We would like to thank you all for all of your support over the last 18 months.
We appreciate your understanding during what has been a tough time for everyone!

We are pleased to say that from Monday 26th July we will no longer have a locked door policy and will be welcoming you back into the practice. You can sit in the waiting area if you are comfortable to do so but may need to wait outside if we are busy.

We will be keeping the following measures in place to keep everyone safe:

• Please continue to wear your face mask when in our practices and maintain responsible distancing. If you are exempt, or do not wish to wear a face covering then we will conduct the consultation in the car park as we have done throughout. Face masks will be available at the front door.
• We will provide hand sanitiser at the front door. Please use this when you arrive.
• Please do not arrive or enter the building more than 5 minutes before your appointment.
• In order to reduce the number of people in the waiting areas, please keep the number of people attending the appointment to a minimum. There will only be one person per appointment allowed in the consulting room.
  We understand there will be times when more of the family will wish to be present and we will of course, facilitate this.
• We will be regularly cleaning and disinfecting all touch points. Reception and seating areas will be regularly deep cleaned.
• Screens will remain in place at reception desks.
• Food and medication should still be booked in advance over the phone to your local practice.​

From Monday 19th July, COVID-19 legal restrictions will end however, here at Charter Vets our current way of working will continue for at least another week while we assess the best way to keep our clients and our team safe within our practices.

If you have an appointment, you will still not be permitted to enter the building with your pet.

On arriving at the practice please phone to indicate your arrival, the vet will take your pet’s clinical history whilst on the phone or speaking from a safe distance outside. One of our team will then come and collect your pet from you outside whilst maintaining a safe distance.

Please ensure that puppies, kittens and cats are in a secure basket.

We will conduct the consultation in the practice. Your vet will then speak to you outside at a safe distance or will telephone you after the consultation/examination to update you.

After your appointment please telephone the practice again to make payment and arrange for any medication to be left on the table in the foyer for you to collect. If you can’t get through whilst in our car park, please call when you arrive home.

Please remember to enter and exit our car parks with caution as the team are in and out of the practice to collect pets from our clients.

Rest assured, we are doing everything we can to get our practices open safely again and we thank you for your continuing support and understanding in these challenging times.

In order to protect our staff and clients, we have taken the decision not to allow entry into our practices at this time.

If you have an appointment, you will not be permitted to enter the building with your pet. On arriving at the practice please phone to indicate your arrival, the vet will take your pet’s clinical history whilst on the phone or speaking from a safe distance outside. One of our team will then come and collect your pet from you outside whilst maintaining a safe distance. Please ensure that puppies, kittens and cats are in a secure basket.

We will conduct the consultation in the practice with the vet speaking at a safe distance or phoning you after the consultation/examination to update you.

One of our team will then phone you to take payment and any medication will be left on the table in the foyer for you to collect.
If you require medication, parasite treatment or food, please telephone the practice and we will arrange collection from a designated location at a given collection time.

In the event of an emergency during our normal opening hours, please dial your usual practice phone number and you will be advised what to do next.
If your call is during the night or at the weekend whilst our clinic is closed, please contact MiNightVet Barnstaple on 01271 318050

To ensure the safety of our staff ‘out of normal hours’, no one will be admitted to the Veterinary Hospital out-of-hours without first contacting us by phone.

Once again we thank you for your support and understanding in these challenging times. As with absolutely everything at the moment, we may need to alter the way we work to accommodate changing guidelines and advice. We will do everything we can to keep you updated and informed.

As we head towards a second lockdown on Thursday 5th November, we would like to reassure clients that we are following guidance from Government and from our governing bodies, and will remain open and continue to provide essential animal health and welfare services. We are a ‘Covid secure’ practice and will continue to operate in such a manner as to protect both our staff and clients whilst providing the best possible veterinary care for your pets. 

With the exception of Charter Vets Newport, all of our surgeries remain open and our hospitals at Mullacott and Roundswell continue to provide a 24 hour emergency service. If you have an appointment booked, please assume it is taking place; we will contact you if there is a need to reschedule. If you are unable to make an appointment booking, please help us by giving us 24hrs notice.

You can access full information about how we are operating in a covid-secure environment, and location-specific guidelines for clients entering our surgeries, via our website : https://bit.ly/practiceinformation

Whilst we do not anticipate there to be a problem with the supply of medication we do expect a potential delay in fulfilling requirements. Please bear with us and give us at least 48 hours’ advance notice for repeat prescriptions. If you need to collect parasite treatments or food from us, please come to our surgeries as normal and adhere to the clearly displayed covid-secure safeguarding measures to enable collection. 

Once again we thank you for your support and understanding in these challenging times. As with absolutely everything at the moment, guidelines are changing rapidly and we may need to alter the way we work to accommodate these. We will do everything we can to keep you updated and informed.

Charter Vets Covid-19 risk assessments

Our Covid-19 secure risk assessments can be found here:

This story has made the news today and we know pet owners will be concerned.

We think it’s important to reiterate this point from our Regulatory Body, the British Veterinary Association:
“While pet owners may be worried by this news, we’d like to emphasise that there continues to be no evidence that infected pets can pass Covid-19 to their owners. There have been a tiny number of cases of Covid-19 in domestic animals worldwide and in all cases, it appears likely that the transmission was from infected humans to animals.”

For the full statement from the BVA, please follow this link:

https://www.bva.co.uk/news-and-blog/news-article/vets-offer-reassurance-after-pet-cat-tests-positive-for-covid-19-in-the-uk/