Terms & Conditions

Thank you for entrusting your pet’s care to the team at the Conway Road Veterinary Surgery. We are committed to providing the highest standard of care for all our patients and to communicate fully with you at all times. As part of that commitment this document details our Practice Terms and Conditions. Please feel free, however, to contact us personally if there is something you would like to discuss.

Opening Hours and Appointment Times

We are open from Monday to Saturday. We operate on an appointment basis. The appointments run as follows:

  • Monday to Friday morning, surgery hours – 8:00am – 10:30am
  • Monday to Friday afternoon, surgery hours – 4pm – 7:00pm
  • Saturday morning surgery hours – 8.00am-11:30am

The middle section of the day is allocated for any operations that we have that day as well as any emergencies that need to be seen immediately. When available we can also offer appointments outside of these scheduled hours. Please contact the surgery to book an appointment

Out of hours cover

The out of hours service that we provide is through a company called Vets Now.  The location they

operate from is 110 Abergele Road, Colwyn Bay, LL29 7PS. The contact telephone number for

Vets Now is 01492 338082.  The out of hours fee  is £219.45 with a consult fee of £94.05. The overnight care would be provided by the Vets Now team at the premises listed above during the hours between 7pm and 8am (Monday to Friday), 12pm Saturday through to 8am Monday and also on Bank Holidays as advised by ourselves.  During these hours there will always be a small team available including veterinarians and nursing staff. They will be available to answer any phone call queries, perform triage and see and treat your pets at any time that we are closed.  The staff will tend to their patients regularly throughout the night. If your pet requires emergency care then Vets Now has the personnel, equipment and medicine to provide immediate out of hours treatment.

We do not provide our own out of hours service on the premises.  There is no overnight patient care provided and if an animal is in need of overnight patient care it is our company policy to transfer this patient to our out of hours service provider Vets Now.   We would provide Vets Now with all the necessary documentation for the transfer of our patient, this would include the full clinical history, any necessary blood test results, x-rays or attachments that they would require. We would also ensure for their safe transfer to the premises of Vets Now.

Fees and Payment Terms

All fees, diets and drug charges are subject to VAT at the current rate. Fee levels are determined by the time spent on a patient’s case and according to the drugs, materials and consumables used. We are more than happy to print a copy of the breakdown of costs for you to have. We will be unable to dispense any medication or products such as food etc without payment at the time.

We are happy to provide a written estimate regarding the expected costs of investigations, surgical procedures or a course of treatment. Please bear in mind that any estimate given can only be approximate, as a result of the unpredictable nature of clinical work estimates can vary and this is something you as the client should be made aware of. Where possible we will keep clients updated if costs are likely to exceed the original estimate, although in a clinical emergency this may not always be possible.

Payment is requested in full at the time of any consultation, collection of medication or discharge from any surgical procedure your pet may have had. This is outlined on the consent form signed before admitting any animal into the surgery for any procedure under our care. We are unable to dispense any medication unless it has been paid for at the time of collection. Cash, cheques, debit and credit cards are accepted. We do not offer any payment plans or any means of paying in instalments.

Insurance Claims

At the Conway Road Veterinary Surgery we strongly support the principle of insuring your pets against any illness or accidents. We are more than happy to submit indirect claims on your behalf for any treatment received at the surgery. This will be done promptly to ensure that your insurance claim is settled and that you are reimbursed as soon as possible.

Direct claims will only be processed at the discretion of the veterinary surgeon. If a direct claim has been granted then the client will need to provide all of their up to date policy documents in advance of having any treatment carried out. A review of the policy documents will determine whether or not the surgery can go ahead with completing the treatment. The surgery will also need to have full authorisation to speak with the insurance company over the telephone as we will need to confirm policy details with them directly as well.

Please be advised that there are a number of companies that we will not be able to process a direct claim with, these are as follows: E&L, Petinsurance.co.uk, Animal Friends, Scratch & Patch, Knowles & Richards, We Love Pets, Planet Direct, Perfect Pets and The Insurance Emporium.

