Practice Policies

Payment

We accept payments by cash, cheque, most credit cards and PayPal.

We require clients bringing small animals to the surgery to pay after each consultation or procedure.

When we visit your animal on the farm, stable or at home we will normally invoice you for the work done either when we return to the surgery or at the end of the month. If you are a new client to us, particularly in the case of horse examinations for purchase, we may ask you to to pay in advance based on an estimate of the expected cost. If the actual cost varies from the estimate then we will either refund or invoice you for the difference.

Prescribing & Dispensing of Medicines

Veterinary medicines are divided in to four legal categories:

• AVM-GSL Authorised veterinary medicine – general sales list. This may be sold by anyone. (Formerly GSL.)
• NFA-VPS Non-food animal medicine – veterinarian, pharmacist, Suitably Qualified Person (SQP). A medicine for companion animals which must be supplied by a veterinarian, pharmacist or Suitably Qualified Person. (Formerly PML companion animal products and a few P products.)
• POM-VPS Prescription-only medicine – veterinarian, pharmacist, Suitably Qualified Person (SQP). A medicine for food-producing animals (including horses), to be supplied only on veterinary prescription, which must be prescribed by a veterinarian, pharmacist or SQP (either orally or in writing) and which must be supplied by one of those groups of people in accordance with the prescription. (Formerly PML livestock products, MFSX products and a few P products.)
• POM-V Prescription only medicine – veterinarian. A medicine, to be supplied only on veterinary prescription, which must be prescribed (either orally or in writing) by a veterinarian to animals under his care following a clinical assessment, and which may be supplied by a veterinarian or pharmacist in accordance with the prescription. (Formerly POM products and a few P products.)

At Forest House Veterinary Surgery, the supply of all medicines (except AVM-GSL) must be authorised by a veterinary surgeon.

In the case of POM-V medicines a clinical assessment of the animal will be required before the medicine can be prescribed.

Typically, for POM-V medicines, the clinical assessment must take place immediately before the prescribing of the medicine. In the case of patients taking a POM-V medicine on a long term basis and requiring a repeat prescription, the assessment must have taken place within the preceding 3 months. In the case of a healthy animal requiring a POM-V medicine as a routine preventative treatment (e.g. parasite control), the assessment must have taken place within the preceding 12 months.

Written prescriptions are available on request. A prescription fee will apply for each medicine prescribed via a written prescription. Our current prescription fees are available on request.

A written 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.

Please allow at least 24 hours between requesting a prescription or repeat supply of medication to allow time for a veterinary surgeon to review and authorise your request.

In-Patient Care

We try to send patients home whenever possible. We believe that most animals are happier in their familiar surroundings and most owners prefer to care for their animals at home whenever possible. We will only keep a patient at the surgery if treatment is required that cannot be given at home (e.g. on a drip or frequent injections of medication) or if moving the patient would cause a problem.

After our surgery closes, a Vet, Veterinary Nurse or suitably trained Nursing Assistant will check your pet as often as is deemed to be necessary by the Vet on duty. The frequency of checks will vary depending on the individual patients needs. A typical schedule would be for the patient to be checked when the surgery closes, again between 10pm and midnight and not again until the premises re-open at 8am. A veterinary surgeon is available on call should the Veterinary Nurse or suitably trained Nursing Assistant have any cause to be concerned about your pet's condition. At times other than for scheduled checks, the premises will not be manned unless the Vet is attending another patient, at which time additional checks will be performed.

At weekends and public holidays, routine checks will be performed every 4-6 hours during the day and as above over night unless the individual patient has specific needs.

We will phone you on the number that you gave us on the admission form to report on your pet’s condition. Please do not phone us when the surgery is closed.

Please phone us on (01423) 862121 between 9am and 10am on the next weekday or Saturday morning to find out if your pet is ready to be discharged that day and to make arrangements to collect him/her if applicable.

Website Cookies

This website uses cookies to count how many people view each page and record what type of browser and screen they are using to view the site. This allows us to see what people are looking at on our site and helps us ensure that we provide the information that people wish to see. They also allow us to try to make sure that our site works well on the computer equipment that people are using. We use google analytics to help us with this. You can read more about google's use of data here: https://policies.google.com/technologies/partner-sites.

We do not use cookies to track your activity across other websites nor do we collect any personal information about you.

By using our website, you consent to our use of cookies.

Privacy Policy

Forest House Veterinary Surgery is owned and operated by Forest House Vets Ltd. We are not part of a larger group. This privacy policy explains what personal information we collect about you and how we use it. Personal information is information about you. The data protection regulations apply only to data about humans; they do not apply to data about animals.

What information do we collect about you?

When you register with us, we collect your name, address, contact telephone numbers and email address. We also create a record for each of your animals.
We record which products and services we have supplied, how much you have been charged and the method and value of payments that you make. We also record clincal notes relating to your animals and notes to help us manage your account.
Our website uses cookies to track the number of visitors to each page and how the vistors found our website. We do not collect any personally identifiable information from the website cookies.

How will we use the information about you?

We use your personal information to maintain a record of the products and services that we have supplied to you and manage your account including invoices, bills and payments.

If you agree, we will use your information to send you reminders for appointments, vaccinations and routine treatments due for your animals

If you agree, we will use your information to contact you with news, information, promotions and offers from our practice.

You can change your communication preferences at anytime by contacting one of our receptionists or logging in to your Pet Portal via our website at www.fhvets.co.uk/book.htm

Sharing your information.

We do not share your information with any other companies for marketing purposes.

We will send a copy of your records to another veterinary surgeon if we refer your animal or if you request that we do so.

We will share your information and your animal’s records with your insurance company to allow them to process your claim.

We use communication tools provided by external companies to keep in touch with you. The external company will not use your information for any purpose other than sending you the message from us.

We share information which may include your details with external companies to allow them to provide us with analasys of our business performance this is used for benchmarking and our own monitoring only.

If you have outstanding debt with us, we may pass your information to an external debt collection company so that they can collect the balance due.

Updating and accessing your information.

You can access and update your information and communication preferences by contacting a receptionist or at any time by logging in to your Pet Portal at www.fhvets.co.uk/book.htm

You have a right to request a copy of the information that we hold about you. You can request this in person, by phone or by email to office@fhvets.co.uk

You have the right to ask us to remove your personal information from our records. If we do this, you will permanently lose access to all of your animal’s records. Once deleted, your information cannot be recovered.