Well Animal Clinic NEWS
| STANDARDS OF PRACTICE | 23/07/10 |
We have been providing a caring and trusted service to pet owners in the area for over thirty years. In the light of recent allegations made in the Panorama programme about Medivet, a corporate veterinary practice established more recently in NW London, we would like to make explicit the standards of care that we take great pride in offering to our clients:
Nursing staff
Well Animal Clinic only employs qualified veterinary nurses who are registered with the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons (RCVS). This ensures the highest standard of care for patients and offers an assurance to clients, the public and employers about standards of behaviour and professional skills. Our RVNs (Registered Veterinary Nurses) have a wealth of experience in monitoring patients both under anaesthesia or sedation and during periods of hospitalisation, and work closely with the veterinary surgeons that are always present on the premises at such times. Electronic patient monitoring equipment helps the team ensure an optimal level of care.
In the hospital environment, our RVNs’ extensive knowledge of animal welfare ensures that patients are prioritised. They are made to feel as relaxed and comfortable as possible during their stay with us and are looked after with the same kindness and consideration as if it were one of the practice staff’s own pets. We are a registered training practice for RVN's and one of our Head Nurses is a qualified assessor of students. We only have one student nurse at any time who works under close supervision and we do not use the term "nurse" for anyone who is not registered with the RCVS.
A biography for all of our nurses and veterinary surgeons, demonstrating their qualifications and veterinary experience can be viewed on this website.
Cost of treatment
In the UK, the public are often not aware of the true cost of medicines or hospital treatment due to the NHS which is funded by the taxpayer. At present, each person in the UK pays about £1700 per year for the provision of the NHS –irrespective of whether they use it or not. This is a different system when compared with healthcare for animals where costs are incurred when the services of the veterinary surgery are required or medicines are prescribed and purchased.
At Well Animal Clinic, our aim is to provide healthcare at the highest level to our owners' pet companions. Our staff are key to delivering this level of service. We all undertake continuing professional development to provide the best possible up to date advice and therapy. Our pricing structure is designed in way to enable us to provide this 'gold standard' of care to patients and maintain our facilities to a high level. Importantly it also allows us recognise our staff's commitment to their work not only through their remuneration but also through opportunities for professional development. As a result, the costs involved in running a veterinary practice are high.
We do understand that clients circumstances may chance and they may occasionally find themselves in financial difficulty and this is one of the reasons we strongly advise the use of pet insurance. Under these circumstances we urge clients to discuss any financial concerns they may have at the outset of treatment so that we can work together to find the best way forward.
We work very closely with the local NW Middlesex branch of the RSPCA and support them fully in their aims to promote animal welfare and responsible pet ownership.
Professional charges
The charges for healthcare provided by veterinary surgeries vary between practices and are dependent on a number of factors. These can include – but are not limited to – the range of medical and surgical facilities available at the practice, the number of staff providing the service, specialist veterinary or nursing knowledge and geographical area/cost of buildings.
It is illegal for veterinary practices to arrange with each other to fix prices at a certain level as this is considered anti-competitive. What this means for the client is that prices will differ on almost all services between neighbouring practices with some being less expensive for one type of service but possibly more expensive for another. This ensures that the client has a choice about where they take their animal and veterinary practices have to provide their clients with value for money. A disadvantage is that this variation in prices can make it difficult for the clients to compare the true costs between practices. Some practices make this even harder by advertising ‘loss leader’ headline prices for commonly used services – for example: vaccinations or neutering – only to charge much higher prices for other types of medical or surgical procedures.
At Well Animal Clinic we pride ourselves on the transparency of our pricing and do not believe in the concept of ‘loss leader’ advertising. We feel it is misleading to clients since what you see is not necessarily what you get. Our view is that all medical and surgical procedures deserve the same high standard of care and professionalism, no matter how ‘routine’ they are. For this reason, when assessing whether veterinary professional charges provide value for money, we would encourage clients to look at the provision of the healthcare service as a whole, as opposed to looking at specific procedures. We always strive to discuss the different options for treatment suited to any personal financial situation and provide estimates for costs in advance to help with decision making.
