Terms & Conditions
Our commitment to you
We will provide a first-class service to the best of our ability. We will provide you and your pet with the highest standard of care. Where appropriate we may advise, and with your agreement, refer you and your pet to an appropriate centre for more in-depth investigation and treatment which is not available at our practice.
Fees
All fees are due for payment at the time of the consultation or when your pet is discharged after an in-house procedure. All fees, diet and drug charges are subject to VAT at the current rate. Fee levels are determined by the time spent on a case and according to the drugs, materials, consumables and diets used. 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 and will be offered for non-routine procedures.
Prescriptions
Prescriptions are available from this practice. You may obtain Prescription Only Medicines Veterinary, (POM-Vs) from your veterinary surgeon OR ask for a written prescription and obtain these medicines from another veterinary surgeon or a 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 this practice is to re-assess an animal requiring repeat prescriptions every 3 months, but this may vary with individual circumstances. The standard charge for a re-examination is £49.00.
The charge for providing a written prescription is £13.20.
Further information on the prices of medicines is available on request.
Please note – 48 hours notice is required for repeat prescriptions.
Pet health insurance
We strongly support the principle of insuring your pet against unexpected illness or accidents. Please ask for details about insurance from any member of staff. Please be aware that it is your responsibility to settle our account and then reclaim the fees from your Insurance Company.
We are happy to assist you in making a claim and endeavour to send off all completed insurance forms within 7 days of receipt. Please speak to us before cancelling or changing your insurance company.
Methods of payment
We accept cash, credit or debit cards. We do not accept cheques or American Express.
Estimates of treatment costs
We will happily provide a written estimate as to the probable costs of a course of treatment. Please bear in mind that any estimate given can only be approximate – often a pet’s illness will not follow a conventional course.
Settlement terms
Should an account not be settled at the time of treatment, any outstanding amounts will be invoiced to you the client. Should this invoice not be settled the account may incur additional administrative fees, which will be removed if the account is settled promptly.
After due notice to you the client, overdue accounts will be referred to our Debt Collection Agency and further charges will be levied in respect of costs incurred in collecting the debt.
Any credit card payment not honoured and any cash tendered that is found to be counterfeit will result in the original account being restored to the original sum.
Inability to pay
If, for any reason, you are unable to settle your account as specified, we ask you to discuss the matter as soon as possible with a member of staff. Please note that instalments or part payments of any account may ONLY be sanctioned with the express permission of Sarah McVey or Alex McVey (Directors).
Complaints and standards
Whilst we hope that you never have cause to complain about the standards of service received from our practice. We appreciate there may be rare occasions when you may wish to bring something to our attention. In these situations, we ask for you to raise the matter with our Team and Client Relations Manager – Laura Graham.
Most concerns are able to be resolved over the phone or face to face. In the event a concern cannot be resolved verbally, we kindly request that you submit your complaint in writing, either by post or email for the attention of Laura Graham.
Email – admin@wooltonvets.co.uk
Postal address – Woolton Veterinary Centre, 65 Quarry Street, L25 6EZ
We will aim to acknowledge any complaints within 48 hours and hope to provide a full response within 15 working days. Regretfully, we are unable to investigate complaints made more than six months after the event.
Feedback
We are always pleased to receive feedback on our services whether positive or otherwise, so please do let us know your thoughts so we can continue to improve. We are available via phone or email (admin@wooltonvets.co.uk).
Ownership of records, radiographs and other documents
The care given to your animal may involve making some specific investigations, for example taking x-rays or performing ultrasound scans.
Even though we make a charge for carrying out these investigations and interpreting their results, ownership of the resulting record, for example an x-ray, remains with the practice and will be retained by us.
Case history records, x-rays and similar documents are the property of, and will be retained by us.
Copies with a summary of the history will be passed, on request, to another veterinary surgeon taking over the case.
We retain the right in certain circumstances to levy a charge for providing copies when additional expense is incurred.
How we use your data
We will hold and use your personal data (as defined by UK data protection laws) for the purpose of caring for your pet and providing our service to you.
We may record and monitor inbound and outbound telephone calls for training purposes. These calls may also be referred to in relation to any future queries.
We will take all reasonable precautions to ensure the security of your data. On occasions we may be required to share your personal data with others, but only to the extent necessary, such as in the event that we refer your pet to an out-of-hours emergency service, in order to provide you with the services you asked of us, when there is a legal requirement or when it is in our legitimate interest to do so.
You have the right to see your personal data. If you have any queries or concerns about the data we hold, please write to Sarah McVey/Alex McVey, Woolton Veterinary Centre, 65 Quarry Street, L25 6EZ or send an email to admin@wooltonvets.co.uk We will try our best to address your query or concern. However, if you are not satisfied with our handling of any request by you in relation to your rights or concerns, you also have the right to make a complaint to the UK’s Information Commissioner’s Office (“ICO”). You can contact the ICO at: Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, SK9 5AF
At any point while we are in possession of or processing your personal data, you the data subject, have the following rights:
Right of access – you have the right to request a copy of the information that we hold about you.
You can do that by calling 0151 428 8600. If we do hold information about you we will:
- give you a description of it;
- tell you why we are holding it
- tell you who it could be disclosed to; and
- let you have a copy of the information in an intelligible form.
Please note that you will need to provide proof of identity – a current passport or driving licence.
Right of rectification – you have a right to correct data that we hold about you that is inaccurate or incomplete.
Right to be forgotten – in certain circumstances you can ask for the data we hold about you to be erased from our records.
Right to restriction of processing – where certain conditions apply to have a right to restrict the processing.
Right of portability – you have the right to have the data we hold about you transferred to another organisation.
Right to object – you have the right to object to certain types of processing such as direct marketing.
Right to object to automated processing, including profiling – you also have the right to be subject to the legal effects of automated processing or profiling.
Right to judicial review: in the event that Woolton Veterinary Centre refuses your request under rights of access, we will provide you with a reason as to why. You have the right to complain as outlined above.
Marketing
We would like to send you information about other products and services, offered by us here at the practice, which we believe may be of interest to you and/or of benefit to your pet. If you have consented to receive our marketing, you may withdraw your consent at any point in the future.
If you no longer wish to be contacted, you can unsubscribe by any of the following methods:
- selecting the ‘unsubscribe’ link included in our emails
- contacting our marketing team by sending an email to admin@wooltonvets.co.uk
Business transfer
In the event that our business is transferred, sold or integrated with another business, your details may be disclosed to our advisers or any prospective purchaser’s advisers and may be passed on to the new owners of the business.
Variations in terms and conditions of business
No addition or variation of these conditions will bind the practice unless it is specifically agreed in writing and signed by Sarah McVey/Alex McVey. No agent or person employed by, or under contract with, the practice has the authority to alter or vary these conditions in any way.
