All veterinary surgeons undergo a broad based training in veterinary medicine and surgery for a minimum of 5 years before qualifying. Recognised specialist veterinary surgeons must undergo extensive additional training for a minimum of 4 years and pass rigorous Diploma examinations before they can become specialists. Veterinary specialists work in much the same way as specialists or consultants in human medicine and only accept cases that are referred to them by general practitioners. Unfortunately, in the UK the title of specialist is not protected and any veterinary surgeon can claim expertise in a particular field, advertise that they accept referrals and even call themselves a specialist.

In the UK the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons (RCVS), which is the governing body for the veterinary profession, has laid down strict criteria concerning training and experience required to gain "recognised" specialist status. Recognised specialists must have appropriate postgraduate qualifications and demonstrate that they are actively involved with their discipline and up to date with recent advances. RCVS specialist status must be re-accredited every 5 years and is not easily achieved. To view the veterinary qualifications needed to be included on the list of recognised specialists visit the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons website.

At SCVS, all our clinicians have undergone extensive postgraduate training and are either recognised RCVS/European/American specialists or are in the process of obtaining advanced qualifications that will lead to specialist status in the future. Recognised specialists have much greater knowledge, experience and expertise in their discipline than general practitioners, Certificate holders or advanced practitioners. In addition, clinicians working in referral centres have access to specialised diagnostic and therapeutic equipment and facilities that are not available in general practice. As one of the few truly multidisciplinary referral centres in the UK our patients benefit from the wide spectrum of expertise offered by our team of specialists in different disciplines all under one roof.

Links

www.rcvs.org.uk - This website provides information on specialist quaifications and how to find a specialists. This page also gives information on seeking a second opinion, or seeking a referral to a specialist.

www.ebvs.org - This website links to all the European Specialist Colleges and also list all the specialists in all the disciplines througout Europe. You can click on the links to the Specialist Colleges to find out more abouth what training European Specialists have to do to gain their diploma.

We only see patients as referrals from their usual vets. Your first port of call should be your usual vet. They know your pet and will be able to advise whether our services are appropriate for the specific problem.

The referral process begins with your vet contacting us on your behalf by telephone, email or fax. They will provide us with your contact details and we will contact you as soon as possible to arrange a first consultation at your convenience – usually on the same day. Most of our vets conduct consultations in the mornings to allow the afternoons for procedures, but we will do our best to accommodate your individual needs.

Of course, emergency problems will be presented to us regularly, and we will always give these patients priority. The downside of this is that very occasionally we may need to re-schedule an appointment for a less urgent consultation or procedure. However, we will always try to do this with the minimum of disruption to you or your pet.

Once an appointment has been arranged our admin staff will send you an information pack which should answer any queries you may have. However, should you have any more concerns or questions please feel free to contact us. In the meantime your vet will send us details of any previous history, diagnostic tests and procedures or treatments relating to your pet’s condition.

We will also advise you about your insurance cover, which in our experience can be a real minefield!  We want you to be fully aware of the financial implications of any treatment your pet may receive before you commit yourself. This will usually involve you contacting your insurance company to give them permission to discuss your policy cover with us.

We have been treating pets for many years and we understand very well how important finances can become in making decisions for your pet. On the one hand, you want to do all you can for a “member of your family”, but you also have to keep the bank manager happy. We feel the important thing is that you have as much information as possible to allow you to make the best decision, and we will help you as much as we can with this.

Our practice only employs vets who are recognised specialists in their field, or those in their final stages of study for these qualifications. We have a very high nurse to patient ratio; and we have the best diagnostic equipment available; as well as qualified vets on site for 24 hours a day. This means that we will be near the top end of the price range for your pet’s treatment, and you may well be able to find vets who can do work for less cost, but they will not be able to provide the same infrastructure and support for you and your pet.

We recognise that it can be difficult for you to budget for treatment which may be necessary, with no prior warning.

Therefore, we will undertake to:

Provide you with an estimate of costs

As you can imagine, this can be very difficult to do accurately when we do not know what results we are going to get, and therefore what further tests or treatment may be necessary. Also, many of the pets we see are in a critical condition, and we do not know how much work is going to be needed to try to pull them through. We want you to have as much information as possible to help you with potentially difficult decisions about your pet’s treatment.

However, we will give you our best estimate of the costs to get to a certain point and will then discuss where we go from there with you in person or by phone. Our price guide can be downloaded from the right hand column, and this gives an indication of the range of prices for common procedures.

