Medivet Terms and Conditions

Medivet Group Limited (‘we’, ‘us’, ‘our’, ‘ours’) is a limited company registered in England and Wales with the registration number 03481736 and whose registered office is First Floor, Hyde, 38 Clarendon Road, Watford, England, WD17 1HZ. This document sets out the terms of the contract between us (Medivet) and you (the registered animal owner or individual requiring veterinary services).

1. Our Contract with You

If you register with us in one of our practices, our acceptance of your registration will take place when the practice confirms to you that we have accepted your registration, at which point a contract will come into existence between you and us. We will provide you with a copy of these terms when you register and may also send you a copy or a link to them by post or email. The contract consists of both your registration form and any other forms that you may have signed (such as consent forms) and these terms and conditions.

2. Our Services

All veterinary services provided by us are supplied by suitably qualified staff, taking into account the nature of the services to be supplied in each instance. We will always carry out the services with reasonable care and skill, and in accordance with the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons (RCVS) Code of Professional Conduct.

We will provide veterinary services to you during our normal business hours. We will also provide emergency veterinary services to you outside our normal business hours either ourselves or by referring you to another local practice or veterinary service with whom we have an appropriate arrangement (see paragraph ‎11). We may change our normal business hours from time to time – please see our website or check at your practice for its current opening hours.

We reserve the right to provide any veterinary services at our discretion and at any time. We will carry out the veterinary services by the time or within the period which you and we agree. If you and we have agreed no time or period, this will be within a reasonable time.

3. Responsible Pet Ownership, Us, and You

We believe in the principle of responsible pet ownership and the benefits of preventative healthcare. This includes regular appropriate vaccinations and regular flea and worm control for dogs, cats and rabbits. We recommend microchipping as the best permanent means of identification for your pet.

In order to help you budget for your pet’s routine healthcare needs, and to make bills more manageable, we are pleased to offer the Medivet Healthcare Plan. Please ask your local Medivet practice for more details.

4. Pet Health Insurance

Animals can become ill or get injured without warning. We strongly support the principle of insuring your pet against unexpected problems. Please ask for details about insurance from any member of the team at your local Medivet practice. You must advise us prior to any treatment if you wish us to submit a claim directly to your insurer in respect of our fees. If you fail to do so, it is your responsibility to pay our fees at the time of treatment and then reclaim them from your insurance company. Please note that the Medivet Healthcare Plan is not an insurance policy.

5. Fees

All professional fees, pet shop and medicine charges are subject to VAT at the prevailing rate. Fee levels are determined by the time and skill-level required for a case, as well as medicines, materials, laboratory tests, consumables and diets used. Itemised fees are always available for every treatment. You are liable for any fees incurred in the diagnosis and treatment of your pet, even if your pet is brought to us on your behalf by an agent, for example a relative or friend. Additional fees may also apply, these include but are not limited to: accounting fees (see paragraph ‎6); report evaluation fees (see paragraph ‎10); and prescription fees (see paragraph ‎12).

No medicines or pet shop items can be dispensed without payment being received at the time the items are collected. This does not include items dispensed as part of the Medivet Healthcare Plan, which are subject to the terms and conditions of the plan.

6. Methods of payment

Accounts are due for settlement at the end of the consultation or treatment, the discharge of your pet, or upon collection of medicines and other pet requisites. You may settle the account using cash or a credit/debit card - we accept Maestro, Cirrus, Solo, Mastercard, Visa, Delta and American Express.

In some cases, we accept relevant vouchers that are valid and in date. We usually require, at our discretion, that a deposit of 50% of the estimated costs be paid at the time of admission to our clinic for any procedures or hospitalisation.

7. Estimates of treatment costs

We will provide written estimates as to the probable costs of a course of treatment. Please bear in mind that any estimate given can only be approximate as it is not always possible to predict how a pet’s illness will progress. We will try to contact you on the telephone number you have given us if we believe the treatment costs are going to exceed the estimated costs. If, however, you are not contactable, we will treat your pet as is necessary for the prevention of pain and suffering.

8. Settlement terms

A reminder will be sent if an account is not settled within seven days. This will include an additional administration fee in respect of the administrative costs incurred. Additional charges will be incurred if further reminders are required. These however, may be deducted at our sole discretion if payment is made promptly. After due notice to you, 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 (these include, but are not limited to, the production of reports, correspondence, court fees, attendance at court, phone calls and home visits).

Any cheque returned by our bank as unpaid, 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, with further charges added in respect of bank charges and administration costs, together with interest at base rate + 3.5% per annum on the principal sum.

