What's an acceptable time for vet to get to a emergency call?

I had to wait over an hour for an OOH vet few years ago on November 5th late at night! My pony was having a stroke, she fitted for 40 mins, the on call vet was at another emergency which she couldn’t leave, she tried to get another vet out to me but struggled! My mare was later PTS shortly after the vets arrival.

Sometimes their hands are just tied, usually if their at an emergency already it’s something serious to have been called out OOHs! However I do feel that another vet should be on standby at home etc.. for if a serious emergency should heaven forbid come in at the same time the on call vet is already at a call that cannot wait.. I’m registered with three different equine only practices so have a choice if one cannot attend in this type of circumstance.

OP I’m sorry for your loss x
 
Only 1 vet on call is normal in most practices tbh from my experience, although most places will have a nominated second on call for cases of 2 life threatening emergencies at opposite ends of their cover area. Would advise always asking for an approx ETA and perhaps have the numbers of a few other local practices to hand in case they just can't get to you within what you think is a reasonable timeframe. I personally use a vet who I'm right at the very edge of their cover area as I trust them and have used them for more than 10 yrs with various horses but I know they do cover a pretty vast area and they're a mixed practice so do farm work as well. If ever they just couldn't get to me and I thought the delay might put life at risk then I likely would ring one of several more locally based practices to see if they could come and give initial first aid to stabilise. They have always been able to attend within a few hours whenever I've needed them to though (including a colic on Easter Sunday once...)
 
They'll staff for the normal level of demand- if a practice generally needs one member of staff to cope with the average workload, that's what will be booked in. There will.be nights when the case load far exceedd the average and you get long delays, and others when the vet isn't bothered at all.

It's awful to go through a terrible experience, but there's a good chance this was down to an unexpectedly busy night rather than general poor planning. It sounds like a horrible experience- I'm sorry. In normal circumstances, I'd expect a vet within an hour.
 
My job is emergency call related, not anything like a horse being ill, but everybody wants service 'now'
It's so frustrating, and hard to explain that there are other emergencies, and some more urgent than others.

Previously waited about an hour for the vet when my horse had cut an artery in her face, as you can imagine, there was blood everywhere, my friends were struggling to stand up in the stable with her throwing her head about trying to stem the bleed, it was like an ice rink, I was so grateful to her, she had come from quite a distance away from another emergency, poor vet had to go home to shower and change as she was covered head to toe in blood as it would not stop.

I've also had an emergency and been called to advise of delay because a more serious call out had come in (colic)

Vets dedicate their lives to our sick animals, they can't split in 2 and as frustrating as it is for us, and the poor horse, they can't just drop everything and come rushing, as somebody else has mentioned above, it's always worth having a few different options for cases like this.

Sorry to hear the horse did not make it.
 
More and more of the local mixed animal practices are struggling to get staff to do mixed animal work and therefore only do small animal work now. There are large modern practices doing only equine work but they are more widely spread and as they are covering large areas the eta might now be longer.
 
I would think location is also a key factor. If you are in a densely horse populated area, Lambourn/Newmarket etc there will be plenty of equine vets available, but in most areas there won't be and the distances travelled will be considerable.

My practice has 2 vets on call and I have been fortunate not to have to wait in all the years I have had horses and there is a superb hospital 50 minutes away.
 
I have to admit that I frequently moan about the vet practice that I use mostly but this thread has certainly made me appreciate them rather more. It is their accounting system that I moan about usually, rather than the treatment anyway but whenever I have called them in an emergency they have always sent someone within the hour and usually sooner than that. They are a large mixed practice and even if the on call vet isn't an equine specialist, they do all treat all animals.
 
25 min is quite far, so I'd like a vet with me in 90-120min realistically if they are at another call at the other end of the practice they could be an hour or more away + finishing what they are doing - is there a closer practiceyou can use? it's not ideal and I assume they were dealing with another emergency?
 
Sorry for the loss of the animal.

I know when my pony was being treated last year there was another emergency that was waiting for the vet. It can't be easy, particularly if it is a small practice with only a couple of vets. I would also expect a call to say where they were though and that they would get to you asap.

If you are waiting, it would always seem a long time.
 
I think 2 hours is too long. My last real emergency call out was out of hours, Sunday morning about 7am and the vet had just been called to a colic so they sent another vet who wasn't officially on call but covering in emergencies. Took 45 mins, the longest 45 mins I ever remember waiting.
Op, really sorry for your loss x
 
rara007 said:
How do you know there wasn’t any small animal emergencies or emergency put to sleeps ongoing? I think my pony (and dog) are the centres of the world but I appreciate actually so is everyone else’s too!
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Because that is what I was told, that the vet needs to finish evening cat and dog surgery appointments first and when I asked what boosters and such and they said yes, they told me what. Surgery as in the practice not surgery as in operation, we are talking 1990 so a long time ago.

