Terms and Conditions
ABOUT THE BUSINESS
Abbey Green Vets Ltd is registered in England and Wales under number 05584146. Our registered office is Abbey Green Vets Ltd, Church Close, Broadway, WR12 7AH.
Our surgery premises are situated at:
BROADWAY
RCVS Accredited Practice – Small Animal Core Standards, General Practice, Farm Animal Core Standards – Abbey Green Vets, Church Close, Broadway, WR12 7AH
WINCHCOMBE
RCVS Accredited Practice – Small Animal Core Standards – Abbey Green Vets, Abbey Cottage, Abbey Terrace, Winchcombe, GL54 5LW
Abbey Green Vets aims to provide veterinary services in accordance with the RCVS guidelines for practice standards and for the professional conduct of veterinary surgeons and veterinary nurses. Guidelines are readily available at www.rcvs.org.uk.
Please be aware that veterinary care can be withheld from clients who appear aggressive or abusive to staff members.
FEES & CHARGES
All fees for professional services, advice and prices for goods (including food, accessories and drugs) are subject to VAT at the applicable rate. You will receive a detailed invoice of these charges for every consultation, surgical procedure and transaction with us. Professional fees vary depending on the time spent on the case, the level of expertise provided by the staff looking after your animal, and according to the drugs, materials or consumables used to provide these services. These may also include fees for the case referrals to specialist practices.
ESTIMATES
Estimates may be provided verbally either at the time of booking the appointment or during the consultation itself. Written estimates are available upon request. Any estimation can only be approximate since an animal’s illness will not always follow the conventional course, and unforeseen circumstances may occur. We will endeavour to contact you at our earliest opportunity if we believe the costs could be significantly higher than the estimate. Please note for long-term hospitalised patients, account updates can be given daily upon request.
SETTLEMENTS OF ACCOUNTS
If you are unable to pay your account, please contact the practice immediately so steps can be taken to resolve this matter.
Our methods of payment are as follows:
1. Card Payment – including major credit cards with the exception of American Express
2. Cash – for payments made at the practice only
3. BACS – please reference your account number found on the invoice in the reference details
4. Cheque – made payable to Abbey Green Vets Ltd
Should your account not be settled in accordance with our stated settlement terms, we reserve the right to add a surcharge to all amounts outstanding. Reminders in the form of invoices, phone calls, emails and letters may be sent with additional fees in respect of the administration costs incurred. If the account is still outstanding after reminders, your overdue account will be referred to a Debt Collection Agency where further charges will be levied in respect of costs incurred in collecting the debt. Please note that the use of debt collection agencies and the county court could affect your future credit rating.
We may suspend the provision of any further goods and/or veterinary services until the outstanding sum is paid in full
Where we consider it appropriate to do so we may require payment on account before goods and/or services are provided.
COMPLAINTS PROCEEDURE
We set out to provide the highest standards of veterinary care and hope that you will never feel the need to complain about the service received from Abbey Green Vets. However, should you wish to make a complaint please contact us via mail@abbeygreenvets.co.uk or if more convenient a letter can be sent by post to: Abbey Green Vets Ltd, Church Close, Broadway, WR12 7AH.
A member of the team will acknowledge receipt of the complaint and forward it to the Directors who will aim to respond in a timely manner.
OUT OF HOURS TREATMENT
In respect to repeat prescription medications, a vet has to have examined your pet within the six month period prior in order to dispense medicines. In the case of flea and worming treatments a twelve month period is allowed. You may obtain Prescription Only Medicines, Category V (POM-Vs) from the practice or ask for a written prescription to obtain these medicines from a pharmacy or another vet practice. A written prescription may not be appropriate if your animal is an in-patient or if immediate treatment is necessary.
To order a repeat prescription please call us on the usual surgery numbers or email your requirements to mail@abbeygreenvets.co.uk. Please keep in mind that we have a two working day turnaround period for repeat medication and food dispenses.
REMINDERS
You are responsible for ensuring your animal’s routine healthcare is up to date. Wherever possible, we provide a reminder service to help remind you of specific dates for routine healthcare. We are not responsible for lost reminders or reminders you have not viewed. It is your responsibility to book these appointments, and we are not
accountable should your animal become overdue for routine healthcare. This includes but is not limited to; vaccinations, internal and external parasite treatments, dental care and health checks.
