Bishops Stortford
Veterinary Hospital

COVID 19 – updated: 24-03-2020

The Coronavirus outbreak is concerning for everybody.

Please be rest assured we will continue to provide the best possible veterinary care we can  to you and your pet.

Animal welfare and health is very important to you and to us, but human health understandably must be prioritized.

Therefore we regret to inform you, we have to further  reduce the range of services we can offer, after the announcement by the government on 23rd March,  due to the  the national need  to comply with strict “social distancing ” rules and further restrictions on movement.

Because of these instructions by the government  and the advice given to vets this week by the RCVS ( the governing body for vets ) , for the immediate  future we are unable to offer any routine or non urgent treatments or procedures.

We will not be offering appointments for :

Nail clipping , weight clinics or other routine nurse appointments.

All vaccinations

Elective/non urgent  surgical procedures

Non urgent cases

Please be assured we remain open  for  pets that need us most, for example pets who are very unwell, or are  in pain.

We also continue to provide a 24 hour a day emergency service here at the Bishop’s Stortford Veterinary Hospital.

If you feel you have an animal who is in need of urgent or emergency treatment then please call us and we can arrange  an appointment for you.

If you are unsure whether your pet needs urgent treatment, then call us. We can help decide whether you need to come in, or whether the problem can safely be delayed or treated with a phone consultation.

For your safety and that of our staff please inform us before attending the practice if anyone in your household is self-isolating due to confirmed or suspected COVID-19 infection and our receptionists will advise you of the procedure in this situation. You must not attend the surgery in person if you are self isolating.

Please telephone us on arrival at the clinic to let us know you have parked  and let us know on which mobile phone number we can ring you and what is registration number of your car. Please  stay in your car.

When ready to see your pet, the vet will call you and discuss the reason for the visit initially over the phone. The vet will then come and collect your pet from the car and take them back into the clinic where a full physical examination can be carried out and treatment delivered The vet will phone you to describe the findings of the examination and a treatment plan can be discussed.

We appreciate this will be cause considerable inconvenience, but we thank you in advance for assisting us in continuing to offer essential veterinary care under the current difficult circumstances.

If you feel you are in a high risk group for attending the practice or have any other concerns then please let our receptionists know, and we do our best to accommodate  your individual needs.

Thankfully we are used to strict hygiene protocols and disinfection is part of our daily routine so please rest assured that we will continue to implement strict rules behind the scenes to keep everyone as safe as we can.

Home Visits

Under normal circumstances we offer home visits for a variety of reasons. Unfortunately due to current social distances requirements we can only now offer home visits in cases where no other alternative is possible. Please call us to discuss if you feel a home visit is absolutely essential.

The situation is changing rapidly and we have to adapt , but our aim is to continue to provide the best possible veterinary care despite the current  difficult circumstances .

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