Two By Two Veterinary Centre Terms & Conditions Of Business
WELCOME Thank you for entrusting the care and attention of your pet to Two By Two Veterinary Centre (also referred to as ‘the Practice’), a trading name of Two By Two Veterinary Group Limited. This document details the practice Terms and Conditions. Some aspects of the Terms may not be relevant to you and we request that you ask for further explanation/clarification if required.
FEES The provision of services by Two By Two including drugs, materials and consumables are subject to the payment of the relevant fees. All fees, diet and drug charges are subject to VAT at the current rate. Fee levels are determined by the time spent on a case and according to the drugs, materials and consumables used. Our written standard fee list is on display in the waiting room. A detailed fee note for every consultation, surgical procedure or transaction with us is available on request. We will require, at our discretion, a deposit of 50% of the estimated costs to be paid at the time of admission to the Practise for any procedures or hospitalisation.
ESTIMATES OF TREATMENT COSTS We will happily provide a written estimate as to the probable costs of a course of treatment that will remain valid for a period of one month unless otherwise stated. Any estimates including time-limited special prices or offers are valid only for the duration that the offer or special price is available. Please bear in mind that any estimate given can only be approximate – often a pet’s condition and any resulting treatment need not follow a conventional course. We will always try to keep you informed on costs as they arise.
APPOINTMENTS All missed appointments will be charged for unless reasonable notice is given.
METHODS OF PAYMENT Bills are due for settlement at the end of the consultation, the discharge of your pet after admission to the practice or upon collection of drugs/diets. You may settle the bill using:
- CASH
- CHEQUE
- CREDIT/DEBIT CARD
- Switch
- Solo
- Mastercard
- Visa
- Delta
- Bank transfer
- Please call the practice manager for details.
- Please include your name and Two By Two Veterinary Centre client account number as a payment reference when paying by BACS.
TERMS OF BUSINESS Those customers who have not settled their bill at the time of treatment, will be sent a bill. A reminder will be sent for any account not settled within 7 days, and an additional ‘Billing Administration Fee’ in respect of administrative costs incurred and interest may be charged. The ‘Billing Administration Fee’ shall be twenty percent of the outstanding balance or £25, whichever is the greater. Should it be necessary for further reminders to be sent, further charges will be incurred. After due notice to you ‘the client’, 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: production of reports, correspondence, court fees, attendance at court, phone calls, home visits, etc.
New clients will be requested to provide credit/debit card details prior to a course of treatment being undertaken. Any cheque returned by our bank as unpaid, any credit card payment not honoured and any cash tendered which is deemed to be counterfeit will result in the account being restored to the original sum. Further charges will then be added in respect of bank charges and administrative costs incurred together with interest on the principle sum.
You should provide full details of any pet insurance when making an appointment and bring proof of insurance when you attend the appointment.
PET HEALTH INSURANCE Two By Two Veterinary Centre recommends that you should give consideration to insuring your pet against unexpected illness or accidents. Please ask reception staff for details about insurance. Please note that it is your responsibility to settle our bill and then reclaim the fees from your insurance company with the exception of Vetsure policies where claims can be paid direct to the practice. An administration charge of £10 will be applied for each claim form completed on your behalf by the practice. This charge does not apply, however, for Vetsure policies.
Correctly completed insurance claim forms will be processed within 14 working days of their receipt by the practice. Direct insurance claims will be accepted only in exceptional circumstances due to the delay in payment from the insurer to the practice that can take many weeks from a completed claim form being submitted. Prior to a direct insurance claim being submitted, a completed claim form, proof of insurance that includes details of exclusions on the policy and the policy excess, the payment of the policy excess and direct claim administration fee of £25 will need to be paid in full at the time.
OWNERSHIP OF RECORDS AND SPECIMENS Case records including radiographs, images, laboratory test results and similar documents are the property of, and will be retained by, Two By Two Veterinary Centre. Copies with a summary of the history will be passed on request to another veterinary surgeon involved in or taking over the case or care of your pet. Copies of radiographs, images etc will be charged for at cost plus an administrative fee of £10 per copy.