All missed appointments may be charged unless reasonable notice of cancellation is given. It is in our sole discretion not to charge for a missed appointment.

9. 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 the team. Please note that instalment payments or part-payments of any account may only be sanctioned with the express permission of an authorised partner after appropriate checks have been made and you will need to sign an acknowledgement of debt. The granting of permission for instalment payments rather than full payment at the time of treatment is at our absolute discretion but will be given in most circumstances where it is reasonable to do so.

10. Ownership of records

Case records, including radiographs, clinical notes, laboratory records and similar documents, are our property and will be retained by us. Part of the fees charged will be for the interpretation of such radiographs or laboratory reports. A summary of the history will be passed on to another veterinary surgeon taking over the case. Should you wish to obtain a copy of the case records or radiographs, we will provide these on payment of an appropriate fee.

11. Out-of-hours Policy

Medivet has a responsibility to ensure that your pet is provided with veterinary care outside of our business hours. Medivet provides this care either through a dedicated Medivet clinic or a third party out-of-hours emergency provider with whom Medivet have an arrangement. Details of out-of-hours care, including contact details, address and the estimated price of an initial consult can be obtained on the website of the specific Medivet clinic, on posters within the clinic and at the clinic reception.

12. Prescription Policy

Prescriptions are available from our practices. You may obtain Prescription Only Medicines, category V (POM-Vs) from your veterinary surgeon.  Alternatively, you may ask for a written prescription and obtain these medicines from another veterinary surgeon or pharmacy. Your veterinary surgeon may prescribe POM-Vs only for animals under his or her care. A written prescription may not be appropriate if your animal is an in-patient or immediate treatment is necessary.

You will be informed of the price of any medicine that may be prescribed for your animal. The general policy of Medivet is to re-assess every three months any animal that requires repeat prescriptions, but this frequency may increase or decrease depending on individual circumstances and the opinion of the veterinary surgeon. The standard charge for a re-examination for such purposes is the prevailing price of a consultation fee. There is a charge for providing prescriptions. Please ask a member of staff for the current prescription fee.

13. In-patient care

Level of in-patient care provided during normal practice opening hours

Our staff will provide appropriate and adequate in-patient care for your pet, as decided and instructed by the veterinary surgeon on duty. This care includes housing in a comfortable environment, monitoring and treatment commensurate with your pet’s condition, by persons with the requisite level of knowledge and expertise. During normal practice opening hours, a member of staff will be present on the practice site at all times and will be available to provide in-patient care to your pet.

Level of in-patient care provided outside of normal practice opening hours

If such a centre is available, patients that require overnight care and hospitalisation will be transferred, by either the practice or by the owner, to a dedicated out-of-hours provider. If such a centre is not available, the veterinary surgeon will inform the client of the procedure for the continuous care of your pet, this may include your pet being hospitalised without continuous supervision. The veterinary surgeon will discuss the available options with you which will include a discussion of the frequency of in-patient checks.

14. Referrals and second opinions

The veterinary surgeon will facilitate a client’s request for a referral or second opinion. A referral may be required for a diagnosis, procedure or possible treatment. After a referral, the case is returned to the referring veterinary surgeon. A second opinion, on the other hand, is only for the purpose of seeking the views of another veterinary surgeon.

When will we refer?

Veterinary surgeons will recognise when a case or a treatment option is outside their area of competence and may refer it to a colleague within the Medivet group, or to an external organisation or institution, whom they are satisfied is competent to carry out the investigations or treatment involved.

The veterinary surgeon will make a referral appropriate to the case. When considering what is appropriate the veterinary surgeon will consider all relevant factors. These might include the ability and experience of the referral veterinary surgeon, the location of the service, the urgency of treatment and the circumstances of the owner, including the availability and any limitations of insurance.

In cases where the client does not accept the veterinary surgeon’s advice regarding referral and would instead prefer referral to a colleague, organisation or institution of which the referring veterinary surgeon has insufficient knowledge to determine appropriateness, they may need to advise their client accordingly. In some such cases, the veterinary surgeon may consider that they cannot be party to such a referral relationship.

Both the referring veterinary surgeon and the referral veterinary surgeon will ensure that the client has an understanding of the likely cost arising from the referral.

15. Student Care

Medivet is passionate about helping veterinary students obtain hands on experience within our practices. As a result, students may occasionally be involved in the care of your pet. You will have the opportunity to give consent and you can withdraw this consent at any time.

