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Nov 01 2023

Hospital Policies

West Carleton Animal Hospital 

Hospital Policies

 

Accessibility Policy

West Carleton Animal Hospital (WCAH) is committed to serving all customers including people with disabilities. We will work to remove barriers to accessibility and address the needs of those with different disabilities. We will meet our accessibility requirements under the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act and Ontario’s disability laws. We can provide written forms of communication upon request.  We also have wheelchair accessibility into the clinic including our washroom facility along with accessible parking.

Active Client/Patient Policy

For WCAH to provide veterinary care, The Veterinarians Act of Ontario, regulated by the College of Veterinarians of Ontario, requires there to be an active Veterinary-Patient-Client-Relationship (VPCR). To have an active VPCR, we must see a patient annually (once every 12 months) to prescribe or dispense medication.  Annual exams hold importance outside of any vaccines that may or may not be due, in the maintenance of a patient’s health. Yearly exams provide an opportunity to prevent diseases, detect diseases early or avoid disease altogether.

Appointment Policy

To provide a high standard of care, please assist us with providing as much information as possible so that we can schedule your pet for an appointment accordingly.  Our appointments with a veterinarian are a minimum of 30 minutes.  If more than two issues would like to be discussed, please inform our staff at the time of booking and we can offer an extended exam scheduled for a longer period of time.

Appointments may also be scheduled with our Registered Veterinary Technicians for services such as nail trims, weigh-ins for seasonal prevention, anal gland expressions and blood work that has been directed by a Veterinarian. A Doctor must be on duty during these exams, but is not available to be seen during these appointments as they will be in their own scheduled appointments.

Appointment Reminders, Missed Appointments and Cancellation Policy

We will do our best to reach out to you to remind you of your upcoming appointment by phone call, text or email based on noted client preferences documented in our files.  Surgical appointment reminders will be sent out by text or email one week before the scheduled procedure.  We do require confirmation of these appointment or the procedure maybe cancelled to make room for others. Please note that the reminders are a courtesy, and that clients are responsible to attend scheduled appointments.

In order to provide services to other clients and respect our staff, we do require 24 hours’ notice if you need to cancel or reschedule an appointment.  Appointments are in high demand, and this allows us time to rebook the appointment time with someone else on our triage list.  Cancellations under our notice period will be billed a late cancellation fee of $50 and $150 for surgical appointments (please note visiting Veterinarian specialists have separate timing for cancellations and related fees, eg. Dr. Philibert, Dr. Kim and Dr. Ibey).

After two missed appointments or cancellations with insufficient notice, we will require future appointments to be pre-paid in advance.  This amount will be non-refundable 24 hours from the scheduled appointment.

Emergency Policy

We are committed to providing care or direction of care for our clientele with emergencies.  We are operating within a triage system.  This means that we will collect as much information as possible to prioritize the needs of our patients with the appointments we have available each day.  We have a Registered Veterinary Technician working with a Veterinarian to ensure that we properly prioritize these appointments. Please provide as much detail as possible so that we can properly assess the required medical care.  We are not a 24-hour facility and cannot provide overnight care.  If necessary, we will direct you to an emergency clinic and provide transfer information if applicable to assist with the care.

Human and On-Line Pharmacies

Written prescriptions may be requested and filled at a human pharmacy.  It takes time for our veterinarians to review medical files, provide the prescription to be sent out and for our staff to fax or call the pharmacy with the information.  This time is covered with our prescription writing fee and our multiple prescription writing fees.  If using an on-line pharmacy please research the risks associated with purchasing drugs on-line from Health Canada at the following link: https://www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/services/buying-drugs-over-internet.html. “The College of Veterinarians of Ontario regulates the practice of veterinary medicine in Ontario, including the issuance of prescriptions and the dispensing of drugs, but the regulation of pharmacies – in Ontario or elsewhere – is not within the jurisdiction of the College or its licensed veterinarians.”

Mutual Respect Policy

We pride ourselves in treating all clients fairly, with kindness and respectfulness and so expect the same treatment in return.  We will not tolerate any forms of abuse, discrimination or harassment from clients, towards any member of our staff and expect the same from our employees towards others.  Behaviour of this type will result in a termination of our services.

Patient Arrival Policy

Please check in at reception upon arrival prior to your appointment start time. At this time, we can accommodate up to two Owners to come in for appointments. Mask wearing is optional.  Additionally, if preferred we can provide in-clinic exams without an owner present with telephone consultation with our Veterinarian. Please ensure that your pet is secured with a regular leash (not retractable) or in a pet carrier for the safety of your pet, other pets and safety in our parking lot.