Meanwhile my horse ended up with an elephant leg and veins on her legs you could put your finger behind them ( Pictures still in my album ) and the mare ended up with a deformed scar, and many weeks of treatment.

They soon became X vets after that.
 
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Luckily I have a good equine vet practice just 10 mins away. I've had to do two out of hour call outs, when you call you don't get straight through to the vet but they called me within 10mins and talked through.

First time he was at home and from the first call was onsite in 20 mins. Second time he was out at another emergency, we discussed over the phone and the other case was a higher priority. Mine had a sizeable injury but horse was calmish and we'd managed to steam the bleeding. It was nearly four hours by the time he arrived but he had called at frequent intervals to check on us.

I know him well and trust him, I'm also quite pragmatic. Yes, in a perfect world they would have been onsite straight away but a complicated foaling (what he was at) is a much higher priority
 
To those who mention calling a 2nd practice out, thats usually fine if you are a client and its in working hours.
However, out of hours and not a client, then you might be refused a visit. I know this as ended up calling my own vet for a neighbour who had just brought a horse and not registered with local vet.... 8pm pm a winter night and her chosen (but not yet registered with) practice wouldn't come out unless requested by police as a welfare matter. My vet attended within half hour & billed me, obviously neighbour refunded this & got herself registered v promptly.

I'm in a pretty high density horse owning area and am registered with 3 practices.
No 1 is my wonderful equine vet, No 2 is the local mixed practice who do include horses (my dog & cat are registered here) and they have a number of vets living locally and No 3 who I used to use till vet No 1 went solo, but they are a distance away.
Any time in an emergency I will call vet 1, however, in working hours I've called Practice 2 to come and IV as Vet 1 was going to be a couple of hours.
No 1 vet has now taken on 2 assistant equine vets so I can breathe more easily now :)
 
The thing with out of hours emergencies is that it is impossible to predict demand - and Murphy's law means that you will be quiet all day then 3 emergencies come in at once. A fire brigade rescue can take 5 hours plus to the point the vet can leave!

There's also the issue that vets do have lives outside vetting... they go on holiday (or else burnout risk), have families (sorry) and possibly their own horses - things they do when not on call. Being designated on 2nd call halves the time when they (and their spouses if they have kids) can do something in the evening or at weekends - quite a big impact on quality of life In a profession that is known for poor work life balance at the best of times.

DH's work has one vet on call at a time but if two "need to be seen now" emergencies come in at once they phone around the other vets to try to find someone. That said several have horses (always seen as a positive by horse owners) and hunt or compete, some have hobbies away from horses and some might be on childcare duties while spouses work... they've always found someone but I know how stressed DH is if he can't get to a horse as quickly as he wants!
 
I think it totally depends on the situation - i think what a lot of the previous posters would consider an emergency is not in fact a true emergency - the horse is likely not endangering anyone and likely the vet has made a judgement of priority.

I have had a horse jump out of her field landing on a 4inch wide wooden post and spilling her guts on the road, she collapsed numerous times on top of myself and tangled herself in a separate fence on a road - that is a true emergency as for she was endangering her own life, mine and other road users. The vets who i will be forever grateful for being amazing were there in 25 minutes - given they are just over 20 mins away at 70mph they couldn't have been quicker, even all parties knowing it would be a pts case straightaway.

While some of the cases above are sad, i think the vets judgement needs to be respected as they have a higher appreciation of their situation and the ability to prioritise. Of course information on what to be expected is of course important, but if the vet is dealing with a true emergency I would not expect a response until this is dealt with.
 
The time I had an OOH both on call gets were already at life or death emergencies. A vet did actually get to me in just over an hour but knowing where she had come from she can't have been driving legally. When we had first spoken it hadn't sounded life or death. By the she called me back to check location it was clear it wasn't what it first looked like.
 
rara007 said:
It’s generally lights pretty quickly if the patella comes off a horse so I’m impressed the horse did come right. I do think Day time/start/end of day time emergencies can be the trickiest to fit in as everyone is off doing something not just waiting for the call.
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Ahhh sorry my description is how I always describe it because of the damage that was done, no the patella intact but all the muscles and flesh around it came off and was hanging down. Pictures are gross and the whole knee area was exposed and in my lockup with all my other private things, knee cap off I don't mean literally but everything else came off and you could slide your fingers behind the veins and arteries.
 
