Minerva Business Park, Peterborough PE2 6FT
This Veterinary practice is an independently owned and run veterinary practice trading as Minerva Vets (Our/us/we). Our registered Company name is Minerva Vets Ltd. The Directors of which are Kerry Earp and Rachel Molsher. We are registered as a Limited Company in England and Wales, registration no 16865921. We are VAT registered, no 507374785
This document sets out our terms of business and forms a Contract between you (your) (the animal owner/carer, or individual requesting veterinary care for an animal) and Minerva Vets LTD (us/we/our).
Should you have any queries relating to these terms and conditions please do not hesitate to ask us for further clarification.
Thank you for entrusting the care and attention of your pet to our practice.
All fees for services and goods (including drugs, food and pet products) are subject to VAT at the applicable rate (currently 20%). Service fees are determined by the time spent on a case, and the complexity, and may be dependent on the drugs, materials, consumables and diets used. A summary of our routine fees is displayed in our waiting room, on our website, and is also available on request. You will receive a detailed receipt for every consultation, surgical procedure or transaction with us.
We will happily provide a written estimate of the likely cost of a course of treatment or operation. Please bear in mind that any estimate given can only be approximate; often a pet's illness will not follow a conventional course. Depending on ease or complication during an operation the final cost may be higher or lower than the estimate. We endeavour to contact clients as soon as is reasonably possible to advise of this. Estimates are valid for 28 days. Estimates are dependent on the weight of your pet at the time of the estimate. This is because their weight determines the amount of medication your pet needs. If your pet changes weight between the estimate and the procedure the cost will most likely change. This is because the amount of medication they are given depends on their weight.
Accounts are due for settlement at the end of the consultation, when taking your pet home, or upon collection of goods (including medication, food or products). Ashes must be paid for on collection if they have not been paid for at the time of euthanasia (the expected payment time). You may settle the account using:
You may wish to claim on your pet insurance policy for the care that we have provided. Insurance companies can be difficult and slow to deal with. For this reason, direct claims will be available at the discretion of the practice. For us to carry out a direct claim you must:
In situations where you have been asked to settle your account prior to making a claim, you will be provided with a fully detailed receipt. Once you have completed your part of your claim form, please bring it to the practice for us to complete the rest. We aim to complete the form and forward it to your insurance Company within two weeks. In some circumstances, claims are fully electronic, please speak to us or the insurance company for help if needed.
If, for any reason you are unable to settle your account as specified, we ask you to discuss the matter as soon as possible with a member of staff.
Should an account not be settled without discussion the client will be contacted immediately and again the following day. Should it be necessary for further reminders to be sent, further charges may be incurred, currently £6 admin charge for repeat invoices. After due notice to you the client, overdue accounts will be referred to a Debt Collection Agency of our choice and further charges will be levied in respect of costs incurred in collecting the debt, such as production of reports, correspondence, court fees, attendance at court, phone calls, home visits, etc, and any charge from the debt collection company.
Any cheque returned by our bank as unpaid, any credit card payment not honoured, and any cash tendered that is found to be counterfeit will result in the original account being restored to the original sum. Further charges will be added in respect of bank charges and administrative costs together with interest on the original sum.
We will exercise our right to stop further provision of goods and services until the debt has been settled. We have a duty of care to provide emergency pain relief or euthanasia if required but nothing else. In some situations, following a period of debt, we will insist on payment prior to goods and services.
The veterinary surgeons take a professional decision on whether a medication can be/is required to be prescribed repeatedly. Repeat prescriptions need to be signed by the vet each time prior to dispensing the medication. Therefore, it is not usually possible to take the medication away at the time of asking. For repeat prescriptions we request 48hrs notice as a minimum but certain medications may require ordering so we ask clients to be mindful of their stock levels to account for this. Our veterinary surgeons cannot issue repeat prescriptions for more than 6 months without seeing the animal (or 12 months for flea and wormer). Additionally, there are some specific groups of medications where legislation prevents our veterinary surgeons from issuing repeat prescriptions without re-assessing your pet in person. You must book a routine consultation for this.