Payment Policy and Estimates

Payment in full is due at the time services are rendered.  We accept payment via Debit, MasterCard, Visa, American Express, cash and e-transfers to reception@wcah.ca.  E-transfers are direct deposit and do not require a password.  We are happy to provide estimations for any services to be rendered.  We provide fully documented estimates for treatments for surgical procedures and dentals electronically for review and approvals.  Please note estimates are valid for 3 months.

 Policy to Minimize Pet Stress

Our hospital strives to make the experience for all our patients the best we can.  Different pets have varying levels of stress in coming to the hospital.  They are encountering a lot of smells; they are not in their regular environment and the presence of other patients may elevate their anxiety. We strive to minimize their fear, anxiety, and stress to the best of our abilities.  We have a hospital policy to provide pre-surgical medications which assist with the post operative care along with anxiety.  If staff are performing a procedure and a patient is not comfortable and communicates to our staff that they are uncomfortable, our staff will not proceed.  We can provide options for how best we can proceed with the treatment to ensure the safety of our staff members and as importantly ensure your pet is comfortable as well.

Pet Insurance Policy

We can submit electronic filing for Trupanion, Petline and OVMA insurance payments directly to the insurers.  Please let our Client Care team know of any insurance policies that you may have.  To submit claims for other providers we will require your policy information.  Please know that we are unable to provide information regarding pending claims.  You must contact your insurer directly for this information.

Prescription Refill / Food Request Policy

Prescription refills and food requests can be submitted via our website at www.wcah.ca, by text (please ask our staff for more details), or by calling the office at 613-839-1115.  Please note, we require 2 full business days for refill requests and up to 2 weeks for compound pharmacy refill requests. A Veterinarian must review medical charts and approve all prescription renewals.  Please also refer to our Active Client / Patient Policy as it relates to prescription refills.  We can now notify Owners by text when your pet’s medication or food is ready for pick up.  Any prescriptions not picked up within 30 days will be returned to stock with a possible restocking fee applied.

Privacy Policy

Please note that due to privacy legislation, we can only discuss patient care with the legal owner of the patient and / or additional contacts the legal owner has requested to be included on their file.  Legal owners are the only decision makers unless they have directed and identified a representative that we have noted in our records.  Any transfer of Ownership must be requested by the legal owner.

Referral Policy

Referrals will be made with mutual agreement to provide continuity of care between the Veterinarian and an Owner.  We will provide a complete referral report including but not limited to medical records, lab results, and x-ray imaging to assist with the referral.

Surgical Procedure Policy

Elective or emergent surgical procedures will be scheduled by our surgical team.  For elective surgeries, within a week’s time, one of our technicians will reach out to you to arrange a mutually agreeable date for the surgical procedure.  An estimate for the procedure will be prepared and emailed or texted for an owner to review and provide digital acceptance.  At the time of booking, our team will go over any needed pre-surgical information, determine a drop off time in the morning (we arrange these to be between 8 am – 9 am), and answer any questions that you may have. All animals coming in for surgical procedures will be given pre-sedation to be given at home the day before and morning of their procedure.  This is done to ensure a smooth, anxiety-free procedure and is part of our anesthetic protocol.  It also helps limit the risk of negative associations with our clinic – everything goes better when your fur babies are happy to see us the next time!  These medications will be prescribed at the time of the surgical bookings, providing you plenty of time to retrieve them.  The cost of these medications is already included in the procedures anesthetic billing and is not an additional charge.

Please note, for an elective surgery to be booked, we do require that patients be current with core vaccines a minimum of 2 weeks prior to the surgical date.  This is done to minimize the risk of exposure to potential pathogens both for unvaccinated pets and other surgical patients. Any patients over the age of 8 years of age will be required to have pre-anesthetic bloodwork.  All surgical patients will be offered blood work with the price of the blood panel included in the surgical estimate.

Harnesses or flat collars are to be used upon arrival with a regular leash (not retractable) or in a pet carrier to ensure the safety of your pet, other pets and safety in our parking lot.

We will send out a text reminder for the procedure 1 week before the date of the procedure along with the consent form that will be required to be completed before the surgical day.

A late cancellation fee of $150 will be billed for any cancellation requests within 24 hours of the procedure.

After all procedures for the day have been completed, you will be contacted to arrange a go-home time and provide any go-home instructions.  We will also have printed instructions and any required medications in your pets go-home bag.  Staff will contact you the day after the surgery to get an update on how your pet is doing.  Please note that all surgical fees are due on the day the services are rendered.

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