Veterinary prescription charges

RacyRed

simontheiceman wrote: »

I am firmly of the belief that clients will pay whatever you ask, as long as they feel they are being given "value for money". All this fooling around with prescriptions is because the clients do not believe they are getting value-for-money, whatever they may wish to dress it up as. Give the client the right service and they repay you many times.... many, many times.

I couldn't agree more. If someone makes you feel as if they see you as some sort of limitless cash machine they are not going to get repeat business, no matter what the service or product they are selling.

orlao

snowman2 wrote: »

Spot on. You can't have it both ways, people need to decide over cheap and cheerful or top service

I have to agree with that! But I tend to be happy to have the cheap and cheerful option for routine treatment and day to day monitoring of a condition and accept that my animal will be referred to a specialist for anything out of the ordinary.....with the attendant (large) bill rather than pay OTT charges for the ordinary visits and a very slightly cheaper alternative if there is a more serious problem. I haven't noticed much difference in service, booking appts etc but I do have to wait longer to see a specific vet.....not really a problem, I just have to be more organised:o

I am firmly of the belief that clients will pay whatever you ask, as long as they feel they are being given "value for money". All this fooling around with prescriptions is because the clients do not believe they are getting value-for-money, whatever they may wish to dress it up as. Give the client the right service and they repay you many times.... many, many times.

I couldn't agree more....nobody likes to feel that they are being taken for a mug, whether that is the case or not....if any service provider (vet in this case) wants to charge a premium price they have to convince their customers that they are worth the extra, especially when they have competition charging considerably less in the same area. Price isn't everything but VFM is.

mleonard79

Hi Everyone,

I have 3 cats on medication (2 have heart conditions and one has hyperthyroidism) and have been getting written prescriptions for their medications for several years now due to the fact the medications were so expensive from the vets direct. I feel vets have a right to charge something for writing out the prescriptions and I'm happy enough to pay a reasonable fee but the fees they have brought in are very harsh. It is £10 per cat for the first prescription and £6 for each subsequent prescription for the same cat. As I have 2 prescriptions for one cat and one prescription for each of the other two this amounts to £36 all in.

After comparing their fees for the tablets with the online fees it is still "slightly" cheaper to pay for the prescriptions and buy online.

I have always been given 2 months worth of tablets on previous prescriptions but as they were free I didn't bother about this. I was under the impression, however, that legally they could write a prescription for 6 months worth of tablets. Thus now I have to pay the charges I asked if it was possible to get a 6 months prescription in order to offset some of this new cost and they told me that legally they can only issue 2 month ones which will equate to my paying over £200 more per year for these tablets. They only ask to see the cats in question for a check-up once every 6 months, however, and therefore it is impossible for their prescription requirements to change within those 6 months barring unforseen visits. I was wondering if someone could clarify this legal position for me?

Unfortunately they are the only vets available locally and as I have ill health and don't drive I find it hard enough to get down to them so trying to move further afield is not an option. Additionally the main vet I see is very good but I feel the practice management have really gone over the top with these charges. Thanks for any help.

snowman2_2

The law is suitably vague as to the correct intervals between check ups, it just says that "recently enough or often enough for the veterinary surgeon to have personal knowledge of the condition of the animal or current health status of the herd or flock to make a diagnosis and prescribe."
Most vets would interpret that as 3 months for most drugs, 6 at most for the safest and some more dangerous drugs / serious problems will need monthly check ups. I have no problems with a vet supplying 2 months at a time if that is a check-up interval but my personal view is that if they are charging you for a prescription (fair enough) they should have no problem writing that prescription for the full time between checks. ie if they want to check an animal every 3 months, they should be prepared to write a prescription for 3 months supply for the same cost. ^ months checks gets 6 months prescription etc. Saying all that, i still don't currently charge (16% of vets have no prescription charges yet).

mleonard79

Hi Snowman2,

Thanks for the reply. That is really vague - I guess this gives them leeway to decide how long they wish to issue prescriptions for. I completely agree that the length of prescription should correspond to the length of time needed between check-ups - that makes sense. I just feel that since they only require to see my cats once every 6 months it's unfair to issue 2 month prescriptions - it can only be the same prescription for the following 4 months so the only possible reason can be a monetary one. It doesn't look like I have much choice but to swallow the extra cost though.

The drugs involved are pretty general ones I think - fortekor, felimazole and atenolol.

