**Covid-19 Update 11th January 2021**
With these ever changing times and restrictions, we have taken the difficult decision to split our team and defer non-urgent appointments for the short term. We apologise for any inconvenience, but we would rather do this and remain open, than the whole team contract the virus and be forced to close. We appreciate your patience and kindness.
Although we have worked hard all last year and remained open to provide care for your pets we are concerned about the current rate of COVID-19 infection and we are duty bound to try and keep our team and you our clients safe. We may need to defer some routine appointments and will be offering more telephone consultations. This is due to reduced staffing numbers as a result of reshuffling the rota to operate in two separate teams.
We need your help and support to do this. If your pet is sick or you have an appointment booked and have COVID symptoms, tested positive or are self-isolating, please do not come to the surgery! Ring the surgery and we can advise on the best course of action.
Please ring the surgery if your pet is in need of urgent medical attention
Home delivery service added for medications and food - see below
Flea/worm/tick control products - postal service added
Video consults are now available! - see below
To try and ensure that a member of our team does not contract the virus (which would potentially mean closing the practice) we are however not letting clients into the building except in exceptional circumstance. The consultation will be conducted in the car park or by phone, your pet will be taken inside and a veterinary nurse will hold him/her during the examination. Lots of treats are involved where appropriate!
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Avoid coming to the surgery if you have a fever, a new persistant cough or any other symptoms of COVID-19
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We ask that ALL CLIENTS, including those collecting medications, wait in the car/car park on arrival and let us know you're here by phone, by waving or by knocking on the door.
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Please maintain social distancing of at least 2 metres between yourselves and members of our team/other clients.
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Avoid paying by cash. Since we prefer that you don't enter the building, you can pay by card over the phone, or in some situations, we can e-mail you an invoice and you can use the bank details at the bottom of the invoice to transfer payment. We can also take your card (wearing a glove) and process a card payment by typing your card number in as though you were paying over the phone before returning your card to you in the car park.
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Telephone first
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The veterinary surgeon will conduct the verbal part of the consultation in the car park (whilst maintaining social distancing) or by telephone.
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Your pet will then be taken into the surgery and examined whilst you wait outside. A veterinary nurse will look after your pet whilst he/she is being examined by the vet.
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Advice and discussions about treatment options will again be conducted outside or by telephone.
Video consults
- This will help us to triage cases and prioritise seeing those genuinely in need of a physical examination
- Video consultations will be bookable like a normal appointment, and will be a chargeable service, albeit at a reduced price
- If the vet advises that your pet needs to be seen at the surgery, the video consult charge will be refunded - you will not have to pay twice!
High risk groups with pets needing to be seen
If you are in a high risk group or you are self isolating and have a sick pet, please call the surgery and we will try to arrange for your pet to be seen. It may be necessary for you to arrange for someone else to bring your pet to the surgery. We will have to take extra precautions such as changing dog leads or cat baskets, or using protective clothing to prevent transmission of the virus to our staff.
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Phone 01737210011 to pay for your order.
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Let us know when you arrive to collect your order and we will bring your medication or food order out to the car park. We ask that you open car doors/boots such that we don't have to.
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We have also started a postal service option for non-urgent medication such as flea, worm and tick control products. These can be ordered in the same way as above and will be posted after we have processed your payment.
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Follow the above instructions for ordering and paying for food and medications.
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At the time of ordering tell us that you will need medications and/or food delivered to you and we will do our best to help. A member of our team will then deliver to your doorstep whilst respecting social distancing recommendations.
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Please only use this service if you genuinely need it to allow us to help those who really need it. As this is a new service in uncertain times, we are expecting demand to be high and we will do our best to deliver as quickly as possible