My vet does offer a service where you pay £20 for the prescription and then source the drugs themselves. They're always significantly cheaper online.
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[News] Veterinary costs under investigation
- Thread starter Me and my Monkey
- Start date
.....like visiting a hospital in the US..............
Weststander
Well-known member
Fortunately, if this is really what they want, they have been incapable of delivering it.
Health And Social Care In England: Tackling The Myths | The King's Fund
In what can feel like a heated political discussion, we have taken five myths that sometimes feature in this debate and debunked them.www.kingsfund.org.uk
"There is no evidence of widespread privatisation of NHS services. The proportion of the NHS budget spent on services delivered by the private sector has remained broadly stable over the past decade. However, there has been a recent rise in the number of people choosing to use the private sector, paying for their treatment, in the context of long NHS waiting lists and times."
And if we want to turn this vets thread into party politics, private sector (profit making) involvement in the NHS expanded hugely between 1997 and 2010.
bomber130
bomber130
- Jun 10, 2011
- 1,908
I was given an 8 week old golden retriever who was going to be put down as she was incontinent (dripped like a tap). Breeder who was a friend gave me £2500 towards her operation. Friend did a just giving whiched raised £2500. Local pet shop raised £400. Total bill came to £7500 but she did go to the super vet. Not bad for a few hours work. Still she is now coming up to two years old and had no symptoms of incontinence since.
The red pepper kid
Well-known member
- Dec 30, 2014
- 693
yer £300 for a blood test on a small british bulldogMars (the chocolate people) are buying up most of the vets in the uk:
Tackling the Veterinary Professional Shortage - Mars Veterinary Health
Like many others, Mars Veterinary Health believes the industry is facing a chronic shortage of veterinary professionals. To understand the scope, we enlisted the help of a researcher to quantify the shortage as it relates to companion animal veterinarians, veterinary technicians, and veterinary...www.marsveterinary.com
They are “expecting” people to spend 3-4% over inflation over the next 8 years. “Expect” because they control prices.
It isn’t going to get any cheaper.
The problem is that so many vets are now part of huge companies who want to make a killing.
One of my cats needs drugs to control a thyroid issue - £75 a month from the vets. After two years I thought I'd look into buying online - £19 for two months supply BUT I need a prescription from my vet to buy it. Over the previous two years the vet was quite happy to sell the medicine to me without out ever seeing my cat. The moment I asked for a prescription only so I could buy online the vet said they need to see the cat every six months and carry out blood tests - a massive £260 every six months.
I've already given my feedback to the competition authority - I'm hoping that eventually it will force vets into providing services and drugs for a sensible price. As an aside, my cousin is a vet ( an independent one ) and he only inoculates his dogs every other year, he claims that the drugs last more than two years in the dogs body and it's just drugs companies trying to get vets to sell more of their drug when they say an animal needs an injection every year.
One of my cats needs drugs to control a thyroid issue - £75 a month from the vets. After two years I thought I'd look into buying online - £19 for two months supply BUT I need a prescription from my vet to buy it. Over the previous two years the vet was quite happy to sell the medicine to me without out ever seeing my cat. The moment I asked for a prescription only so I could buy online the vet said they need to see the cat every six months and carry out blood tests - a massive £260 every six months.
I've already given my feedback to the competition authority - I'm hoping that eventually it will force vets into providing services and drugs for a sensible price. As an aside, my cousin is a vet ( an independent one ) and he only inoculates his dogs every other year, he claims that the drugs last more than two years in the dogs body and it's just drugs companies trying to get vets to sell more of their drug when they say an animal needs an injection every year.
When our Vet advertised that they now employ "Business Managers" it tells you all you need to know!
As somebody else has pointed out, the new(ish) way of driving revenue is dental services, which funnily enough appeared as a pressure sell during Covid. Both our Cats for 2 years on the bounce, during their annual review and boosters, the Vet went out of their way to explain all about how their teeth needed sorting and £750 a pop. We declined and funnily enough this year, the Vet described our 14yo as having "really good teeth for her age"!