I feel the moratorium was unfair to vets and was only brought about by the unscrupulous ones ruining it for the rest but the free-for-all we have now is, in many cases, unfair to owners. There should be a set fee and proper rules put in place for this as I feel it would benefit all parties - other than the really unscrupulous. The 16% who don't charge, yourself included, are to be applauded but I don't think your clients would be upset if you decided to charge a small but fair fee for what is a service but I do think my practice has gone too far.

DaveW007

Well I'm starting to run out of Felimazole again. Just called my vet who stated that they can't issue a prescription without seeing my cat and that they also are now required to take a blood test too!!!

I asked for a repeat prescription and again was told that they don't issue them!!

I am now left with putting my 16 year old cat into a cat box and transporting her in the car to the vets which will stress her out no end. I did tell the vet this and that I believe they are putting profits before patients and was told that as a business they have to make a profit!!!!

hotpot1000

Cant you find another vet? I would hate to be lining your vets pockets, your experience just shows that not all vets are animal lovers.
In this economic climate - vets like every other business should respect our right to shop around.

I took my dog with PF to the vet last month and asked for a special ointment I'd researched. The vet spent the week taking advice with a vetinary college and kept me updated, in the end that she could only supply for double the price Id seen online. She immediately offered to write me a prescription without me asking.
I was surprised to find there was no charge for this hand written prescription when I picked it up.

moggylover

I have to admit that I don't mind paying a prescripton fee so much for actual drugs or where the cat needs to be checked by a vet from time to time, but I really do object to being charged a fee for a prescription for Stronghold to de-flea and worm!!!!

My vet would not normally ask to see the cats when I go in there to get the darned stuff so why on earth does it need a prescription anyway? Frontline doesn't - but then again Frontline is pretty useless.

What I really do not understand is WHY all this has become so expensive in the last 20 years. My vet never used to charge a fortune for drugs (indeed they were often looked up in the book for cost and supplied at that cost;)) and they still made a profit back then and yet now the charges for examinations and treatments seem very high in comparison and yet even more profit is "needed" to make the job pay.

I do not begrudge paying anyone for the job they do - but I have seen such vast changes in the way vets charge over the last 35 years that I really do find it hard to believe that many of them are not ripping us off.

orlao

moggylover wrote: »

What I really do not understand is WHY all this has become so expensive in the last 20 years. My vet never used to charge a fortune for drugs (indeed they were often looked up in the book for cost and supplied at that cost;)) and they still made a profit back then and yet now the charges for examinations and treatments seem very high in comparison and yet even more profit is "needed" to make the job pay.

I do not begrudge paying anyone for the job they do - but I have seen such vast changes in the way vets charge over the last 35 years that I really do find it hard to believe that many of them are not ripping us off.

I think you'll find that one of the reasons costs have risen so much in a relatively short amount of time is that there is so many more options available to treat our pets, all of which seem to involve very expensive equipment and I suppose expensive training for the people using it. Business costs have also risen way above inflation ie insurance, H&S and the amount of paperwork recording everything which, incurs extra labour costs.

Many years ago (about 20:eek:) I had a staffy with hip dysplasia and there was no question of him having the kind of op that is commonplace now - maybe they were available at vet schools and the like but my local vet never mentioned that they might have been available so I suspect that many treatments that are now the norm but expensive were just not available to most pets at the time.

(See Simon and Snowman, I can defend vets :rotfl::rotfl:sometimes:D)

In saying that, I do wonder how some vets justify (on a purely business basis) investing such large sums in specialist equipment when there may not be a large enough demand for it to recoup it and the rest of the business ends up subsidising it........which pushs up the price to the client and risks them moving elsewhere.

DaveW007

hotpot1000 wrote: »

Cant you find another vet? I would hate to be lining your vets pockets, your experience just shows that not all vets are animal lovers.
In this economic climate - vets like every other business should respect our right to shop around.

I took my dog with PF to the vet last month and asked for a special ointment I'd researched. The vet spent the week taking advice with a vetinary college and kept me updated, in the end that she could only supply for double the price Id seen online. She immediately offered to write me a prescription without me asking.
I was surprised to find there was no charge for this hand written prescription when I picked it up.

Unfortunately the only other vet is miles away and my cat hates travelling the short distance to the current one.

Just arrived home from the vet and the £11.50 for the prescription is now £32.31 which includes a consultation!! All the consultation consisted of was the vet asking me if my cat is eating and drinking as normal which she is. The vet then picked up my cat put her on the scales told me her weight, lifted her from the scales and put her back down on the examination table. This consultation costed £20.81!!!!!!

To rub salt into the wounds after asking yet again for a repeat prescription I was again told that they don't offer them!!

I'll have this whole saga again in just over a month.