Welcome to Acorn House Vets
Welcome to Acorn House! My name is Katharine Nelson and I have worked as a veterinary surgeon at the practice for over 20 years. Myself and my amazing team of pet-loving vets, nurses and client care managers would love you to join the Acorn family, where we provide an extremely high standard of veterinary care in a friendly, community setting.
Katharine, Practice Principal
Acorn House is an RCVS accredited Small Animal Veterinary Hospital on the edge of Bedford. We offer a very high standard of veterinary care with 24-hour hospital care for our inpatients. The practice is accredited with the Dogs Trust Dog Friendly Clinic scheme, we are an ISFM Gold Standard Cat Friendly Clinic and a Gold Rabbit Friendly Clinic. The veterinary team includes RCVS Advanced Veterinary Practitioners in the fields of Small Animal Surgery, Small Animal Medicine, Exotics, Animal Behaviour and Dentistry. The practice is owned by the Royal Veterinary College, demonstrating excellence in general practice to the veterinary students that rotate through our hospital.
New Registration
New clients can register with the practice by completing the online registration form on the website. Please allow 2 working days for registration to be approved and a welcome pack emailed to you. Appointments can be made by telephone or by using the online system once you have received the welcome pack.
Please note that our exotics vet is currently on maternity leave. For this reason, new bird and reptile registrations cannot be taken at this time.
Opening hours
Opening hours are 8am to 8pm weekdays and 8am to 4:30pm on Saturdays.
Our out of hours emergency service is available on-site at Acorn House between 8pm and 11pm Mon-Fri; 4:30pm-11pm Sat, and 8am-11pm on Sundays and Bank Holidays. Clients must contact the on-call team before traveling to the practice.
Calls after 11pm are taken by the Royal Veterinary College OOH service. The direct telephone number for this service is 01707 666399 and the address at which patients are seen is The Queen Mother Hospital for Animals, Royal Veterinary College, Hawkshead Lane, Hatfield, Herts, AL9 7TA. Clients must contact the team on duty before traveling to the hospital.
Whatever the time of day or night, clients should ring the usual Acorn House number 01234 261839 and calls will be diverted to the appropriate team.
Booking an appointment
Please call Reception during normal opening hours to make an appointment or use the online booking service via the website.
Attending an appointment
All clients should check in at the main Reception desk in the waiting room. When checking in please let Reception know whether you would like to wait in the waiting room or wait outside (preferable for nervous pets or when the waiting room is busy). Clients choosing to wait in the car park should give their mobile number to Reception when checking in, so that the vet is able to call when it is time to attend the appointment.
Ordering medication
Repeat medication can be ordered using our online service by completing a request form which can be found at Repeat Medication Requests or you can email us on info@acornhousevets.co.uk . Please allow 48 hours (72 hours over a weekend) before traveling to the practice to collect this medication.
Home visits
House visits are permitted if staff availability allows. Visits are usually performed between 11am and 3:30pm.
