Emergency Calls

Britestar

Britestar

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Was just wondering how different Vets deal with their emergency calls/ out of hours?

The practice I use always has a person answering the phone who then gets the Vet to come out to you. My friend uses different practice and they have an answer phone that you leave your number on and someone gets back to you - time varies. Another friend in a different area says she gets an answerphone with another number in it to dial.

just wondering what happens at your practice?
 
Someone answers the phone - on a rota basis, either a vet or vet nurse. They take full details (name, address, animal, where it's kept etc), and discuss the problem so they can assess the urgency. Once they've decided it definitely needs a vet, they contact the vet and call you back with an estimated time.

Time is usually 30-45 minutes, but the vet is often there much sooner. In fact, on one occasion (an emergency colic), it was only 10 minutes.

I've never had cause to complain, and when I genuinely thought my horse was dying (during normal hours), they called the senior partner in on his day off. He was there inside 20 minutes.
 
Always somebody there to answer the phone, either vet or vet nurse. Time varies depending on how urgent and how busy there are, but generally between 20 mins and an hour.
 
Someone answers the phone, takes details, calls the vet/s on rota. Get a call back with either the arrival time, or the vet to dicuss it further.

Have had two recently one where I didn't speak to the vet, but had a horse bleeding profusely with a visible severed muscle, had no need to talk to a vet, just needed one ASAP. Second was a bizarre short term reaction to something, where the mare kept going down, unable to stand, spoke to the vet (less than 5mins for a call back) and she was out in 20mins, by which point the mare had recovered. Did full tests etc on here which were all fine.

My horse is worth more than the £80 call out, so if I'm in doubt I will at least call them.
 
LOL - think we use the same vets!
smile.gif
 
OH's practice has an out of hours answering service, which then phones the vet on call who will phone you back. Works better as signal is iffy in this area for mobile phones and it's easier to work a 1st and 2nd on call system with a central answering point for phones.
 
someone always anwers asseses the situation and then they say they'll call back within 15 minutes usually only five or less depending on whats happened and then they let you know how long, one was with me within twenty minutes before now, my last vets was the same, dont like the sound of an answerphone tbh
 
[ QUOTE ]
Someone answers the phone, takes details, calls the vet/s on rota. Get a call back with either the arrival time, or the vet to dicuss it further.

[/ QUOTE ]

Ditto.
 
When its my husband's night call the surgery phones get diverted to our home phone and my husband then answers all emergencies and non emergencies like 11.30pm call to cancel appointment!, 2am call to see if a client could pop in surgery to collect more newspaper as they had run out for a puppy cage!!! you would not comprehend some of the calls! however the genuine ones get advise or a visit usually straight away.
 
Vet nurse answers the phone and takes details of the situation and vet rings back. Has never taken longer than 10 minutes to get a call back, and in an emergency I was just put straight through.
 
[ QUOTE ]
When its my husband's night call the surgery phones get diverted to our home phone and my husband then answers all emergencies and non emergencies like 11.30pm call to cancel appointment!, 2am call to see if a client could pop in surgery to collect more newspaper as they had run out for a puppy cage!!! you would not comprehend some of the calls! however the genuine ones get advise or a visit usually straight away.

[/ QUOTE ]

Some of the ones I use to get like this were amazing - I really do wonder about the sanity of some people!
 
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