16. Your Behaviour (and ours)

We take the health, well-being and safety of our staff, our clients and pets in our care very seriously. We therefore take a zero-tolerance approach against intrusive, offensive, violent or aggressive behaviour. Examples of behaviour that we deem unacceptable are: making malicious allegations about our staff or other clients; derogatory racial or sexual remarks; offensive sexual gestures or behaviour; using violent, threatening or abusive language (including swearing and offensive remarks); violent, threatening or abusive behaviour towards our staff, our clients or pets in our care; theft and other criminal activity; and non-compliance with the practice’s health and safety requirements.

Please note that we have the right to refuse to provide you services. We reserve the right, at our discretion, to decline to supply veterinary services, to ask you to leave our premises and/or to terminate our contract with you if you or any person accompanying or connected with you engage in any such behaviour, whether in our practice or when speaking to our staff via telephone, email or through our website. We understand that not all animals will respond to treatment as hoped which can be very distressing and will take this into account when dealing with such behaviour.

This goes both ways. If you feel that one of our staff members or other clients has acted inappropriately towards you or someone else, please let us know as soon as possible so we can investigate.

17. Termination of your contract with us

You can end your contract with us at any time and you can do so by visiting the practice (during normal business hours), or by sending an email or a letter to the practice informing us of your decision. When your contract ends, you will be responsible for collecting your pet from us (if it is in our care) and for paying any outstanding payments. We recommend that you register your pet with another veterinary practice from the date that your contract with us ends noting that we are not responsible for arranging this for you.

We also reserve the right to terminate our contract with you at any time for any of the following reasons: if the information that you provided to us on registration is inaccurate, incomplete or misleading; if you breach any of the terms of the contract (including those in paragraph ‎16; if you have failed to make payment to us when it is due and payment is not provided within 7 days of us reminding you; you do not provide us with information within a reasonable time that is necessary for us to provide the services; or in the event that the practice no longer provide services in whole or in part.

We will write to you either by post or email letting you know that we have made the decision to terminate our agreement with you and our reasons for doing so.

18. Privacy

Your privacy is important to us. However, to provide the best treatment to you and your pet, you will be required to share with us personal data, including your name, phone number, address and billing method. We may contact you either by letter, phone, text or electronic means in order to advise you of outstanding accounts, your pet’s current treatment, reminders of your pet’s preventative healthcare treatments and, where we have the right to do so, any marketing initiatives that might be of benefit to you or your pet.

We may also share some of 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, when we need to do so in order to provide you with the services you asked of us, when it is in our legitimate interest to do so (for example, when engaging debt collectors) or when we are required to share this information in accordance with law.

By asking us to provide you with our services, you hereby agree to the application of our Privacy Policy and you consent to the way we process and handle your personal data. Please read the full version of our Privacy Policy here and feel free to contact us using the methods described in our privacy policy if you wish to modify how we may contact you. Please be aware that choosing to have no contact from us at all may remove the ability of the practice to send vaccination reminders and other procedural communications.

You are also aware that residual material or isolates from specimens submitted for diagnostic testing may be retained for laboratory quality assurance, research and development purposes.

In addition, Medivet participates in nationwide projects aimed at improving the health and well-being of pets. From time to time, anonymised clinical pet data is pooled and analysed to identify risk factors, assess and compare different treatment protocols and improve early diagnosis of disease. This important research work is undertaken with the Royal Veterinary College and other participating practices, and other university and charity organisations. Please tell a member of practice staff if you do not wish to participate.

19. Our responsibility for loss or damage suffered by you

We are not responsible for any loss or damage that is not foreseeable. Loss or damage is foreseeable if either it is obvious that it will happen or if, at the time the contract was made, both we and you knew it might happen. We are also not responsible for any damages resulting from you acting contrary to or failing to act in accordance with the instructions of us or our staff. If you purchase products from us (including medication), we will not be liable for your use of any products otherwise than in accordance with their instructions or as directed by our staff.

Our products and services are intended for domestic and private use only. If you use the services or any products that we supply in providing the services for any commercial, business or re-sale purpose we will have no liability to you including for any loss of profit, loss of business, business interruption, or loss of business opportunity.

We do not exclude or limit in any way our liability to you where it would be unlawful to do so. This includes liability for death or personal injury to human beings caused by our negligence or the negligence of our employees, agents or subcontractors; for fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation; or for breach of your legal rights in relation to our services.

Subject to the above exceptions, our liability to you for any damages, losses, claims, costs or expenses arising out of our supply of any products or services shall not exceed: (a) if the supply of those goods or services are covered by our public liability or professional indemnity insurance, the limit of that insurance for each claim or series of connected claims; and (b) if the supply of those goods or services are not covered by our public liability or professional indemnity insurance, the value of the total fees paid or payable by you for the products or services in question.

