Introduction
Most of the cases are referred to the college’s hospitals via other vets, just as a GP might send a patient to a hospital for more specialist care.
Your regular vet will be able to advise on the best course of action for any animal and if that means an operation or other type of specialist treatment, the animal may get referred to one of the Royal Veterinary College’s animal hospitals.
Just as with humans, the Royal Veterinary College (RVC) clinicians will be best placed to treat an animal if they have spoken with the animal’s regular veterinary surgeon and have the details of its medical history.
The exception to this is our Beaumont Sainsbury Animal Hospital in Camden, North London, which is a regular first opinion small animal hospital and our Emergency and Critical Care Service in Hertfordshire operating 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
All referral enquiries and appointments are made through your veterinary practice. It is important that we receive a referral letter from your regular veterinary surgeon. Once an appointment has been made you will be sent a letter containing advice about your visit, a client information leaflet, including a map (see Hawkshead Travel Directions), a terms of business document (see Payment) and an Admission Form (PDF) for you to complete and bring with you to your appointment. You will also need to bring any recent radiographs and current medication that your pet is taking.
We usually request that you arrive 10 minutes prior to your appointment time to allow our reception staff to book your pet in. If you are unable to keep your appointment for any reason, please let us know as soon as possible.
In order to ensure accurate diagnostic testing and avoid delays, we ask that you remember to fast your pet before your appointment. A normal meal may be fed the evening prior to the consultation, however, food must be withheld from 8.00 pm onwards. If your pet is on prescribed medication, it is essential that it is continued with as normal unless otherwise advised. If you have any concerns, or your pet has special circumstances e.g. diabetes, please consult your vet. Fresh drinking water should be made available at all times.
Please ensure that whilst on the RVC premises and grounds dogs are kept on a lead at all times and cats are kept in secure baskets.