Contact
Dawes Farm, Bognor Road,
Warnham, Horsham,
Sussex RH12 3SH
Tel: 01306 628222
Fax: 01306 628379
office@equinevetpractice.co.uk
info@equinevetpractice.co.uk
General information
Limited Company
Mayes and Scrine, is no longer a partnership, but instead is now a Limited Company. Whilst we will still trade under the names “Mayes and Scrine” and “Equine Veterinary Practice”, we are now officially listed with Companies House as “M & S EVP Limited”. This means that Ben and Judy are now officially employees of the Company, and are Directors rather than Partners.
Team Kit
You may have seen the vets and practice staff in embroidered polo shirts, fleeces and jackets. This is our attempt at practice identity, uniformity and to encourage me (Ben) to smarten up – although the polo shirts still require ironing. Due to popular request polo 
shirts and fleeces are available for the discerning, fashionable client. Contrary to popular request, we are charging for these items, albeit cost price (hopefully it will keep demand down too, I believe a move into the clothing retail sector would be unwise in the current consumer climate). Polo shirts, fleeces, baseball caps and beanies are available from the office. Prices on request.
Many of our patients are insured. Horse insurance is very reassuring if there is illness or injury, and repeat veterinary attendance or a trip to the clinic or hospital is necessary. The frequency of claims and their continuation is concerning the insurance companies. They are therefore enforcing exclusions, maximums and time limits. They also require to be informed of any potential claim soon after the vet has attended and claims need to be submitted promptly.
Some companies require annual health declarations and all companies ask us (and you), when claiming, whether similar or related problems have previously occurred.
We are more than happy to help you with your insurance claim. However, we cannot handle your claim for you as we are not Brokers and we are not regulated by the Financial Services Authority.
We do not charge for filling in insurance claim forms. However, we do charge if more information (e.g. reports) is required or if you request an exclusion removal report. We do expect excesses to be paid to the practice and we never participate in fraudulent claims, despite occasional requests.
Most of the drugs we provide are prescription only drugs (POM). Although we charge a handling fee on these it is less of a mark up than you think - less than Tesco's average for example. Please remember VAT has to be charged on veterinary products but not human medical products. We use prescription drugs because they are the best and they work. They should only be used in the animal for which they are dispensed and MUST be kept away from children. Some drugs, such as wormers, are PML or GSL and can be bought over the counter at licensed outlets e.g. pharmacists and tack shops, but these should have trained staff on hand to advise you. We can provide you with a prescription and you can source your drugs elsewhere e.g. at an on-line pharmacy. However, we are obliged by law to re-examine animals on long term prescription drugs, such as bute and Ventipulmin. This should be at least every six months. There are several black market prescription drugs available in some yards locally. These are illegally imported, illegally labelled (usually Australian), illegally sold, illegally purchased and may not even contain the correct drug. Please do not encourage this black market.
If you compete under F.E.I. rules, from January 2005 Influenza vaccines need to be boosted every SIX months. This primarily involves international competitions, but may effect some British Eventing and BSJA competition. Please check with your competition governing body.
It is not uncommon for clients to order drugs and then find they do not want them or cannot get them into their horse. Unfortunately we are not allowed to take back drugs, even those in their original packaging, as this is illegal under Pharmacy Law. The reason for this is that drugs have to be stored under strict conditions including temperature control etc. We obviously cannot vouch for how dispensed drugs have been stored after collection from the clinic/delivery to your yard. We assume you would rather not have drugs that have passed through another client’s hands re-dispensed for your horse. Please therefore respect the fact that we cannot credit you for dispensed drugs already collected or delivered. Please ensure that you really need the drugs before asking for them to be dispensed, or ask for a suitably small amount if there is any doubt whether you will be able to get them down, on or in your horse.
Digital X-rays at Mayes and Scrine
The Kodak CR500 Computerised Radiography System is now well established. Practice invests in “Sound Technologies Tru DR”.
Just as a large amount of you will have recently changed over to digital cameras and digital TVs, we have gone digital with our xrays. Producing an x-ray is essentially the same as producing a photo with 35mm film but using x-rays instead of light. The traditional way of taking x-rays involves exposing a film within
a cassette to an x-ray beam. This produces a latent image on the film, which is then processed through developing and fixing fluids to produce a classic x-ray which can be held up to a light.
The system we are now using has exactly the same x-ray machine to produce the beam, but the film within the cassette has been replaced by an image plate. This is then scanned into a machine to produce an analogue image which is then concerted into a digital picture. The image can then be viewed directly on a computer screen. Technically this is a “computed” radiograph rather than a strictly “digital” one.
We are very excited to announce that we now have a true digital radiography system. This allows us to take superb quality images that are available for viewing on a laptop screen within 3 seconds. The machine is portable, so we can now take images in the field, knowing immediately whether images acquired are correctly positioned or whether they need to be repeated. Also we are no longer limited by the number of plates we have with us and can take as many images as are required.
So what are the benefits to you?
As everything is becoming more computer oriented, having the radiographs in a digital form means they can easily be looked at on any computer, we can make copies (including for the owner if they would like one) and can store them easily. 
In addition we have software on the computer that allows us to examine the image in much greater detail than a traditional x-ray. We can zoom in on areas of interest and change the contrast to help with reach an accurate diagnosis. If we require an expert opinion on the shots we can easily email the image to a specialist. Producing an image is quicker, as developing time is faster, so examinations do not take as long. No nasty developing chemicals are involved. Less x-rays have to be taken as the software allows us to manipulate the image instead of having to take several exposures.