We can provide an electronic written prescriptions (that we will email direct to your supplier) to buy the medication should you wish to use an external pharmacy. There is a charge for this professional service, and our vets can only issue a prescription that covers a maximum 6 months for each drug, or less for some medications depending on legislation and the need for reassessment.
By providing consent to an operation/treatment or investigation you are agreeing to our veterinary surgeons to proceed with the agreed procedure, investigation or admission. Prior to providing consent you should be happy that you have received adequate information. If you are not, then do not hesitate to ask.
Consent can only be obtained from the animal’s owner/provider of care. If you are not the animal’s owner you should not offer your consent. You should make our staff aware of this. All attempts should be made to contact the owner to obtain their consent. However, in an emergency the animal’s wellbeing will take precedence.
In order to reduce the number of missed appointments and so that we can offer all appointments to pets who need an appointment we may charge a missed appointment fee. This is currently £12.00 and will be added to your account after the appointment has been missed. This will not be added when the appointment is cancelled before the appointment time. You have the option of receiving reminder texts for appointments to help you remember appointments.
We always recommend seeing your pet in our practice. We are able to use our facilities, have more staff, and a greater range of medication. However, we understand that there are some circumstances where you may wish for your pet to be seen at home. We ask that you provide as much notice as possible for this. We are not able to offer flexibility in times for this, we have to fit home visits around our clinics and operating times. There is a charge for home visits. This is based on time away from the practice, and on mileage. An estimate can be provided at the time of booking.
The health and wellbeing of our staff is something that we take very seriously, as is providing exceptional care for your pet during open hours, therefore we do not provide out of hours cover in-house.
We have partnered with Village Vets Milton to provide emergency care when we are closed. Their contact number is available on our website or on our phone line when we are closed. We are not a 24 hour hospital and therefore do not provide overnight hospital care. If your pet needs overnight care, you will need to organise transfer to Village Vets. Village Vets are a third party. Any fees incurred by them are directly payable to them.
We are open on Saturdays from 09.00-17:00. Saturday appointments are limited and we try to save as many as possible for urgent cases. If you require a routine appointment we respectfully ask that, where possible, you book an appointment during the week. We are open Monday to Friday from 08:30 to 19:00.
We pride ourselves on providing an outstanding level of service and veterinary care. We hope that you never have cause to complain about the standards of service received from our practice. However, if you feel that there is something you wish to discuss or complain about, please tell a member of staff - they may be able to resolve your concerns there and then. Alternatively you could put your concerns in writing to contact@minervavets.com, to which we aim to respond fully complaints within 28 days.
Your and your pet’s information will be held confidentially in accordance with GDPR. Case records including radiographs and similar documents are the property of, and will be retained by our practice. Copies with a summary of the history will, with your permission, be passed on request to another veterinary surgeon taking over the case. The care given to your animal may involve making some specific investigations, for example taking radiographs, blood samples or performing ultrasound scans. Even though we make a charge for carrying out these investigations and interpreting their results, ownership of the resulting record, for example a radiograph remains with the practice.
Should you wish to have a copy of any of your pet’s records, then please ask a member of staff who will advise and assist you. There may be an admin charge for this.
Our full privacy notice is available on our website.
We may use direct debits for payments of services such as health care plans, these will be easily identifiable on your bank statements.
We expect our clients to treat our staff as we treat them. We have a zero-tolerance policy to abuse (verbal or physical), violence or aggression. We expect our clients to treat our staff with respect and politeness. In the event of inappropriate behaviour towards a staff member, or other person on our property you will be removed from the building immediately. Having mutual trust is essential to ensure your pet receives the best care. We will inform you that you are no-longer welcome in the practice and should seek to register with another practice. We have a duty of care to provide only emergency pain relief or euthanasia during the transition period.
No addition or variation of these conditions will bind the practice or Company unless it is specifically agreed in writing and signed by a Company Director. No agent or person employed by, or under contract with, the practice has the authority to alter or vary these conditions in any way.
KE RM August 2026