Practice Standards Scheme (PSS)
Well Animal Clinic is accredited under the RCVS Practice Standards Scheme (PSS) which is a voluntary initiative to accredit veterinary practices in the UK. Through setting standards and carrying out regular inspections, the Scheme aims to promote and maintain the highest standards of veterinary care. It offers peace of mind to clients of accredited practices and more informed choice to the animal-owning public.
To become accredited, practices volunteer for rigorous inspection every four years and will have met a range of minimum standards including hygiene, 24-hour emergency cover, staff training, certain types of equipment and cost estimation procedures. They may also be subject to spot-checks between inspections.
Pet Insurance
Well Animal Clinic advocates the use of pet insurance to provide clients with the peace of mind that the majority of unexpected costs of veterinary treatment can be covered. Advances in both human and veterinary medicine mean that there are a growing number of ways in which health problems can be investigated and treated in our pets. Some of these are costly but pet health insurance reduces the financial burden, allowing owners a wider choice of treatment options. We have a firm belief that any treatment should be in the best interests of the animal and proportionate to the nature of the problem. Although health insurance facilitates the delivery of optimum health care, we are strongly opposed to the fraudulent use of insurance company money to fund unnecessary treatment.
We regret that it is only in specific circumstances we are able to claim costs directly from the insurance company. Although this places a temporary financial burden on clients - which we hope our credit card facilities may help with - it means that clients remain in control of expenditure, all parties are aware of each cost incurred and the reasoning behind the proposed treatment can be explained and discussed.
If you have any concerns about any of the issues raised in the above, please feel comfortable and confident in asking us any questions about our standards of practice.
| VETESSENTIALS DIET | 28/04/10 |
We are delighted to announce that Hills Pet Products have launched their new VetEssentials range that combines five major health benefits from the existing Science Plan specialty ranges such as oral care and joint care. The full range of benefits for dogs and cats at various stages of their life stage can be seen at: http://www.hillspet.co.uk/vetessentials
We are now stocking the full VetEssentials range but are happy to continue to supply any diets from the rest of the Science Plan range to anyone requesting it.
| BABY BOY! | 26/04/10 |
We are delighted to announce that vet Jacqui Skelly has recently given birth to a beautiful baby boy called Ruben. Mum, Dad and baby are all doing well and we hope you will join us in congratulating them all. See staff profiles for a picture of Jacqui and Ruben
| SPRING 2009 NEWSLETTER NOW ONLINE!! | 05/05/09 |
Hot off the press is the new Spring 2009 practice newsletter which can now also be viewed online by clicking this link (requires Adobe Acrobat Reader). Feel free to pop down to the clinic to pick up a good old fashioned paper copy as well.
| WEBSITE GIVEN A FACELIFT! | 10/03/08 |
We decided to give our website a facelift! We hope that you enoy the new colour scheme and site. If you have any comments feel free to email the webmaster
| NEW NEWSLETTER NOW ONLINE | 12/11/07 |
Hot off the press is a new practice newsletter which can now also be viewed online by clicking this link (requires Adobe Acrobat Reader). Feel free to pop down to the clinic to pick up a good old fashioned paper copy as well.
| NEW WEBSITE GOES LIVE | 15/09/06 |
After extensive redesign, the new WAC website is up and running. We hope that you like the site, please send any comments to webmaster@wellanimalclinic.com
| WELL ANIMAL CLINIC CHANGES HANDS | 08/05/06 |
As you may be aware, after many years of loyal service to the animals of NW6, Jack Abraham is retiring. We are pleased to say that Jack will still remain in close contact with the practice as he will be doing a small amount of consulting one or two mornings a week. We all wish him a very happy and relaxing retirement. The practice is now owned by a partnership of Barry Cameron, Bradley Viner and Christian LeVan. Also new to the team will are vet Jacqui Skelly, nurse Serena Fox and receptionist Karine Abbou. You can find out more about all of our staff on the staff page