On the Insurance angle, Equine is great - the old adage is if your horse is lame and you call the vet, the first question is always is the horse insured. If it is and there is nothing obvious, they'll go out out of their way to treat it, nerve blocks, x-rays, scans, you name it! If it isn't insured, they recommend leaving it for a few weeks in a field ;-)
As somebody else has pointed out, the new(ish) way of driving revenue is dental services, which funnily enough appeared as a pressure sell during Covid. Both our Cats for 2 years on the bounce, during their annual review and boosters, the Vet went out of their way to explain all about how their teeth needed sorting and £750 a pop. We declined and funnily enough this year, the Vet described our 14yo as having "really good teeth for her age"!
On the Insurance angle, Equine is great - the old adage is if your horse is lame and you call the vet, the first question is always is the horse insured. If it is and there is nothing obvious, they'll go out out of their way to treat it, nerve blocks, x-rays, scans, you name it! If it isn't insured, they recommend leaving it for a few weeks in a field ;-)
Vets bills seem to absolutely skyrocketed in recent years. Along with a massive increase in the ‘need’ to do tests, investigations, procedures etc.
It’s gone from a medical service provided to the community for a modest profit, to a rapacious money-making scam.
It’s gone from a medical service provided to the community for a modest profit, to a rapacious money-making scam.
Same. But that £20 is a massive, massive over-charge for what they're providing. They are literally printing out a pre-formatted piece of paper with a prescription they'd already written up during the consultation (and should therefore be included in the consult fee) and then signing it. £20 to cover printing costs and 2 minutes of their time. It's a blatant rip off.
This is the exact situation I'm in currently, with now potential added complications that my cats dosage of the thyroid control drug may be causing kidney issues. Given the current dosage isn't fully controlling the thyroid, we're potentially looking at some very difficult decisions around surgery or possibly saying goodbye to an elderly (15) but otherwise healthy (other than the thyroid) and happy cat.
Indeed - take Acorn vets in Hangleton and Portland Road for example. Give the implication they are independent but both owned by a much larger group ( over 900 practices ). Strangely the emergency vet they point you to is New Priory which, unsurprisingly, is part of the same group but you need to look carefully at their websites and Companies House to work this out - they got very sheepish when I challenged then about it.
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Weststander
Well-known member
I just did the same with Coastway, about 5 entities in the chain until you reach ..... Jersey.
It's not just happening to vets either - independent solicitors are being bought up by big offshore investment companies. Take Sussex Law in Ladies Mile Road as an example - look at their website you wouldn't know that they now belong to a far bigger group that has been buying out small independent solicitors. It's dishonest and it's deception at best.
lost in london
Well-known member
Maybe a coincidence, maybe not, last visit to the vets and the vet suggested the possibility of surgery to remove two of my dog's teeth. He's only 3, a bit of brown at the top of two incisors. To her credit she didn't push it and suggested brushing for a while to see if that helps.
Thunder Bolt
Silly old bat
I'm afraid that I made the decision to say goodbye to my old cat about 12 years ago when she developed thyroid problems. She detested taking tablets, and it was a real battle every day, resulting in distressing her greatly. I couldn't even hide it in her food.
I won't name my vet (in Peacehaven) but it's interesting to read so many people here have had similar dealings.
I had Pet Care Plan and separate insurance for my dog for the first 9 years of his life. Then they started upping the costs of the monthly direct debit so I decided to dig a bit deeper. Naturally almost nothing is covered, and the Care Plan was much the same. A total scam imo.
Despite my dog being nine, and the sunk-costs fallacy, I've cancelled the insurance and the care plan, and now just stick £20 aside every month should he need anything. Vet's have been taking the piss the last few years imo.
I had Pet Care Plan and separate insurance for my dog for the first 9 years of his life. Then they started upping the costs of the monthly direct debit so I decided to dig a bit deeper. Naturally almost nothing is covered, and the Care Plan was much the same. A total scam imo.
Despite my dog being nine, and the sunk-costs fallacy, I've cancelled the insurance and the care plan, and now just stick £20 aside every month should he need anything. Vet's have been taking the piss the last few years imo.
Gabbafella
Well-known member
- Aug 22, 2012
- 4,905
I was actually going to start a thread on this as I had to take my cat to the vet the other day.
£140 just to walk through the door, another £120 for bloods and £35 for medication for 5 days.