I have read this on and off over the past couple of days, and think that a vet can never be there quickly enough if you are stressed, and that is worse if you then lose the horse.

I lost a horse through a heart attack, sudden and horrible. Started with a colic look alike, called vet immediately. The 10 minute call back was not quick enough as I called them after just a few minutes to say don't call, just come.

The horse was progressively worse until he died a violent death, the vet never did arrive in time.

Of course, I WANTED the vet there immediately. Of course, that was not possible.

For our area (rural) I would say 2 hours is very acceptable (although it would not feel that way at the time).

If you think of the NHS and ambulances, was it over 4 hours to a lady who was dying of a heart attack last month? Think of how many of them are on duty!

I am registered with 2 practices, just in case the 1st can't come out.

I also arranged an out of hours call (Sunday) to a local show venue where a horse had been injured breaking out of a lorry. The vet was not mine or the lady's who owned the horse. The vet agreed to come only if they paid the bill upfront by credit card. So, always carry a credit card!
 
Thank you for all the replies.
Firstly it did take well over 2 hours in fact nearer 3.
The out of hours service was told it was a emergency and were rang again after a hour.
Yes I realise that the nhs can take longer but a vets offers and advertises a out of hours service. They also charge out of hours prices.
In my opinion is just not good enough.
 
This is the reason I won't swap to an equine practice that a lot of horse owners here use. They cover a huge area and may be a long way from us in an emergency. My local vets are 15 mins away and although they aren't a specialist practice (they do small animals, farm animals and horses) they have always got to us fairly quickly in an emergency and dealt with it well.
 
Sandstone1 said:
Thank you for all the replies.
Firstly it did take well over 2 hours in fact nearer 3.
The out of hours service was told it was a emergency and were rang again after a hour.
Yes I realise that the nhs can take longer but a vets offers and advertises a out of hours service. They also charge out of hours prices.
In my opinion is just not good enough.
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I think need to be careful, vets do have to make profit, they are not charities. And they can only afford so many people on call.

There is a high rate of suicide amongst vets. If the vet on call was a fair way away dealing with another emergency, faster may not have been possible.

Having witnessed a 75 year old lady that slipped on ice last year, and closed a local road, despite being told her age, and that she was outside, in sub freezing temperatures, and risking shock, I think it still took an ambulance four hours to reach her. Locals did try and keep her warm outside, but couldn’t move her.

Yes, if it was my horse, and an emergency, I would want a clear ETA on the first call, and if not fast enough, a clear escalation path. I would probably try 3-4 other local vets and see if can be faster.
 
ester said:
I do think that really is the issue here, the lack of communication with expected time lines .
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I think you’re right. Clearly the practice / vet doesn’t seem to communicate well or maybe even have procedures and contingencies in place should multiple emergencies / delays happen.

It’s a difficult one to judge as to whether what happened could have been avoided because there are so many potential contributing factors that would lead to such a delay.

I know in your position I would initially be very upset and angry and I think you should definitely ask for an explanation and whether anything could have been done differently to avoid the situation in future for both the practice and yourself. But do this as unemotionally as possible.

Perhaps if we don’t already know we should all ask what sort of service level to expect from our vets in an emergency. I know I’m now wondering, I’ve had good service in the past but was that just luck?
 
Sussexbythesea said:
Perhaps if we don’t already know we should all ask what sort of service level to expect from our vets in an emergency. I know I’m now wondering, I’ve had good service in the past but was that just luck?
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I think it is always going to be part luck, as depends on the type and location of other emergency calls that night. Where vet lives / where last call was. There are no absolute response times. If there were three serious colics the same night, any practise would be stretched.
 
To those saying a practice wouldn't come out because they weren't registered- I would be pretty sharpish complaining to the regulartin gbody about that. They have to attend if requested I believe.
 
wingedhorse said:
I think it is always going to be part luck, as depends on the type and location of other emergency calls that night. Where vet lives / where last call was. There are no absolute response times. If there were three serious colics the same night, any practise would be stretched.
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I didn’t think there was nor did my post suggest there was.

I could certainly ask if they update the caller about delays, how many vets are on call at any one time, how they prioritise, whether they can share calls to other practices etc. like my small animal vets do. You can’t account for everything but if their answer is we have one vet for the whole of Sussex and if they’re on a call tough then maybe I’d make other arrangements. :)
 
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