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Vets Open Surgeries - Better or worse than appointments??

Bitzy-B

Mama Doe
Does your vet have open surgeries for you to 'drop in'?? The new one I've just registered the bunnies with does this at their smaller surgery where I'm taking them for their vaccs.

I've never heard of this before and wondered if it works better or worse than appointment based surgeries (you can book an appt at their new all singing all dancing surgery but they also have open surgeries too).

This is their info:

Appointments

To allow us to give you the best service we offer open surgeries where you can just ‘drop-in’.

Animals requiring urgent attention will always be seen as soon as possible; please tell our receptionists if you believe that your pet needs to be seen promptly.


What do you think?
 
hmmm I tried this once and personally didnt like it, ended up waiting for ages and my cat got quite stressed out, the waiting room as heaving !! I'm sure must be benefits or they wouldn't do it, Also appointment was so rushed !
 
hmmm I tried this once and personally didnt like it, ended up waiting for ages and my cat got quite stressed out, the waiting room as heaving !! I'm sure must be benefits or they wouldn't do it, Also appointment was so rushed !

This is what I'm worried about now ........ having to sit in a waiting room surrounded by dogs and the bunnies being v.stressed!!

I hadn't read that bit on their website when I registered them so when she mentioned it on the phone I was a bit shocked. She did say that I could wait outside with them though or that she could put them in a quiet room if they were stressed by the other animals!
 
At their other surgery you can book an appt so I may just go to the closer one this time for their vaccs then the one 20 mins away for appointments for everything else!
 
you can but try, I ended up taking my cat to another vet as I felt for his yearly check up they didn't check him over enough !!! probably me being ott !!
 
you can but try, I ended up taking my cat to another vet as I felt for his yearly check up they didn't check him over enough !!! probably me being ott !!

Thanks - I just asked on the phone if they do a health check and she said that yes they'd do a full health check before giving any vaccs .......... hhhmm but now I'm wondering whether to just go straight to their bigger surgery and book an appt so I know I have my 'allotted' time! Don't want to feel like they didn't get the best treatment!
 
My vet has long opening hours and its a drop in system. Usually works quite well, especially if you can pick a quiet time (the receptionist might be able to tell you their usual quieter times).

The only problem since the opening hours have been extended is that the vets you may prefer to see might not be on duty for several days, which again is fine for vaccs but not so good when you need a savvy vet in an emergency :(
 
My vet has long opening hours and its a drop in system. Usually works quite well, especially if you can pick a quiet time (the receptionist might be able to tell you their usual quieter times).

The only problem since the opening hours have been extended is that the vets you may prefer to see might not be on duty for several days, which again is fine for vaccs but not so good when you need a savvy vet in an emergency :(

Oh right, that sounds a little more promising, I have no idea how it all works tbh. Do you feel rushed during your actual time with the vet??

Currently I don't know any of the vets but have had an email off what seems like a lovely, knowledgeable one at the practice and would prefer to see her really, as I've already had contact with her. So maybe if I specifically wanted to see her I could book an appt at their bigger surgery.
 
The vet we used years ago was drop-in!!

In my experience it didn't work, sometimes we would literally wait hours, you used to hold your breath as you walked in praying you could actually get a seat (and it had many seats).

This could jst be a bad example tho, I was only young at the time so can't remember what the appt slots were like and whether it was rushed, judging by the waiting time I doubt it was. At least with appts if ur worried about a poorly bunny you're not normally waiting too long because that is one of the worst feelings-even going for vaccs I get nervous-never mind the bunny :lol:
 
Oh right, that sounds a little more promising, I have no idea how it all works tbh. Do you feel rushed during your actual time with the vet??

Its a lovely new surgery, so the waiting area is quite spacious. I've never felt rushed once we've got in and they have some great vets.

That said, the longer opening hours into the weekend is great in some respects, but it has meant the regular vets are spread more thinly and the last vet I saw was not a regular and not at all rabbit savvy :(
 
My vets do this. It's always seemed to work well for us and we've never had to wait very long, I wait in the car with the bunnies and the vet comes out to find us. We went on a saturday morning once and the waiting room was heaving, but I don't think we waited longer than 15/20mins, which I think is quite good :)
 
Never had this experience with vets but its what my GP does if thats any help.
Actually works well, never wait longer than about 10mins which is loads less than an appointment system in my experience.
So it could work for vets especially if you just wait with the buns in the car or a quiet small pet area rather than try to figure out whether its better to brave the cat area or the dog area!
 
Yes, the vet I go to has this, you don't have to make an appointment beforehand. Many vets round here do. Its a very popular vet practice but I never have to wait that long. 15-30 minutes at most. They have a separate dog room and cat room, and then theres the area where you talk with the receptionist. They never are rushed with us either. They spent quite awhile with us with Phantom, trying to figure out what he had. Very friendly and open and let us ask any questions, give us time to think what tests we wanted done (the vets told us xray and urinary test would probably be pointless for what he had, but we wanted to think about it) etc.
 
I use an open surgery vets too, I find it quite reassuring that we can just get up and go at any time that suits us, rather than trying to negotiate appointments around working hours or other commitments. I like that they are open late and all weekend as well.

The downside is we can wait a while sometimes if it is busy, although they usually have several vets on at once, so even if its busy you are usually seen within 30-45 mins, but sometimes it has been an hour when its really busy.

The other good thing is that you dont feel rushed. There is no allocated 10- or 15- minutes appointment time, so we've been in an appointment for ages before now, especially if we take several rabbits in one go.

You dont always get to see the vet you want to, but then that could happen if you were making an appointment too and they werent working that day. We used to ring up to find out what days our vet was working but since she has gone to nights we'll see any of them except one, who I really dont like!
 
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