Advice enquiries

How we can help with clinical queries.

The Advice Request Form at the bottom of this page should be used for non-urgent and chronic matters. Please call us on 0131 650 7650 if you have an urgent/emergent query.

Please read the below before completing the form.

Please ensure you select the relevant referral service that you would like to receive your advice request. A member of this specialist service will aim to contact you within 48 hours of receipt of your email. This service is only available Monday to Friday during normal working hours (9am-5pm).

Please be aware that our clinicians have clinical and teaching commitments so it can be difficult to respond at a specific time. It helps us if you are able to give a range of contact times. We have requested contact details for other members of your staff in order to help ensure your practice receives a prompt reply.

Our advice will be provided in good faith but we must remind you that any decisions based upon it remain your responsibility, and the respective animal(s) under your care. We hope that both you and your client benefit from the advice received. We are constantly trying to improve the service that we can offer to our referring practices and, as a teaching hospital, we pride ourselves on providing information to practising vets.

Canine or Feline Internal Medicine or Cardiology

If the specialists need additional information or you were seeking advice on a specific series of test results or images, we will request this separately from you via email. Based on the complexity of the question and number of results to be assessed, the clinicians will then come back to you with a more comprehensive plan/answer to your query.

Cardiology

Cardiology is trialling a new two-tiered advice request system, with the same costings (see below) as the current Medicine. This will commence from 7 April 2025.

Internal Medicine

For Internal Medicine advice, we request that you initially ONLY fill in the advice request form. Please provide us with a summary that gives details of the relevant clinical information, timeline, and relevant test results. Please also formulate a specific question on the advice you are seeking. If there is sufficient information provided to answer your question, we will contact you with advice (via phone or email). Due to time constraints we cannot look through the animal’s entire history.  
Internal Medicine clinicians will aim to respond to all advice requests in 3-5 days.

Fees

The standard advice fee is £70. There is a £35 fee for follow-up questions and/or simple requests. A full review of the history, laboratory findings and/or photos of complex and in-depth cases may incur a fee £140.

Services other than Internal Medicine, Cardiology

For referral services other than Internal Medicine, Cardiology, there currently isn’t a fee for advice requests. Please send the advice request form via the website and other relevant documents or information via separate email to HfSAreception@ed.ac.uk. However, we reserve the right to send your advice request to a different Service than the one selected if felt appropriate by our clinicians (if this is Medicine or Cardiology you will be charged).

Radiology

Our radiology specialist team does currently not provide a standalone consultation service.

Exotics

Visit our Exotics section for advice on exotic species

Advice form

Once you have read and understood the above, please complete this form. 

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