Well, Wendy's definitely not about still, this place is owned by a man called Philip Bareham and…read morehis wife Laura, information within the public domain, see companies House.
As I'm writing this, I have to remind myself I'm writing about a veterinary practice and not the local authority or even worse a shady lTory MP.
A reasonable comparison based on the fact that rather than just do the right thing and let common sense prevail, Phillip Barehams vets aka Wendy Lanes would rather hide behind policies and extract maximum power from their position, which sadly they ultimately hold over our beloved pets.
So, the background to this, which I'll try and keep as short as possible. Our beloved pet happens to a very beautiful pug, who like many pugs, has breathing issues and also becomes very anxious visiting the vets.
Our pugs anxiety whilst visiting the vets results in excessive panting and was so severe last year his life became at risk and Phillips vets had to administer an emergency sedative, it was touch and go but our pet survived, anyone who loves their dog will understand how traumatic this was.
The next part of the background to this is our pug has recurring ear infections as a result of allergies, this is managed by steroid tablets, although not ideal due to side effects, and ear drops. Unfortunately now and again the ear infection requires some extra help with anti biotics.
So a few month ago we had a discussion with one of the vets, who I won't name because she was actually quite pleasant. We discussed that during the summer months when temperatures are higher that our dog will only come down in a dire emergency and that if he required any meds a telephone consultation would be better for our pets health and well being.
Fast forward to September, it's still summer btw, and obviously we have just been through a week long heatwave. Our pet sadly requires sine anti biotics as he's suffering from an ear infection, cue a phone call to Phillips vets aka Wendy Lanes.
I spoke to a receptionist who again I won't name, I explained the above and I was informed it might not be a possible due to a policy, I informed the receptionist I'm aware of that but our pet falls under the 'exceptional circumstances' umbrella and should be ok.
The receptionist asked me to send a video clip and photograph of the ear infection, after a little deliberation of how exactly you do that, we sent a video of our dog suffering with excessive head shaking and hoped that this would be enough for Phillips place aka Wendy Lanes.
A day passed, no response, my dog continued to suffer with his ear infection. I made a phone call, spoke to another receptionist, asked what was happening. Was told, I'll ask the vet who's in now and ring you back.
Phone rings, sounds like a different voice to the last but I may be wrong, I'm assuming another receptionist, definitely not a vet. She says "I've asked the vet, they've said no due to a policy, we can't do it" my response was to explain the above about our pet. "Nope it's the law, we can't do it" I replied again and explained it's not a law, it's a policy, it's up to the vets discretion, you can give the anti biotics in exceptional circumstances. "No it's the law" I was told again. I explained again it's not the law it's a policy. "You can't speak to me like this" I'm going to end the call and get "Phil" the owner to ring you Thursday (today)
So Phillip rings, a cockney or southerner anyway, who'd I'd already been warned was the owner, I was polite said hello, wasn't reciprocated. So for the next 5 mins or so I plead my poorly dogs case, begging for the cure, Phillip never tried to intervene never said a word, he let me beg.
Once I'd finished, Phillips response arrived, I was expecting to discuss my pet, he never mentioned him. This isn't a direct quote but it was along the lines of, you've been very nice today but you wasn't yesterday, I'll be writing to you, you've got 30 days to find a new Vets, you and your poorly dog don't come back here.
This felt personal, I don't know who I'd spoken to on the phone that lead to Philips call, but whoever it was, Phillip cares far more about them that any of our pets, which probably isn't much.
