There has been a lot of criticism of those UK vets who’ve given up as sole traders and sold out to big business and become part of a chain of clinics. The accusation is that these big businesses are pressuring the once independent vets to charge more for medicines and services because big business is more profit oriented than an independent vet sole trader who isn’t a businessman or woman.
Vet prices have risen across the board it seems. In defence the vets argue that they are providing a Rolls Royce services with the best possible equipment which is expensive.
The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) are investigating but don’t expect anything soon from them. You’ll almost certainly find that the months if not years will roll by with not a word from them because as a government agency, they are sluggish, gutless and toothless. Well, I am being a bit harsh but the point is that nothing effective will happen (soon if ever).
There’ll be a lot of pushback from the vets who will present cogent arguments that their prices are reasonable.
They might even be right 🤢. One giant problem in the UK is that Brits will always compare prices for medical services with the NHS which is free at the point of delivery. It is not truly free as it is paid through taxes but it feels free. You just turn up and receive your advice and/or treatments although in 2024 you’ll usually have to wait weeks.
That said within the forest of criticism there is some great work, conducted promptly and professionally. We can’t generalise in our criticism of the NHS.
The attitude of Brits concerning health treatments and medicines is deeply engrained as the NHS has been in existence since July 5th 1948. It is all most Brits have known.
There are no special grants for pet owners to ease the burden of paying the vet’s £800 fee for what seemed like not much. Or £100 for just turning up for a checkup.
There are a lot of elderly, single people, often ladies who depend on their cat for companionship. They are on fixed government pensions which have gone up recently under the so-called ‘triple lock’ but the cost of living in the UK has shot up and these kindly ladies will often struggle to pay their vet’s bills.
Worse, they won’t take their cat to the vet. They’ll avoid the vet like the plague. I’ll bet my bottom dollar that the vets who are part of these chains are seeing less clients coming through their clinic doors.
It is easy for a cat caregiver to decide not to seek medical treatment for their cat. The human is in complete charge. If treatment is refused and the cat becomes seriously ill and dies, so be it.
For cat owners on low incomes, it is a choice between buying the week’s groceries and paying for the heating and seeing their beloved cat become chronically ill with a treatable disease. They may feel that they have to choose the latter.
Vet’s prices are probably not always high. They might even be realistic and fair (sometimes). It just does not seem like that.
Cheered on by the critical news media, vets’ clients are probably being tough on them which will lead to stress between client and vet. The BVA president Anna Judson, said that “vet teams had already faced ‘really unpleasant, often abusive, behaviour’ following the launch of the [CMA] review.
The problem of high vet prices may resolve themselves as clients either shun veterinary clinics or decide to take out pet health insurance and stomach the cost.
Ironically some vet chains are operating their own insurance schemes. They’ve got you every which way.