20. General

Medivet cannot register a pet or contract to provide veterinary services to anyone who is a minor. Persons under the age of 16 should request their parent or guardian to obtain Medivet’s services on their behalf. By engaging Medivet’s services, you confirm that you are 16 years old or older.

Reminders are provided as a complimentary service to our clients. We accept no liability for any loss, damages or costs which may result from the failure of a client to receive a reminder.

No addition or variation of these terms and conditions will bind us unless it is specifically agreed in writing and signed by an authorised signatory of the company, save that we may amend these terms and conditions from time to time either because we are legally required to do so or to reflect changes in relevant laws, regulatory requirements, payment methods, operating practices, market conditions affecting our business or to implement minor technical adjustments or service improvements which are unlikely to adversely affect your use of our services. Please go to the Medivet website for the most up to date version of our terms and conditions from time to time.

We may transfer our rights and obligations under these terms to another person or company, for example in the event that we merge with another business, purchase another business, or another business purchases ours. We will always tell you in writing if this happens and we will ensure that the transfer will not affect your rights under the contract. You may only transfer your rights or your obligations under these terms to another person if we agree to this in writing.

This contract is between you and us. No other person shall have any rights to enforce any of its terms.

Each of the paragraphs of these terms operates separately. If any court or relevant authority decides that any of them are unlawful, the remaining paragraphs will remain in full force and effect.

Failure to insist that you comply with these terms or delay in taking steps against you will not mean that we have waived our rights in requiring performance of the contract or prevent us taking steps against you at a later date. For example, if you miss a payment and we do not chase you but we continue to provide the services, we can still require you to make the payment at a later date.  

These terms and conditions are governed by English law. If you wish to do so, you can bring legal proceedings in connection with these terms and conditions or our services in the English courts. If you live in Scotland, you can bring such legal proceedings in either the Scottish or the English courts. If you live in Northern Ireland, you can bring such legal proceedings in either the Northern Irish or the English courts.

21. Enquiries and subscription

Please direct any enquiries here.

Alternatively, please write to us at:
The Legal Team
Medivet Group Limited
First Floor, Hyde
38 Clarendon Road, Watford, England
WD17 1HZ

22. Complaints Procedure

We are committed to providing an exceptional standard of service and care to our patients and clients. Medivet provides ongoing training to its staff regarding all aspects of companion animal practice. We realise, however, that things can sometimes go wrong and there may be occasions when you feel your expectations were not met. If this happens, we want to hear about it so that we can try to put things right.

22.1  Our complaints procedure is simple and is as follows:

If you have a complaint, you should make this in the first instance to the veterinary surgeon at the practice you have attended, preferably by speaking to the veterinary surgeon over the phone or in person, as appropriate. Most problems can be sorted out easily and quickly, often at the time they arise and directly with the person concerned.

If your complaint cannot be resolved by the veterinary surgeon at the practice you attend, you should then follow the guidance below.

22.2  A guide to making a complaint

We hope that before you complain formally you will give the practice concerned a chance to put things right. If your problem cannot be sorted out in this way, and you wish to make a formal complaint, we would like you to let us know in writing as soon as possible.

Although we aim to investigate all complaints, the longer you wait to file the complaint the harder it will be for us to establish the problem and offer a resolution.

Please include the following information to assist us in investigating the problem:

• Why – the nature of the complaint/problem
• Where – which practice you are making a complaint about
• When the problem occurred
• Who – which staff were involved
• What you are hoping for as an outcome

Please email us with your complaint at our Support Centre here: feedback@medivet.co.uk.

22.3  What we shall do

We shall acknowledge your complaint within five working days of receipt, telling you who is dealing with your complaint and when you can expect to receive a reply.

Complaints are usually addressed by the lead veterinary surgeon or branch partner responsible for that practice in the first instance. If you have already tried to resolve the matter with a lead veterinary surgeon or branch partner, the matter will be escalated to a member of the regional management team.

In most cases, we hope to give you a full reply within 15 working days of receipt but if it is going to take longer, we will get in touch with you to let you know what is happening. We shall then be in a position to offer you an explanation, and/or the results of our investigation.

When we look into your complaint, we shall aim to:

• Find out what happened and what went wrong
• Make sure you receive an apology, where this is appropriate
• Identify what we can do to make sure the problem does not happen again.

22.4  What to do if you are still unhappy

Please use our practice complaints procedure if you have an issue.

We believe this will give us the best chance of putting right whatever has gone wrong. We view this as an opportunity to hear your feedback and make improvements where appropriate.

If you are not happy with the reply, we can escalate this complaint to a senior manager. This does not affect your right to approach the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons if you are dissatisfied with the result of our investigation.