This means both your horse and our team taking the pictures are exposed to less x-ray radiation whilst achieving excellent diagnostic images. The cost of both systems is quite daunting for a small practice like ours, but we felt taking this step was important to allow us to provide as full a service as possible, and to optimize our image quality.
The True DR allows us to provide as many x-rays as are required in the field for horses that cannot be brought to the clinic such as laminitis cases, possible fracture cases and horses undergoing pre-purchase examination outside the practice area.
The Kodak System, provided through BCF Technology, has proved its worth on several occasions involving tricky cases. These include a fractured elbow x-rayed “in the field” (at a yard), a spiral fracture of a cannon bone (notorious for being missed in standard x-rays) as well as subtle degenerative joints. Our True DR should allow us even greater ability to investigate tricky cases. Owners can take CDs of their horses x-rays (with limited viewing software) home and surgeons can be sent digital images quickly if required. Hopefully your horse or pony will never need x-raying, but we hope that with our new CR and DR systems our radiography service will be of the highest quality providing quick and accurate diagnosis.
November 2005 saw big changes in veterinary pharmacy law in the UK. This was after an extensive DTI (government) investigation into this “closed” market.
Drug prices (including wormers) are significantly higher in the UK than in most of the rest of Europe, e.g. Eire and the near continent. This had been encouraging animal owners (and even some vets) to “illegally” import drugs from abroad. Perhaps a single EU licensing system would have been the best way forward!
The new Regulations have tried to open up the veterinary drug market to competition and has also led to reclassification of some drugs. To comply with these Regulations (and the law) vets now have to:
- List their “top 10” drugs and prices in the waiting room and in the Vet’s cars.
- Advise as to the cost of procedures and drugs at the time of dispensing.
- Offer Prescriptions free of charge. These can be taken to a pharmacist, including on-line pharmacies in the UK.
- Always use drugs licensed for use in that species (the horse) if one is available. If not, the client must sign an unlicensed drug consent form and an animal drug has to be used if one is available.
- Human drugs can only be used if an appropriate animal drug is not available.
- Drugs can only be dispensed or prescribed for animals directly under the care of the practice. This means that they have to be seen regularly: e.g. every six months.
Please note, cost cannot be used as a reason for using different drugs under the “cascade” system.
Practically, the prescription system is only likely to be useful for long term medication, although often our prices are quite competitive (e.g. Pergolide, used to treat Cushing’s Disease) even compared with on-line pharmacies. Under what is called the “cascade” system, we cannot now dispense or prescribe ACP tablets (oral sedative) as these are only licensed for use in dogs and an equine equivalent (Sedalin Gel, Sedazine Paste) is available. We have to use cat and dog pills, e.g. Prednisolone 5mg tablets, and not human B.P. tablets.
Repeat drugs can only be dispensed or prescribed by the practice if the animal has been seen by a vet in the last six months. Medicines can only be dispensed after being checked by a vet, we therefore request 24 hours notice if you are coming to pick up a drug: it is illegal for our staff to dispense a drug if it has not been checked and signed for by one of the vets. Medicines can be dropped off or sent by post, although we charge for these services. Please note, we cannot send liquids or aerosols.
We do ask that clients collecting repeat prescriptions pay at the time of collection, this attracting a 5% discount.
The DEFRA passport scheme is definitely up and running. We now assume all our patients have up-to-date passports. This means the horse/pony/donkey is registered with the passport issuing authority in the current owner’s name and that the passport has a Section IX Medical Treatment Section.
By law, we cannot treat a horse without first seeing the passport. If we have not recorded that we have seen your passport before and it is unavailable, we can treat your horse in an emergency, but we must record its identity. This may involve inserting a microchip if it is doubtful that the horse has a passport and no microchip can be found, and we will charge you for this legal requirement.
It also means we need to see your signed section IX in your Passports before we can dispense bute or provide prescriptions. Currently we allow you to send in photocopies/fax/email scans of the passport ID page and signed “not intended for human consumption” page if you require a repeat prescription. When DEFRA release the full guidelines for vets it is unlikely that copies will be allowed.
DEFRA are allowing responsible persons (yard managers) and owners THREE HOURS to produce passports for spot inspections. We strongly recommend that passports are kept with the horse, e.g. at the livery yard or when travelling. After a period of grace it is likely that Trading Standards and DEFRA will be actively enforcing the regulations. If you do not trust your yard with your horse’s passport (easily replaceable), should you be trusting them with your horse?
It is also an offence for an owner not to register the passport in their own name within 30 days of buying the horse. If the equine sadly dies or is put down, the issuing authority must be informed. This is the responsibility of the owner (or their representative), it cannot be done by the vet or the slaughterer.
We appreciate that these regulations seem draconian. If you don’t like them, please write to your MP and MEP and please don’t shoot the messenger!
In summary:
- If you don’t have a passport for your horse/pony/donkey, GET ONE.
- Since July 2009 a microchip has to be inserted when applying for a new passport (£27 including VAT as of January 2011).
- If you have lost your equine passport, contact the PIO and replace it.
- Please show your equine passport to the vet when they’re attending your horse either at the yard or at the clinic.
- If you are not sure which section to sign, please contact us.
- Once we have observed the signed Section IX, this will be noted on your record and we won’t have to see your passport every time we see your horse.
Please contact the Practice if you would like to discuss your passport.