Gibbs Marsh Equine Veterinary Ltd –  Terms of Business

About us and the Services we provide

Gibbs Marsh Equine Veterinary Ltd is a limited company registered in England and Wales.  Our company registration number is 08448613 and our VAT registration number is 160958489. Our registered address for correspondence is “Gibbs Marsh Farm, Stalbridge, Sturminster Newton, Dorset, DT10 2RU.”

Gibbs Marsh Equine Veterinary Ltd provides a first opinion equine ambulatory and emergency out of hours service to registered clients 24/7, 365 days a year in accordance with the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons (RCVS) Code of Professional Conduct.  We do not provide any services relating to hospitalisation or in-patient care and does not take responsibility for third party business such as external laboratories used for diagnostic testing.

Communications and new client registrations

You can contact us 24/7 via the office telephone number 01963 362699.  Calls will be answered by a member of our team during routine office hours of 08.30 – 17.30.  Outside these hours calls will be answered by our out-of-hours service and a member of the veterinary team will call you straight back.  You can write to us at our registered address (see above) or email us at office@gibbsmarshequine.co.uk.  Prospective clients are asked to complete our online registration form on our website (www.gibbsmarshequine.co.uk) and a member of the team will contact you within 2 working days.  Please note that completion of the registration form does not confirm registration as we assess each application on an individual basis and acceptance will be confirmed by telephone or in writing by a member of the office team.

Please note that we cannot accept registrations from anyone under the age of 18.  If you are under aged, please ask your parent or guardian to register on your behalf.

As a practice we ask our clients to be only registered with one veterinary practice.  This is to meet the new RCVS guidelines of “under care” and to also ensure that we are able to offer our equine patients the best possible continuity of care.  It is important to make sure that we are aware of all drugs that have been administered to each animal and when this has happened.  New clients will be asked to contact their previous vets to let them know they are moving to our practice and to arrange for the clinical histories to be sent to us.  The only exceptions to this is by prior arrangement with another veterinary practice or in the case of 2nd opinions where the case will be discussed between the two practices.

Fees and Estimates

Our professional fees are determined by the time and expertise required for each case and according to drugs, materials and consumables required.  Emergency work undertaken outside of normal working hours will be subject to a surcharge.  Visit charges are based on location and will be split equally between clients at the same location.  Costs that we incur on your behalf from external sources eg laboratories or specialist consultants will be invoiced when we receive the third parties invoice which may mean that these fees will be invoiced at a later date.

All fees and drugs are subject to VAT at the current rate.  We reserve the right to request up front payments for certain services such as pre purchase examinations or for new clients, but you will be informed of this prior to the visit.

We can provide estimates upon request, however please note that it is not always possible to accurately estimate a final bill during a diagnostic investigation, the vet will always try to keep the clients as informed as possible about the costs being incurred.

Payment Terms

Our payment terms are strictly 14 days from the date of the invoice.  We accept cash, cheques or direct bank payment into the account listed below.  Please note that when making online bank payments, please use either the invoice number or your account number as reference to allow us to allocate the payment to the correct account.

Account Name : Gibbs Marsh Equine Veterinary Ltd

Account Number : 25482460

Sort Code : 30-92-69

Gibbs Marsh Equine Veterinary reserves the right to charge interest of up to 8% above base rate for accounts that remain outstanding for more than 30 days.   Accounts that persistently remain in debt will have credit withdrawn and no routine work will be undertaken until the account is paid in full.  Further action will be taken to recover outstanding debts through the small claims court process and veterinary services will be terminated for these accounts in writing.

Insurance

It is the client’s responsibility to contact their insurance company in the first instance in the case of a claim, the client section of the form should be completed and then the full form should be forwarded to us.  On receipt of that form Gibbs Marsh Equine Veterinary Ltd will accept this as authorisation that the client is happy for us to discuss and manage the claim directly with the insurance company.  Gibbs Marsh Equine will make a one-off administration fee for managing the claim but is then happy to receive payments directly from the insurance company.  The client will be liable for paying any excess due on the policy and any items not covered by the insurance claim. Gibbs Marsh Equine Veterinary Ltd accepts no liability should any claim be rejected and, in this instance, it is the client’s responsibility to settle any outstanding invoices in full.

It is the client’s responsibility to ensure that all information provided to the insurance company is correct, Gibbs Marsh Equine Veterinary Ltd will not engage in cases of insurance fraud and if we suspect this to be the case we will report the case to the respective authorities and immediately terminate our contract with the client.

Medications and Prescriptions

As per the RCVS regulations we can only supply prescription medications to animals under our care that have received a recent clinical examination.  For repeat medications and prescriptions animals must be examined at a maximum 6 monthly intervals.  In some cases more frequent examinations may be necessary, this is at the discretion of the treating veterinary surgeon.

Prescription requests should be made in writing via email and once approved by the treating vet the completed prescription will be emailed directly to the pharmacy indicated by the client.

Confidentiality and Data Protection

Gibbs Marsh Equine Veterinary Ltd recognises that client confidentiality is of utmost importance and is registered with the Information Commissioner’s office.  Any personal data that is collected is used in accordance with our privacy policy which can be read or downloaded from our website.  We do not pass on any of our client’s data to a third party without their prior permission.

Clinical Records

All clinical records and diagnostic images remain the property of Gibbs Marsh Equine.  Accumulated information may be used for the purposes of veterinary education (including publications and presentations) unless you inform us in writing that you do not wish us to. Any information used will be anonymised so that no identifying data will be apparent.

As long as all invoices have been settled, clinical records and diagnostic images will be supplied to another veterinary surgeon taking over an animals care on request.

Termination of contract by either party

You have the right to end the contract at any time by letting us know either by telephone or in writing.  Gibbs Marsh Equine Veterinary Ltd also reserves the right to withdraw veterinary services in the event of a professional relationship breaking down or fees not being paid.  If a decision is made to withdraw veterinary services, you will be notified in writing, and we will provide emergency services only for 14 days in order to allow you to register with another practice of your choice. Once this has been done, we will forward clinical records to the chosen practice as long as the account has been settled.

Disputes or complaints

Gibbs Marsh Equine Veterinary Ltd is committed to offering a high level of veterinary care and customer service to our clients and so hope that you never feel the need to submit a complaint. But if the occasion should arise, we would ask that you do this in writing and either send it to the Practice Manager at our registered address, or by email to office@gibbsmarshequine.co.uk.   We will respond within 5 working days to acknowledge receipt and to give you an indication of who will be dealing with your complaint and a further timescale of when you can expect to hear back from us.

These terms and conditions of business are governed by English Law and the English Courts have jurisdiction in any dispute arising out of our work on your behalf.

We reserve the right to make amendments from time to time to our business terms and conditions, but an up-to-date copy will always be available to view on our website.