OWNERSHIP OF RECORDS, X-RAYS & SIMILAR DOCUMENTS
The care of your animal may involve making some specific investigations, for example taking blood samples, X-rays, or performing scans. Even though there is a charge for carrying out these investigations and interpreting their results, the resulting records remain the property of Abbey Green.
Case records can be copied and, on request, may be passed onto another veterinary surgeon taking over the case. Clinical samples taken may be passed to external laboratories to undertake further investigation to assist with our treatment plan or diagnosis. There may be a charge incurred for copying any veterinary records and documentation.
We offer a Pet Health Care Scheme for Cats and Dogs giving you discounts on routine treatment and helps in spreading the cost throughout the year. Our plans include:
· Annual Core Vaccination (with 25% discount off canine kennel cough vaccinations)
· A yearly supply of flea/tick and worming treatment appropriate to your pets requirements
· A six monthly preventive health check
· Discount on neutering and dentals
· Discount on Food including prescription diets
· Free Microchipping
If you would like more information, please contact the practice and we will be able to provide you with a guide to the PCP including the terms and conditions.
At Abbey Green, we fully support our clients decision to insure their pets and realise that it provides peace of mind that they have financial support in place for unexpected or ongoing veterinary treatment.
We are processing a high number of insurance claims every week, and we want to keep this process as speedy and efficient as possible to ensure that clients receive their insurance payments promptly. Due to dedicating more staff hours to meet the demand, we charge a fee for processing pet insurance forms.
New claims will be charged at £12.60. Continuation claims are charged at £8.40. Most insurance companies will not cover this fee.
INDIRECT CLAIMS
· When the insurance company reimburses you directly
What we need from you:
· Full payment of your invoice(s) before your claim can be processed
· Administration fee: New Claims £12.60, Continuation claims £8.40
· The claim form must be signed and dated by the policyholder
· Sections of the claim form which the policy holder is required to complete must be filled out fully
· A completed claim form is required for each condition you wish to claim for
· Your insurer may ask you to complete your claim online. In this situation we should receive an electronic information request direct from your insurer to process the claim
What we will do:
· Complete the claim form and have it signed by the vet in charge of the case (or other authorised staff member)
· Aim to send it promptly to the insurer by post or electronically (assuming your account has been settled in full and the claim form has been completed appropriately by you)
· We will send full clinical history from when your pet was first registered, along with a copy of any payments you have made (you do not have to keep any receipts)
· Provide any additional information requested by the insurance during the processing of the claim e.g blood results, x-rays, etc.
DIRECT CLAIMS
· When your insurance company pays claims directly to us
· For claims over £500, we can offer a direct claim
What we need from you:
· Covering letter/certificate of your policy, when processing the initial claim, which shows the policy limit, excess amount, start date and any exclusion(s) that may exist on the policy. (When your policy renews please bring in the renewed certificate/covering letter)
· Pay your excess in full before your claim can be processed
· Payment for any non-insured work at the time of treatment
· Pay administration fee: New Claims £12.60, Continuation Claims £8.40
· The claim form signed and dated by the policyholder in the relevant section, stating that payment comes direct to us. This should be completed at the time of treatment, or within 3 working days
· Sections of the claim form which the policy holder is required to complete must be filled out fully
· A completed claim form is required for each condition you wish to claim for
If you are insured with ‘Many Pets’ (previously called ‘Bought by Many’ we unfortunately are unable to process a ‘direct claim’. We ask you to pay the bill in full and we will get the insurance company to reimburse you as the policyholder.
What we will do:
· Complete the claim form and have it signed by the vet in charge of the case (or other authorised staff member)
· Aim to send it promptly to the insurer by post or electronically (assuming your excess has been settled in full and the claim form has been completed fully)
· Attach the full clinical history, along with each claim form
· Provide any additional information requested by the insurer during the processing of the claim e.g blood results, x-rays, etc.
· Contact you if we have not received payment from the insurer 4 weeks after sending the claim form (most insurers request 4 weeks to process the claim) in order that you may query this with your insurance provider
Abbey Green Vets LTD