Residual material or isolates from specimens submitted for diagnostic testing may be retained for laboratory quality assurance, research and development purposes.
Two By Two participate in nationwide projects aimed at improving the health and wellbeing 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. All data collection, storage and usage is anonymised and fully compliant with relevant data protection regulations.
OUT-OF-HOURS POLICY Two By Two reserves the right to contact other practices or services to provide out-of-hours emergency and night care. This will mean sharing the out of hours’ duties with other vets in the area or utilising a third party provider to provide our statutory out-of-hours’ provision. Please ask at reception for the details of the emergency and night cover provision.
IN-PATIENT CARE 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 being housed in a comfortable environment, monitored and treated 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.
Outside of normal practice opening hours your pet will be hospitalised without continuous supervision. The Veterinary surgeon will discuss the available options with the client, this discussion will include the frequency of in-patient checks.
REFERRALS AND SECOND OPINIONS The Veterinary surgeon will facilitate a client’s request for a referral or second opinion. A referral may be for a diagnosis, procedure and/or possible treatment, after which the case is returned to the referring veterinary surgeon, whereas a second opinion is only for the purpose of seeking the views of another veterinary surgeon.
Referrals will be made when the Veterinary surgeon recognises that a case or a treatment option is outside their area of competence and will be prepared to refer it to a colleague 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.
CONTACTING YOU Two By Two may contact you either by letter, phone, text or electronic means in order to advise you of outstanding accounts, reminders of your pet’s preventative healthcare treatments, and any marketing initiatives that might be of benefit to you or your pet. Please inform us if you wish to modify how we may contact you. Please be aware that choosing to have no contact from us at all will remove the ability of the practice to send vaccination reminders.
Reminders are provided as a complimentary service to our clients. Two By Two accepts no liability for any loss, damages or costs which may result from the failure of a client to receive any reminder.
DATA PROTECTION Personal information is not given out to third parties without prior verbal or written permission. Specific exceptions to this rule include where another Veterinary Surgeon requests this information pertaining to continuation of a patient’s care, to a court or agent of the Practice as part of a legal process, at the request of your insurance company or where the Practice outsources services e.g. external laboratory sample submission, referrals and client communication regarding treatment/medication reminders. The Data Protection Acts 1984 and 1999 give anyone the right to information about any personal data relating to themselves on payment of an administration charge.
Please see our Privacy Policy where full details are provided.
VIDEO AND AUDIO RECORDING Video and audio may be recorded in any and all parts of the Practice (including phone calls inbound and outbound) for training, security and quality control purposes.
SUPPLY OF MEDICINES Prescriptions are available from the Practice. 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. Your veterinary surgeon may prescribe POM Vs only for animals under his or her care. A prescription may not be appropriate if your animal is an in-patient or immediate treatment is necessary. You may request information as to the price of any medicine that may be prescribed for your animal. The general policy of the Practice is to re-assess an animal requiring repeat prescriptions every 6 months, but this may vary with individual circumstances. The standard charge for a re-examination applies although discretion may be applied in certain circumstances. The current prices for the ten POM Vs most commonly prescribed or supplied during the last 3 months are listed in the waiting room. Further information on the prices of medicines is available on request.
COMPLIMENTS, COMMENTS OR COMPLAINTS Should you feel the need to contact us regarding any of the above we will be pleased to hear from you and are happy to help. Please direct your comments in the first instance to: The Practice Manager, Two By Two Veterinary Centre, 178-180 Long Lane, London, N3 2RA.
VARIATION OF TERMS AND CONDITIONS No addition or variation of these Conditions will bind the Practice unless it is specifically agreed in writing and signed by one of the Directors. No agent or person employed by, or under contract with Two By Two has the authority to alter or vary in any way these conditions.
Terms and conditions are subject to change without notice. Please ask the receptionist or the attending vet for the latest version.