Blue House Veterinary Centre 01782 522100
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Emergency

Night and Weekend Service

Emergency

Night and Weekend Service

Night and Weekend Service

In case of an emergency outside office hours, please phone the normal practice number 01782 522100, and you will be given the number of our night service. You can also call them directly on 01782 417882 (Meir Park) or 01625 348284 (Macclesfield).

At nights and weekends (after 1pm Saturday) we employ a 24-hour deputising service in order to provide the best levels of care for your pet.

Why do we think that this offers a better level of care than the traditional approach? Let us explain…

What should our night service give you?

1. You tell us that above all else you want your pet to be seen, day or night, without questions asked, so that your pet is seen whenever you are concerned (and not only if the receptionist in charge wants your pet to be seen!).

2. You also want telephone advice whenever you need it.

As much as we would like to do this ourselves, day and night, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, it is simply not realistic for a small practice to offer this without compromising the sanity of our staff. Nor do we think that this offers a good service for your pets when they are treated the following day by a vet who has been up half the night, and this after a full day’s work.

We therefore use the ‘VetsNow’ deputising service based in Meir Park (Stoke-on-Trent) and Macclesfield. VetsNow are a nationwide company that use private veterinary hospitals, using dedicated night vets and nurses who are awake throughout the night.

By using this night service, you and your pet are being offered all the following benefits:

1. Your phone call will be answered by skilled staff throughout the night.

2. VetsNow employs night vets who are highly experienced in critical care, since they are doing this work every night. As with any aspect of medicine, the more that one does of a particular type, the more skilled one becomes!

3. The vets and nurses work nights only - they will not have worked all day before their shift, and they will not have to work all day after it. They will therefore be fresh, eager to see your pet, and happy to do whatever work is demanded, day or night. No 'leaving it till the morning' because the vet has not had a break for 12 hours!

4. Your pet will get proper round-the-clock monitoring, with TPR's (temperature, pulse, and respiration measurements) throughout the night. Most practices that promote their own in-house emergency care do not have staff present all night.

5. Vets Now use the hospital facilities of Lime Trees Vets in Meir Park, and Wright & Morten Veterinary Hospital in Macclesfield

Vets Now
We do appreciate that you will have to take your pet to Meir Park or Macclesfield. However, as this service only operates at night, your journey will usually be when there is relatively little traffic on the road. The emergency hospitals are easy to find and, as the staff are always there waiting for you, your pet will be able to be seen quickly.

Put it this way, if our own pets were ill out of hours, this is where we would entrust them as a matter of choice!

We have a photo-map showing the way to VetsNow, to help you find the hospital with the minimum of difficulty. Please ask at the surgery if you would like a copy of this.

Should you ever have to take your pet to VetsNow for a dire emergency, e.g. after a road accident, you will find that the staff at the hospital will be ready and waiting for you - no need for them to get dressed, defrost the car, drive to the surgery, open up, get the drip warming etc! They will already be on site and ready to care for your pet.

If your pet is hospitalised overnight, you will generally collect them from the VetsNow clinic by 8am in order for the daily work of the practice to continue. Depending on your pet's condition they may either be discharged home, or to return to our facilities for continuing care during the next day. In some situations it may be better for your pet to stay with the team at the hospital.  You normally collect your pet yourself. If your pet is not stable enough to be transported then alternative arrangements will be made.

The majority of emergency cases will need to be seen at one of the hospitals to allow the best care and implementation of treatment options in the shortest possible time. 

VetsNow service fees (as of 1st June 2023):

Please note that any out-of-hours care is always more expensive than care in the daytime. Treatment fees for hospitalised patients are normally payable to VetsNow on discharge. Direct claims are sometimes available for insured patients.

Standard consultation (excluding out-of-hours fee)  

£64.50

Out-of-hours fee (in addition to Consultation fee)

£211.50

Vets Now Stoke:

Lime Trees Veterinary Hospital
Meir Park
Lysander Road
Stoke-on–Trent
ST3 7WD

If using SatNav, for VetsNow Stoke enter postcode ST3 7WA

Vets Now Macclesfield:

Wright & Morten Veterinary Hospital
38 Cumberland St
Macclesfield
SK10 1BZ

 
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