplements are exempt from VAT. Fees levels are determined by the time spent on a case, materials and consumables used. A visit charge (determined by the distance travelled from the practice) is charged unless the visit qualifies for a FREE visit – see practice for further details. Details of our fees are available on request and a detailed invoice is provided for every consultation, procedure or transaction. Estimates can also be provided on request. Out of hours calls and consultations will attract an additional charge depending upon the time of day/night.
INVOICES AND STATEMENTS
In order to provide clients with a detailed breakdown and our recent charges, INVOICES will be sent via email within a week of veterinary work having been performed. Information on the total amount currently outstanding on each account will sent via email as STATEMENTS on a monthly basis. All payments are due in full with 14 days of the invoice or statement date.
METHODS OF PAYMENTS:
Your account may be settled using:
- Cash
- Cheque with current banker’s card
- Credit/Debit card – Switch, Solo, Delta, Mastercard and Visa – please ring the office to pay
- BACS – Account number: 49202860 – Sort Code: 30-15-53 Use Surname and Postcode as reference
- Web payment- Link accessible on the top right corner of our website homepage
ESTIMATES OF TREATMENT COSTS:
We will, upon request, be pleased to provide an estimate as to the probable costs of any treatment, but please bear in mind that any estimate given can only be approximate – often a horse’s illness will not follow a conventional course.
SETTLEMENT TERMS:
New clients are requested to pay for their first three treatments on the day of the examinations. Thereafter payment is required within 14 days of the invoice date. All outstanding accounts over 28 days will automatically be charged at 3% per month. This is calculated on a daily basis starting from the date of the invoice. This interest may be waived for insured cases at the discretion of the Directors. Clients should be aware it is their responsibility to settle their account and then reclaim the fees from an insurance company. Overdue accounts, after due notice to you, will be referred to our Debt Collection Agency or the County Courts if satisfactory repayment arrangements have not been made with ourselves. All costs and fees incurred by the practice in this process will be added to the client’s account.
EQUINE VETERINARY FEES INSURANCE:
Buckingham Equine Vets Ltd strongly supports the principle of insuring your horse or pony against unexpected illness or accident. Your veterinary surgeon will be happy to advise as to the type of insurance suitable for your needs. In the unfortunate circumstance of a claim arising prompt submission of the form to the practice will aid the speed of payment to you. A member of staff deals with all insurance claims and will be happy to liaise/advise on your insurance claim.
For horses involved in clinical work being claimed under an insurance policy, the client is asked to pay the policy excess within our terms of business (14 days). The remaining outstanding amount on the claim may be paid by the client, or directly by the insurance company, once the claim has been processed. This exemption from the Practice’s payment policy may be declined at the discretion of the Practice’s directors. For claims likely to involve larger sums, it is generally advised that approval for the claim is made to the insurance company involved as early as possible in the treatment process.
DISPENSING OF MEDICINES:
You may obtain Prescription Only Medicines Veterinary (POM-Vs) from your veterinary surgeon OR ask for a prescription and obtain these medicines from another veterinary surgeon or pharmacy. Your veterinary surgeon may prescribe POM-Vs only for animals under their care. 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.
The general policy of the practice is to re-assess an animal requiring repeat prescriptions every 6 months, but this may vary with individual circumstances. The standard charge for a re-examination is £50.23 plus visit charge. Further information on the prices of medicines is available on request.
OUT OF HOURS SERVICE
We provide an out of hours service to all of our registered clients to cover emergency situations. A telephone call made to the practice on 01908 560789 between 5.00pm and 8.45am on weekdays and the entire weekends and bank holidays will connect to the on-duty vet. Costs for the out-of-hours service are available on request. These will include charges for the visit (dependant on distance from the practice, £32.00-£76.00), the consultation (dependent on time taken, from £62.80), the drugs and consumables used, and an additional out of hours fee (dependent on time of day/night, £96.34-£128.36).
REFERRALS
In some circumstances it is necessary that horses require further diagnostic procedures and treatments that we do not provide. In these circumstances we are likely to refer you and your horse to a specialist referral centre. We will choose the most appropriate referral centre for your horse and will discuss the options with you at the time.
SECOND OPINIONS
Should you request a second opinion from another veterinary practice concerning the treatment for your horse we are committed to facilitating this process in the best interest of your horse. We will send clinical records directly to another veterinary practice on verbal or written consent from you the owner.
ACCESS AND OWNERSHIP OF RECORDS
Please be aware that owners may have access to clinical records of the horses they own on request. Ownership of all clinical records remain that of Buckingham Equine Vets.
COMPLAINTS HANDLING POLICY
We hope that you will never have a need to make a complaint about our products or services. If you do have a serious concern we are sorry we have not met you expectations and rest assured we shall be taking your grievance extremely seriously.
Please direct all complaints in the first instance to the member of staff involved or to our Practice Manager in person, via telephone (01908 560789) or via email (info@buckinghamequinevets.com). Please state the reason for your complaint, when the problem occurred, who was involved and what you would like the outcome to be.
We will acknowledge you complaint within 5 working days and let you know who is dealing with your issue and when you can expect to receive a reply. In the meantime we shall be liaising with all staff members involved and subsequently a Director will respond to you via telephone or in person to ascertain what went wrong, listen to your concerns, attempt to remedy the issue and make sure the problem does not happen again. If you are dissatisfied with the result of our investigation you have the right to approach our governing body, the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons.
We are sorry that any complaints need to be made but consider all grievances a way to learn from our failing and make improvements to the way we operate. We welcome your feedback both positive and negative so that we can improve as a veterinary practice to better serve our clients and their animals.
USE OF CLIENT DATA
Please be aware that all data we receive and have recorded on both clients and horses are kept in the strictest confidence. We are registered as a data controller with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO).
Transfer of personal information (name, address, email, telephone number) to a third party will only be performed with consent (written or verbal) from the client. Examples of this transfer include:
- Passing on clinical histories to another veterinary practice, e.g. when a horse moves out of our geographical area
- Referring a horse for further investigations at a referral centre
- External laboratories for blood/tissue analysis
- Debt collection agencies for debt collection
Data will be transferred via email, unless requested otherwise by the client. No ‘sensitive personal data’, as described by the General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR), shall be shared. There is no limit on the data retention period. Client’s have all rights as data subjects, including the right to withdraw consent to the processing of his/her data, the access to data, the right to rectification or erasure, the right to data portability, and the right to restrict processing. A complaint against the use of data should be lodged with the Information Commissioners Office.