Please remember that these can only be estimates – they are not “quotes”. But be assured we will never do anything for your pet without consulting you, unless we feel that it is important that we do so in their interests.

Make direct insurance claims

We will agree to claim directly from your insurance company, so that you have to find as little cash as possible, and they pay us directly. To do this, we need you to help us by:

1. Giving your insurance company permission to talk to us to verify your cover, and its extent.
2. Providing us with signed claim forms as necessary (we will often make several claims during a course of treatment in order to help with our cashflow).
3. Paying us any excess on your policy at the time of treatment of your pet. (We do not charge a fixed deposit or an admin fee, unlike many other referral practices).

Please note that the consent form that you sign when you leave your pet with us includes a paragraph which states that you agree to cover any unpaid fees if your insurance refuses to pay, for whatever reason. Therefore, it is in your interest to ensure you are happy that your pet’s treatment is covered by the policy (we will do all we can to help, of course).

Unfortunately, there are some insurance companies we can not offer direct claims with, please contact our admin department for more details.

Help with standard insurance claims

Many people prefer to deal with their insurance companies themselves (you pay us and then claim the money from the insurance company), or you may be with a company we do not do direct claims for. Our insurance claim team work full time on all claims and we will process any claim form within 5 working days of receipt. The admin team are a mine of information on all policies and will be happy to help you with any advice on claim completion.

Payments

We accept cash, cheques and credit cards for all the major types (we cannot take American Express). We can take credit card payments over the phone. We are also happy to accept BACS payments - please ask us for a reference so that we can identify your payment.

Payment Plans

We are unable to offer payment plans. However, we do have access to a third party interest-free loan company. They will check credit references and offer a loan via email. If you would like to investigate this option further, please let us know.

Download our Price Guide

Pet insurance will usually cover the cost of treatments we provide, but some policies have limited cover and will not. You must check with your insurer to ensure that you have adequate cover. If you have any insurance claim queries, please call direct to the ‘claims administrators’ on 01425 485612.

There are two types of insurance claim.

Direct

The company pays us directly, less any amount which is not covered, e.g. insurance excess, or any amount over the ceiling of the policy. Some policy ceilings are per condition, some are per year and some are for the lifetime of your pet. You should ensure you know which applies to you.

Please note that:

• We regret we cannot process direct claims for E&L (aka Petinsurance.co.uk or The Insurance Emporium), Healthy Pets, Buddies or Purely Pets. Payment will need to be made at the time of treatment and a standard claim followed.
• BDML companies (e.g. Asda, LV, PetsAtHome) will not process our claims until they receive a claim form from the referring vet advising of the referral (even if there is no money to claim). Therefore, we ask clients to bring this with them at their initial consultation.
• Tesco and More Than policies now require clients to use a “Preferred Referral Network” or they have to pay an enhanced excess. We are members of that network, so normal policy terms apply.
• Animal Friends policies require the policy holder to attend the practice to sign their claim book. Unfortunately an agent cannot do this for them, and the book has to stay on our premsies so cannot be posted out.

Standard

You pay us the full amount owed at the time of discharge and then claim the money back from your insurance company, less any excess or policy ceiling. In these cases, we will process your claim within 5 working days of receiving the completed claim form.

Things for you to check before treatment commences (for direct and standard insurance claims)

• Confirmation that your pet is still covered
• Confirmation that the condition is (still) covered. Some policies will offer a maximum level of cover per condition; some will only pay 12 months from the first signs of the condition; some only pay a certain amount per 12 months.
• Maximum cover, and how much of that has been “used up” by work done by the referring veterinary surgeon.
• Confirmation of the excess required to be paid when a claim is made. This may be a fixed amount or a percentage. It may be applied once per condition or once per year.
• Insurance companies tend to deal with serial claims in chronological order so should there be claims for work done by the referring veterinary surgeon prior to referral to SCVS, the claim for the previous work should be submitted as soon as possible to prevent delays on any subsequent claim.

Please remember that ultimately, the contract with the insurance company is with you, and if they refuse to pay for any reason, you will still be responsible for paying us. Therefore, we strongly advise that you contact your insurance company before treatment commences to verify the terms of your policy.

What we need

For direct claims

1. Your permission to discuss your policy with your insurance company. This involves a quick phone call from you to them to give us permission. We are sure you will appreciate that we need to verify the terms of your policy before we agree to giving credit.
2. We will need one or two (possibly more for long term treatments) completed claim forms, with your part completed and signed. You can get claim forms either from the insurance company direct or online. (We will usually make serial claims and will need several forms - to assist with our cashflow)
3. You will need to leave us a deposit equal to your excess. This may be a fixed sum or a percentage (in which case we will make an estimate). Should you have overpaid, we will reimburse you the excess after we receive the insurance company payment. We do not charge a fixed deposit or an admin fee, unlike many other practices.