It's disgusting money and I don't even think that was scratching the surface as they were asking if I wanted x-rays done, monthly injections for her arthritis and so on.
£140 just to walk through the door, another £120 for bloods and £35 for medication for 5 days.
It's disgusting money and I don't even think that was scratching the surface as they were asking if I wanted x-rays done, monthly injections for her arthritis and so on.
Thunder Bolt
Silly old bat
Heathy Brow? That's where I was before.
Switch to Meridian on Edith Avenue. I can recommend them.
I'll check them out, cheers!
I've mentioned on here before (when we last discussed this subject), that that's what we do. Having been caught out when our first dog was quite young (about 20 years ago) we cancelled the insurance and ever since then we've put the insurance premiums into a specific savings account. That's covered ALL our vet and medical bills over the years for all our animals, plus it's paid for little extras. This account currently has a huge surplus, so we are definitely ahead. (And membership of the Dogs' Trust gives us 3rd party cover in case they cause an accident).
It isn't for everyone, I think I mentioned last time that we were boasting about this to some friends and they decided to copy us. They cancelled the insurance for their cat .... and then a month or so later they got stung for a huge vet bill before they'd had time to build up a reasonable pot! I tried to console them by saying the insurance probably didn't cover it anyway, but I don't think they were convinced!
I had a set to with the emergency vets at Grove Lodge in Worthing recently. He gets crystals in his urine which then block his tubes. It was a Saturday morning and he was showing signs of distress (it had happened before and cost us £3500), so I took him to our local vets. They did the necessary tubing etc to sort him out, but he needed to be looked after overnight and have the catheter removed once he was peeing okay, which they didn't do. So I had to take him to Vets Now at Grove Lodge. Took and hour before the vet saw him, checked him in and told us he thought it would be about £300. We get to reception, only to be told he's made a mistake and it'll be £400. So, we pay half as a deposit and wait for their call in the evening (which they promised). No call, so I phone them, the receptionist apologizes and tells me the vet will call me back. They don't.
Sunday morning 6am, the vets call. She gets me name wrong and thinks my 8 year old cat is a kitten. Cat is doing well, but probably won't be home that day, that'll be £800 please. I query this and ask for a full breakdown of what they expect the final bill to be. This gets texted and emailed to me. I ok it. They do call in the evening.
Monday morning, 6:30am. They call, say the cat is fine but he'll have to stay in until the afternoon, so the daytime vets will take the catheter out. That'll be £850 please. I give her my card details, expecting her to take £650 (as we'd already paid £200). An hour later I receive 2 bills from them. One for £800 (fully paid) and a second for another £850, of which £50 is paid.
In the end, I raised a complaint and sent a very long, bullet pointed email outlining everything that they did wrong, or misled me on. After 6 weeks, they admitted they couldn't explain all the differing quotes and charges and waived the 'outstanding' amount. But it is little more than a scam, especially emergency vets (despite my circumstance not being an emergency as my vets had done all the hard work). When your pet is ill or injured, you are in a very vulnerable state and the opacity of their charges skirts the line of sharp practice.
Sunday morning 6am, the vets call. She gets me name wrong and thinks my 8 year old cat is a kitten. Cat is doing well, but probably won't be home that day, that'll be £800 please. I query this and ask for a full breakdown of what they expect the final bill to be. This gets texted and emailed to me. I ok it. They do call in the evening.
Monday morning, 6:30am. They call, say the cat is fine but he'll have to stay in until the afternoon, so the daytime vets will take the catheter out. That'll be £850 please. I give her my card details, expecting her to take £650 (as we'd already paid £200). An hour later I receive 2 bills from them. One for £800 (fully paid) and a second for another £850, of which £50 is paid.
In the end, I raised a complaint and sent a very long, bullet pointed email outlining everything that they did wrong, or misled me on. After 6 weeks, they admitted they couldn't explain all the differing quotes and charges and waived the 'outstanding' amount. But it is little more than a scam, especially emergency vets (despite my circumstance not being an emergency as my vets had done all the hard work). When your pet is ill or injured, you are in a very vulnerable state and the opacity of their charges skirts the line of sharp practice.