Complaint against a vet

[susie2193]

Hi, looking for some advice on how to proceed.

I needed an emergency vet on a Saturday. When the vet attended they didn't listen to me regarding my horses history and totally misdiagnosed. I called him out as she had a huge leg, by the time he arrived she had collapsed. He diagnosed colic, and the leg was due to trauma where she had thrashed about. I did tell him she had just recovered from a bout of cellulitus but he didn't listen. He treated for colic, which she didn't have. On 3 further occasions over the weekend I rang to say she had lymphangitis and needed antibiotics, he would not come back out, and on Sunday morning I ended up calling out another vet to get my horse correctly treated. I since found out that the original vet was from an on call company. I have had the 2nd call out removed from my bill, but I am now in a position of having to get the misdiagnosis taken off my invoice so that I can submit an insurance claim, otherwise the insurance company will see colic and not only not pay out for this part of the claim, but exclude colic from any future claims. I am currently waiting to hear back from my own vets.

I am also unsure how to proceed with a complaint as I don't want to be refused treatment if I need to call a vet out of hours in the future.

 

[Lady Jane]

You could ask the BHS for advice? They can reissue the invoice but I believe the important thing is they update the clinical history to clearly say colic was misdiagnosed? I would call your insurers on advice on this point. And I would complain to your vet - if their out of hours company is giving poor service they really should be told. Normally complaints should be made in writing to the Practice Manager

 

[susie2193]

You could ask the BHS for advice? They can reissue the invoice but I believe the important thing is they update the clinical history to clearly say colic was misdiagnosed? I would call your insurers on advice on this point. And I would complain to your vet - if their out of hours company is giving poor service they really should be told. Normally complaints should be made in writing to the Practice Manager

Thank you. I have already complained to the Clinical Director, and that is why the 2nd call out was removed from the bill. I was told the OOH vet was going to ring and apologise, but I haven't heard anything from him. I am waiting to hear from my own vets but you are right I need to make sure the clinical history is updated.

 

[Melody Grey]

I agree that you need to follow this through, both to remove the colic misdiagnosis and for your regular practise to be aware of the service they’re using falling short. Admittedly I’m registered with two large practises that both do their own out of hours emergency cover, I’d be unimpressed with being sent a different vet in an emergency although I appreciate smaller practises must have to do this. I really appreciate seeing a familiar face in an emergency.

 

[susie2193]

I agree that you need to follow this through, both to remove the colic misdiagnosis and for your regular practise to be aware of the service they’re using falling short. Admittedly I’m registered with two large practises that both do their own out of hours emergency cover, I’d be unimpressed with being sent a different vet in an emergency although I appreciate smaller practises must have to do this. I really appreciate seeing a familiar face in an emergency.

Interestingly the practice I use is huge, with 5 different clinics. In the past when I have called a vet out of hours they could come from any of the clinics, I didn't find out that they have started to use an out of hours service until after the event. The attending vet told me he worked for my practice, and because they have so many vets I wasn't aware that was in fact not the case.

 

[Fransurrey]

In the first instance you're encouraged to sort it out with the practice. Have you put in writing exactly what you need to happen? If not, I would do that and stress that this is a matter of urgency for insurance purposes. If you don't get any joy, then you can proceed to the RCVS (there are details on how to do this on their website).

ETA it's now really common for practices to use OOH services rather than their own vets. My own have started to do this and I dread the day I need an emergency visit.