For standard claims

We need completed and signed claim forms from you, and we undertake to process them within 5 working days of receipt.

Before you arrive, please remember

• Follow any instructions regarding starvation of food or water before your pet’s visit; and the giving of any medication.
• Bring any paperwork, e.g. lab results, x-rays, that your vet may have given you.
• If your pet is having occasional “funny” attacks, which they may not show when they come to us, a video of the episode on your phone/camera is really useful.
• Please try to ensure your pet has evacuated his/her bowels before seeing us. We do have a small shingled area for this purpose next to our car park.
• While we appreciate that your pet may have a “favourite” toy or blanket, please do not bring these for 1-2 day procedures. In order to maintain our strict hygiene levels, everything is washed several times a day, and on a busy day it can be very difficult to keep track of individual blankets in the washing. For longer stays, we recognize the value of having something “smelling of home”, so please discuss this with the ward nurses.
• Bring your insurance claim form, already signed. We cannot be paid until we receive this and, similar to all small businesses, we have to ensure we keep our cashflow moving!

On arrival

Our receptionists will welcome you. There is complimentary tea and coffee available for you after your trip. Please allow yourself 10 minutes to register and relax!

The consultation

• The first thing we do is to make sure we know all about your pet, his/her habits, normal activities, and also their problems. This may well repeat the information we have from your vet, but it is more helpful for us to hear your version, rather than relying on a printed summary. These details may be taken by the specialist or by one of their Interns. (The Interns are qualified vets studying with us to further their knowledge, and possibly become specialists in the future).
• The specialist then will examine your pet, and discuss with you his/her findings, the options for further investigation or treatment, and the costs involved (taking into account any insurance policy you may have).
• We may occasionally have to repeat previous tests performed by your vet. Your vet will often perform “screening” tests to look for problems, e.g. blood tests or x-rays. These may be relatively low cost to ensure they do not spend too much of your money on unnecessary tests. However, if they do highlight a problem, we may need to repeat them in more detail to explore the exact cause.
• Should further investigations be needed, we will try to do these on the same day, so you may need to leave your pet and come back later in the day. Alternately, we may decide to investigate and, if appropriate, to keep your pet in for treatment  (surgery or medical) over the following days. In all cases, we will liase with you to ensure you are happy that the treatment options fit in with your circumstances.

Dropping off your pet for procedures

Some pets will have had previous investigations, and you will be dropping them off for surgery, or to have a specific procedure carried out. In these cases, a veterinary intern or a qualified nurse will admit your pet. You should let them know if there have been any changes since we last saw your pet.

Visiting times

Visiting times are avilable for our long staying patients for the duration of 20 minutes. Visiting hours will be between 11-12:30pm and 3-4pm Monday to Saturday and are by arrangement only. Emergency visits only on a Sunday. 

Discharge

Pets will be discharged within our opening hours of 8 am - 6 pm Monday to Friday, and 8 am - 12 pm Saturdays. These times are due to our planning restrictions, and only in the case of emergencies will Sundays be considered for discharge. 

You will see either your specialist, a veterinary intern or a qualified veterinary nurse when your pet goes home. This will depend on your previous discussions with the specialist.

You will always receive direct feedback from the specialist involved with your pet before you collect him/her – either at discharge or by phone.

You may also be booked in to see one of our physiotherapists, should your pet need further physio treatment at home and/or with us.

You will also receive written instructions regarding our findings, details of medication, when to return for re-examination and any physiotherapy that may be needed. We will also arrange the recheck appointment if appropriate.

Your vet

We fax and/or email, as well as post, a written report to your vet the day following the discharge of your pet. We will often speak to them on the phone as well to ensure they are aware of treatment we have given.

Any questions afterwards

• If your pet has come home following surgery or a procedure and you are worried about anything at all, please phone us on 01425 485615. You will initially reach one of our veterinary interns or nurses, who are at the practice 24 hours a day. They may not be familiar with your pet’s particular problem, but they will be happy to give general advice.
• Should your pet’s problem be more serious, our specialists are on call, and our interns will be able to contact them and get them to call you back to discuss the problem. In some cases, we may see your pet here, or we may suggest you see your local vet who will be nearer.
• Any questions regarding appointments, insurance claims or invoices should be directed to us from 9:00am - 5:00pm Monday to Friday.