Things to consider when choosing a vet?
Choosing a veterinary practice to take care of your furry companions is a very important decision. Before registering most people will consider things such as location, cost, accessibility and ease of parking as well as recommendations from family/friends or qualifications and accreditations of the practice.
What most people do not consider is what they need to do in an emergency situation.
All veterinary practices have a duty to provide out of hours care. In the first instance you should call your registered practice even if you believe it to be closed. Some practices have a call diversion in place which will automatically direct your call to their out of hours service provider. Other veterinary practices may have a recorded message and details of who to contact for out of hours emergencies.
Most people do not realise until they need their vets in an emergency that this care is provided at a different location, which could be some distance away from your local practice, and often by an entirely different veterinary practice.
Blythman & Partners Ltd are an independent, family run veterinary practice. Which continues to provide our own out of hours care, meaning our registered clients:
- Will always speak in person with a member of our team when they call out of hours, who can give advice and arrange emergency appointments
- Your pet will always be seen by one of our own team at the Gosforth Hospital for emergency appointments
- Our Gosforth Hospital has access to all its registered clients records regardless of which branch they usually attend
- Our Hospital site is well equipped to care for your companion should they need to stay with us
- We have a dedicated night nurses that stay on site to care for your pets overnight so they are not on their own
- We have been awarded Hospital status by the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons (RCVS).
We believe out of hours care is an important consideration when choosing a veterinary practice. Whilst we hope you will never need it, we would advise finding out where the emergency provision for your veterinary practice is so that you can prepared should you need them.
