Client information
Client Information
How the practice works — appointments, fees, insurance, consent and emergency cover.
Emergency cover
Out of hours
Twenty-four hour emergency first aid and pain relief cover is available to registered clients, and the arrangements are confirmed to you when you register.
If your horse needs urgent attention, telephone the practice.
Please do not use the website enquiry form, email or social media to report an emergency. None of them are monitored around the clock.
What counts as an emergency?
- Colic, or any sudden severe pain
- Severe lameness or an inability to bear weight
- Significant wounds, or any bleeding that will not stop
- Difficulty breathing
- Choke
- Foaling difficulties
- Eye injuries of any kind
Appointments
Booking a visit
Appointments are arranged by telephone rather than online. Cases vary enormously in the time they need — a lameness workup and a set of vaccinations are not the same job — and booking by phone means the right amount of time is set aside for your horse.
When you call, it helps to have the horse’s age and history to hand, along with the yard address and postcode.
Fees and payment
Fees are quoted before work is carried out wherever it is possible to do so. For investigative work where the extent is not known at the outset, you will be given an estimate and told before costs go beyond it.
Payment is due at the time of the visit or on receipt of invoice. Current fees, accepted payment methods and account terms are confirmed when you register.
Insurance
Insurance is a contract between you and your insurer. The practice is not party to it, and you remain responsible for the account regardless of the outcome of any claim.
- Tell your insurer as soon as a condition arises — most policies have strict notification periods.
- Check whether your policy requires authorisation before investigation or treatment begins.
- Claim forms are completed promptly, and clinical history is released to your insurer with your consent.
- Direct claims are considered case by case and cannot be assumed.
Consent
Informed consent is taken before sedation, anaesthesia, surgery and any procedure carrying material risk. You will be told what is proposed, what the alternatives are, what it is likely to cost and what could go wrong, and you are free to ask as many questions as you need before agreeing.
Consent may be given in person or in writing. Where a horse is not owned by the person present, the owner’s authority is required.
Medicines
Veterinary medicines are prescribed only for horses under the practice’s care, which requires the animal to have been seen recently enough for a proper clinical judgement to be made. Written prescriptions are available on request, and the fee for one is confirmed on request.
Please return unused medicines to the practice for disposal rather than putting them in household waste.
Clinical records
Clinical records and radiographs are the property of the practice and are retained. Copies of records, and a summary of your horse’s history, are provided on request — including to another veterinary surgeon taking over your horse’s care.
Data protection
Personal data is held to provide veterinary services, to maintain clinical records and to administer accounts. It is not sold, and it is shared only where necessary — with your insurer at your request, with a referral practice treating your horse, or where the law requires it. See the privacy policy for the detail.
Complaints
If something has not gone as it should, please raise it directly and as soon as possible — most concerns are resolved quickly by a conversation. Complaints are acknowledged and investigated, and you will receive a considered response.
The practice is regulated by the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons, whose Code of Professional Conduct sets the standards every veterinary surgeon works to.