HOUSECALL VETERINARY SERVICE FOR DOGS AND CATS
We are a new style of veterinary practice which opened in May 2008 in the South Devon area for dogs and cats, covering Torbay, Totnes, Newton Abbot and the villages in between. We are dedicated to providing high quality routine medical care and preventive treatment for your pet in the familiar surroundings of their own home. We are passionate about providing an unhurried and unrivaled professional service for you and your pet.
PRACTICE CLOSURE.
Dear all,
It is with regret that I must advise clients of my decision to close The House Vet practice.
The recent Covid-19 crisis and the closure of the schools has caused me a significant reduction in my availability for clinical work. My son’s year at school will not resume before the start of the new academic year and even then I feel there is still uncertainty as to whether there will be an immediate return to normal school hours.
Until recently our veterinary governing and advisory bodies had advised only welfare and emergency work be undertaken and I have worked very hard to provide this. I have tried over recent weeks to find a solution to resuming a more normal workload within the practice as restrictions start to be relaxed, taking in to account also the much slower pace of work imposed by safe Covid 19 working that all practices are currently experiencing. I am mindful of the backlog of routine work that has been postponed and, even with staff returning, with current reduced working hours I can see no way to accommodate this on top of our normal busy daily workload whilst still meeting the requirement for 24/7 care asked of all veterinary surgeons.
I will contact all clients where appropriate to advise on medical and preventive medicine recalls due for their pet that may have been postponed in the last few months. We will offer to catch up with overdue booster vaccinations if wished, working as a limited service provider within RCVS guidelines.
Ahead of the current pandemic we were working within the practice to transition to offering more dedicated care of the elderly and hospice and palliative care and I will be undertaking formal training in this with the intention of providing this on a consultancy basis going forwards in 2021. We will continue to offer a home visit euthanasia service upon referral when work availability allows, again following RCVS guidelines on the provision of this service.
I would ask that clients advise us of final requests for repeat medication and make arrangements for the care of their pet/s at an alternative local practice allowing us to transfer all clinical records to the practice of their choice. I will honour all appointments already booked.
Details of local practices can be found at https://findavet.rcvs.org.uk/home/
I am deeply sorry to no longer be able to offer the care I had hoped for both you and your pet. I hope you appreciate the reasons for this decision. For the last few months this has been playing very heavily on my mind and I find it no longer possible to continue to offer the service as before.
Wishing you all the very best in these difficult times. I would like to thank you for entrusting my practice with the care of your pets over the past twelve years.
With kindest regards
Karen