Please note that when we speak to an insurance company they can never guarantee any claims over the phone and therefore on agreeing to a direct claim, we do not accept responsibility for your insurance company paying for the treatment provided. If after four weeks of the claim being submitted to your insurance company it has not been settled then we would require full payment from the client.

Prescriptions

The general policy of this practice is to re-assess an animal requiring repeat prescriptions every three months, but this may vary with individual circumstances. Please be aware that some repeat medication requires blood testing and therefore the pet must be booked in for routine blood testing in order to obtain their medication and ensure that the levels of medication they are on are at the correct dosage.

We kindly request that, wherever possible, you give us 24 hours notice for repeat orders of either medication or prescription food. This way we can ensure that we have the correct amount of medication and the correct products in for you to collect the following morning. Certain medications may have to be ordered in for the sole treatment of your pet and in these instances we will require payment in full, even if they are not collected or used.

In regards to prescription diets, we do not keep any on the premises but we are more than happy to order these in for delivery the following day. If prescription food is not collected within one week of delivery then it will be returned to the supplier. As prescription food is ordered solely for an individual and the supplier can only accept returned food ten days after delivery then it is surgery policy to return it within this time frame and the food will then need to be re-ordered if required.

A written prescription for the cost of you pet’s medication can be provided upon request. There is a small fee for the written prescription that must be paid at the time of collection. If you wish to obtain a written prescription for your pet’s medication you must bring your pet to be seen for regular consultations at least every three months, maximum. If you do not comply with this then we will be unable to provide a written prescription.

Please note that we cannot accept the return of any prescription drugs, as such items cannot be resold. If you wish for us to safely dispose of any unwanted medication then we can do so.

Information regarding obtaining prescriptions from your veterinary practice

  • Prescriptions are available from this practice at a charge of £11.20.
  • You may obtain prescription only medicines, category V, (POM-Vs) from your veterinary surgeon OR ask for a 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 consultation for repeat medication is £42.Further information on the prices of medicines is available on request.

Complaints

We pride ourselves in offering a quality service to our clients and their pets. If at any point we do not meet your expectations on any aspect of our service then please discuss this with the veterinarian at the first available opportunity. The Conway Road Veterinary Surgery will follow it’s complaints procedure in order to resolve any issues you, as the client, may have had with any service provided.

As a veterinary business, our veterinary surgeons and veterinary nurses must comply with the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons (RCVS) Code of Professional Conduct. If you have concerns relating to the professional conduct of a staff member and have not been able to resolve it with the Conway Road Veterinary Surgery directly, you can contact the RCVS on their website www.rcvs.org.uk for further details of how to register a complaint.

Access and Ownership of Records

We work in accordance with Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons guidelines i.e.

Clinical and client records, including radiographic images and similar documents, are the property of, and should be retained by the Conway Road Veterinary Surgery in the interests of animal welfare and for our own records. In the event of a second opinion or referral, copies with a relevant clinical history will be passed on request to a veterinary surgeon taking over or seeing the case.

Data Protection

The Conway Road Veterinary Surgery complies with the Data Protection Act 2018 and will take reasonable precautions to ensure that your data is kept securely, used appropriately and not shared with any third parties except when required such as debt collection agencies, legal advisers, insurance companies, dog trainers, referral centres etc or any other party that you have agreed we can share your data with.

The client has the right to withdraw their consent to the processing of their data at any time. They have the right to access their data at any time and also the right to rectify or erase any data. The client has the right to restrict any movement or processing of their data.

When registering your pet with the Conway Road Veterinary Surgery you are freely giving data of your own will and have openly chosen to use this veterinary surgery for the treatment of your animals. At the time of registering your pet we will ensure that all the data we hold on file is correct and we will obtain a signature from the client agreeing to the Data Protection Act 2018. These signatures will be held on file and a record of the clients who have signed the Data Protection Act will be placed on their individual records on our internal computer system.

General guidance on GDPR can be found on the the RCVS website at: www.rcvs.org.uk/document-library/gdpr-rcvs-information-and-qandas/