Chichester is one of the most beautiful of England's old cities, the main city of West Sussex. It still maintains its old Roman walls, and basic Roman road layout from more than 1700 years ago. It is graced with one of the best examples in England of a mediaeval market cross in the centre of its four main streets - North, South, East and West Streets of course. These are now mainly pedestrianised for the safety and pleasure of the visitors to its diverse array of quality shops, and all just a few metres away from the beautiful Cathedral.

However quaint it may look to the casual visitor, the well preserved georgian frontages of Chichester's twisting back streets (pallants) conceal a vibrant centre of modern commercial activity. We are proud to have the privilege to have been part of the Chichester community for more than half a century.

For the convenience of our clients, and to prevent unneccesary delay, we consult by appointment. Telephone or call in person at reception between 8.30 am and 7.00 pm for an appropriate time. Please state if you have a preference to see a particular veterinary surgeon.

Please try to telephone for an appointment rather than just arrive at the surgery as, except in an emergency situation, clients with appointments will be seen preferentially to clients without, and this could result in a delay. We will, however, always deal with genuine emergencies with utter promptness.

Not all veterinary surgeons are able to consult at once, but we have up to three consulting at any one time. While we will always try to arrange for our vets to follow cases through from start to finish, it may not always be possible to arrange mutually convenient times when the vet and client are both available. Disappointment can be avoided by booking appointments as soon as possible when there is maximum choice available.

Emergency Appointments are available 24 hours a day, every day of the year, by telephoning the surgery number. In most cases when reception is closed you will be diverted directly to the duty veterinary surgeon, but on occaision you may be connected to our answering service, and the duty vet will return your call as soon as possible.

Our duty vets will be only too pleased to give you advice, or arrange an out of hours consultation wherever this is necessary.

An additional charge is added to the routine consulting fees for out of hours consultations.

The advances in modern veterinary surgery have resulted in a dramatic fall in the number of house calls which we make.

The modern veterinary surgeon cannot hope to provide anything like the quality of service to his client and patient from his car boot compared to that which he or she can provide at a well equipped surgery. As we try to maintain cost effective and efficient treatment for our clients' pets, we are continually aware that the cost of a house call added to a reduced quality of service is a poor second best to a consultation at the surgery.

Similarly, in an emergency situation, there can be significant delays if a vet and nurse visit, only to have to return to the surgery with the patient for treatment.

These considerations aside, we do make regular house calls, and will not normally refuse to do so once the client is aware of the disadvantages. The visiting charges for a house call are quoted in addition to the fees which are made for the equivalent consultation at the surgery.

For a 'routine' house call reception should be contacted before 10.00 am. After this time appointment commitments during the day are such that our veterinary surgeons will often have difficulty into fitting a call into their schedule for the day. Detailed instructions of how to find the location must be given to the receptionist, and a contact telephone number should be given in case of difficulty.

We regret that we cannot guarantee that an particular veterinary surgeon will be able to make a house call. House calls are made according to which individual veterinary surgeon is available at the time.