Terms and conditions for Thrums Veterinary Group.
Settlement of Fees
Payment is due at the time of treatment or at discharge from the practice. Alternative arrangements are possible, however must be agreed in advance with a Director. It is at the Director’s sole discretion that alternative arrangements be granted, this will be assessed on a case by case basis. Any fees left outstanding will incur an invoice. If this invoice remains unpaid an administration fee will be added to the account, this is currently £50. If the invoice remains unpaid we reserve the right to refer the account to a debt collection agency. After this point all financial dealings will be made through that agency, please be aware that additional costs in reclaiming the debt will be levied to the client in addition to the original debt. Insured clients may have the facility to arrange payment directly to Thrums Vet Group, this may only be granted by prior arrangement with a Director. It should be noted that the client remains liable for all fees and excesses in the result of a claim being rejected. It is the client’s sole responsibility to ensure they have read, understood and are adhering to the specific terms and conditions of their particular policy.
Inability to pay
If, for whatever reason you are unable to pay for the services provided, we ask you contact us as soon as possible and before treatment is commenced. As stated above it may be possible to come to an alternative payment arrangement, subject to the criteria in section “Settlement of Fees”.
Home Visits
In most instances we can provide a much higher standard of care (including but not limited to further investigation, surgical procedures or diagnostic tests) at one of our surgeries. However we recognise there are certain instances when a home visit is needed. Please contact your usual surgery with as much prior notice as possible to allow us to arrange a visit. Home visits do incur an extra fee on top of any treatment that may be administered.
Opening Hours
Please see the specific sections of the website for full opening hours of all of our surgeries.
Declining or withdrawal of services
We reserve the right to decline or remove Veterinary services at any time, solely at our discretion. If you are an existing client you will be advised orally by a Director that Veterinary services have been withdrawn. You will receive written confirmation of this within 3 working days. From receiving oral notice we will continue to provide emergency treatment for your animals for 7 working days. After this date the responsibility for your animal’s ongoing or future veterinary care rests solely with the owner (save our responsibilities under the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons). We will forward a copy of any clinical notes to your nominated vet.
Prescriptions
Medical prescriptions are available from this practice. You may obtain Prescription Only Medicines (POM-Vs) from your vet or ask to obtain these medicines from another vet or pharmacy. We are only able to supply prescriptions for animals under our care, and that a prescription may not be appropriate if your animal is an inpatient or in an emergency situation. You will be informed (on request) of the price of any medicine that may be dispensed to your animal.
We have a general policy of reassessing animals on long term treatment or prescription every 6 months, however in certain conditions we may need to re-examine at a shorter interval. A standard re-examination charge of £48.50 will apply. A standard fee of £31.48 will apply per medical prescription per animal. Further information on the prices of medicines is available on request.
Data Protection
We strictly adhere to the current GDPR legislation. Please see the specific GDPR section of the website for more details.
Ownership of records
Care for your animal, be it consultations or further investigations (such as blood tests or x-rays), will generate records which form the broader clinical history of your animal. At all times this remains under the ownership of TVG (Angus). The cost associated with further investigations is to perform and interpret the results of these investigations. You may view your animals clinical history by appointment only. A copy of your animals full clinical history can be forwarded to another Veterinary Surgeon at your request, should the need arise.
Overnight care.
Unfortunately some of our patients require overnight hospitalisation to provide the best level of care and to help them on to a speedy recovery. At Thrums we pride ourselves on providing our own Out of Hours care by our own vets.
Overnight care is provided at the Kirriemuir and Blairgowrie surgeries (Forfar does not have overnight facilities), however if a patient is particularly high dependency we reserve the right for you to arrange transfer of the patient to the Kirriemuir surgery.
The cost of initial examination ranges from £218.83 (before 10.30pm) to £246.57 (after 10.30pm), this does not include any treatment costs.
Overnight care is overseen by our Duty vet, aided by registered Veterinary nurses and vet students where appropriate. We will make a detailed assessment and plan specific to your pets medical and/or surgical needs, and discuss them with you.
At Kirriemuir we have vet students who live above the practice for the majority of the year, and will attend to your pets needs throughout the night. They are under direct supervision from our Duty vet who will also check on your pet as frequently as they deem necessary.
At Blairgowrie the Duty vet will check on your pet and attend to its needs as frequently as necessary.
Complaints policy
We endeavour to provide the best level of care for your animal, however if you feel we have failed to achieve that high standard of care, our complaints procedure is as follows.
In the first instance please phone the Kirriemuir practice (01575 572643) during normal opening hours and ask to speak to a Director. A Director will endeavour to respond to your call at the time, but unfortunately due to clinical work that may be impossible, in which case our reception staff will take your details and a Director will contact you within 24 hours.
If a resolution cannot be achieved we may request your complaint in writing, addressed FAO The Directors at the Kirriemuir surgery (20 Forfar Road, Kirriemuir, DD8 5BY). You will receive a written response within 14 working days of receipt of your complaint. In the unlikely event of an unsatisfactory outcome you have the right to complain to our governing body, the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons.
Fee Structure
Our fees are divided into either services or drugs, and cover the wide range of surgical and medical procedures that we offer, all of which are subject to VAT at the standard rate. We will provide you with an estimate for all further investigations or surgical procedures. We endeavour to make our estimates as accurate as possible however unforeseen circumstances may dictate that we are unable to adhere to the estimate. We will keep you informed of any alterations as soon as possible. In an emergency situation, at a Veterinary surgeon’s judgement, we reserve the right to act in order to maintain the high standard of welfare we expect for our patients. We will routinely provide you with an itemised bill for all If you have a query regarding routine prices please feel free to contact reception at any of the surgeries.
Referrals or second opinions
While we pride ourselves on offering an incredibly comprehensive service for all the species we treat, we are aware that occasionally there are clinical outcomes or further diagnostics that are unachievable in general practice (for instance a dedicated MRI scanner). Our clinical team will always act in your animal’s best interests, and should we feel that a referral to a specialist centre is warranted we will advise you of this. We have a close working relationship with the referral centres we use, and they in turn are happy to give us advice on cases where referral is not an option but their expertise is invaluable to the treatment of the animals under our care.