Saturday Appointment Policy

For many people, weekends are family time but may be the only time for attending essential health and grooming appointments. Therefore, we try to balance our own family commitments with making some Saturday appointments available.

We open two Saturdays a month which means that appointments may be fully booked 6-8 weeks in advance. Unfortunately, Saturdays are four times as likely to suffer from late cancellations, late rescheduling and no shows as weekday appointments.

This means someone desperate for a Saturday appointment may wait a long time but cannot make a last-minute cancellation. Several last-minute cancellations may be spread out over the day. This results in time slots too short for new consultations on our waiting list.

Following an increase in wasted Saturday appointments (and our own wasted family time), we have taken the decision to shorten Saturday from 6 hours to 4 hours. We have also introduced a 50% Saturday booking fee for all appointments. 

It is commonplace for clinics and grooming businesses to require booking fees for the reasons mentioned above. 

Terms and Conditions of Saturday Appointments

 The 50% booking fee charged at the time of booking will be redeemed against the appointment fee on the day. Appointments missed, rescheduled or cancelled with less than 24 hour’s notice will lose the full booking fee.  Appointments rescheduled or cancelled between 24 hours and 72 hours (1-3 days) will lose 50% of the booking fee.

If you would rather not pay a booking fee, you are welcome to book on a weekday instead. 

In the interest of ‘reasonableness’ if something occurs which is outside of your control such as a flat tire, child projectile vomiting, weather event or a positive covid test, please send a picture as evidence and we will of course wave the fee.

By booking a Saturday appointment and paying the booking fee you agree to the above conditions.