Prescription Charges - Petition

Many pet owners don't know that:



The moratorium on vets not charging for prescriptions ends this October!



That could mean we may go back to the old days when Vets charged pet owners as much as £15.00 to write a prescription. This is an abuse of the monopoly vets have.



Please support our challenge to the Government to stop these charges coming back. Opticians are forced to offer a free prescription –Why not Vets???



Even if your pet does not need prescription items now, they could in the future.



Click Here to sign the petition:

http://petitions.pm.gov.uk:80/petprescription/

I bet this is all down to internet based vet med suppliers, just when we thought we had found a way to afford our animals medication

I will sign

I've signed it.

Signed. I buy a lot of medication online via prescription so this could cost us a small fortune each year :?

Whooa there.

This is an emotive subject that all sides need to be addressed before anybody signs anything.

Without comment on the rights or wrongs it should be remembered that you are asking a "highly trained" professional to write a prescription following a consultation.

Veterinary practices have to make money to employ vets and that money comes from a variety of sources. If you take away one of those sources it has to be made up elsewhere just to survive.At the moment vets make money from the dispensing of drugs which if everybody buys online will not be there.

Ok.... if you succeed in overturning the prescription charge you will simply have to pay more for operations and consultations in the first place and everything else inside a veterinary practice.......but you will pay more make no mistake.

All that will simply happen is income will be re-distributed......yes some will gain in long term repeat prescriptions but others will loose out....it really depends on which side of the fence you are.

Its the same argument over bank charges and the prospect of us all paying charges on our current accounts if banks are no longer able to levy an income from the charges they have in place at present.

Should the prices not then come down if prescription costs are introduced? I assume they are already compensating for their losses on consultation fee's.....I thought this was why they were so extortionatly high for a simple check-up.

Sooz22 said:

Should the prices not then come down if prescription costs are introduced? I assume they are already compensating for their losses on consultation fee's.....I thought this was why they were so extortionatly high for a simple check-up.

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You will still pay a consultation fee as now but you will be asked to pay for a prescription note to take away if you do not buy the drugs from the vets. At present you never actually see the prescription at the vets, the drugs are just dispensed .

At present the consultation fee is partially subsidised by the subsequent income from the drugs.

Do'nt get me wrong I am not pro vet but as I said they are "highly trained" and expensive professionals......pop into your solicitors and ask them to write you a letter after a consultation and see what they charge.

This is another headline "sign me" pettition on here where the final outcome is far from clear and people could find for example that an emergency weekend call out for gut stasis(and remember it always happens when the vets are closed)is an even more eye watering prospect than it is at present.

Nobody will save any money in the long term.

Disgusting

Would insurance cover these charges?

xx

I can see both sides, so won't be signing.

loobie_lou said:

Disgusting

Would insurance cover these charges?

xx

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Sorry I've no idea, Ive just attempted to put over a balanced argument that people should consider.

My wife works at a veterinary practice and this issue has been raised and people who think they are going to get a "free lunch" could well find themselves paying for the table they sit at , the washing of the cutlery and plates and the heat they enjoy whilst sitting there.

i buy the prescription meds at my vets...the other stuff i buy online even panacur as ours has to order it in as its a small branch.

£15 just for the prescription? i wont be able to afford it with 4 buns

still i guess like you said theres two sides to this but i cant help but worry that now people will end up not going to the vets because of the charg...

purplebumble said:

i buy the prescription meds at my vets...the other stuff i buy online even panacur as ours has to order it in as its a small branch.

£15 just for the prescription? i wont be able to afford it with 4 buns

still i guess like you said theres two sides to this but i cant help but worry that now people will end up not going to the vets because of the charg...

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If people get charged far more for a consutation or operation as a result then I share your worries and I hate to be the one who has to point out possible outcomes.

i agree there i see your point..basically one way or another we are going to end up paying more for everything than we have been.

then i think the insurers should be very busy as claims excess is £50 and usually everything is bang on that or just below it...will they be changing their rules i wonder...!!

rspcarabbits said:

Sorry I've no idea, Ive just attempted to put over a balanced argument that people should consider.

My wife works at a veterinary practice and this issue has been raised and people who think they are going to get a "free lunch" could well find themselves paying for the table they sit at , the washing of the cutlery and plates and the heat they enjoy whilst sitting there.

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It only bothers me because every few months the consultation prices for rabbits goes up... even if it's just to check on the rabbits health.

How would rescue's be expected to pay out extra money for prescriptions also? Alot of them using their own money as it is. Surely the consultation fee would have to be subsidised?

loobie_lou said:

It only bothers me because every few months the consultation prices for rabbits goes up... even if it's just to check on the rabbits health.

How would rescue's be expected to pay out extra money for prescriptions also? Alot of them using their own money as it is. Surely the consultation fee would have to be subsidised?

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Here's a generalisation......everything is going up... the governments headline rate of inflation is a joke and you only have to see food prices and fuel to know that.

I assume if the rescues get their meds from the vets at time of consultation then they will not pay the charge ...but they will pay more for the meds as compared to online.

The consultation fee is subsidised in most practices to some degree at present by the income from drugs dispensed.Veterinary practices are at present increasingly loosing money to online drug stores who do not have to have "premises" or medical "facilities"or employ vets and at present they are making a good income off the back of no charge prescriptions and vets whose income has to be paid elsewhere.

The only winners will be these online faceless stores if the charge is dropped...us the animal owners or keepers will not benefit in the long term.

No wonder they are up in arms at the prospect of their lucrative buisness being somewhat curtailed and they no doubt encourage such a pettition as it is in their best interests to do so under the headline guise of unreasonable prescription charges which people who perhaps are not fully aware of the situation and all its implications will rush to sign.

As I do not know the final outcome......I will not sign

purplebumble said:

£15 just for the prescription? i wont be able to afford it with 4 buns
(

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This would be £15 to write a 'private' prescription which is one that you take elsewhere to get dispenced usually at a lower price than the price offered to you at the vest.

There would remain no additional charge for drugs that they dispence direct to you.

I agree with rspcarabbits, I really don't grudge the vets money and would also be concerned about the quality of meds from the internet. I don't know about other rescues but my vets have been more than generous with discounts, even before I worked for them. They also operated on a cat who had to get its leg amputated, when the owner said she couldn't afford the op and she wanted him PTS, they said, if they could find a home for him was that OK. We now have him and they did the op for free, and this isn't uncommon, I worry they would stop things like this as they have to make money somewhere.
I think people forget that vets are a business and have lots of overheads to pay, and certainly the ones at my practice are caring and dedicated and a lot of the money goes back into the practice.

rspcarabbits said:

You will still pay a consultation fee as now but you will be asked to pay for a prescription note to take away if you do not buy the drugs from the vets. At present you never actually see the prescription at the vets, the drugs are just dispensed .

At present the consultation fee is partially subsidised by the subsequent income from the drugs.

Do'nt get me wrong I am not pro vet but as I said they are "highly trained" and expensive professionals......pop into your solicitors and ask them to write you a letter after a consultation and see what they charge.

This is another headline "sign me" pettition on here where the final outcome is far from clear and people could find for example that an emergency weekend call out for gut stasis(and remember it always happens when the vets are closed)is an even more eye watering prospect than it is at present.

Nobody will save any money in the long term.

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You misunderstand me.

I assume at present that the vets take the 'free' prescriptions into account in their consultation fee's and as such these are higher to cover the meds they are not receiving payment for.

For example some vets do not charge a consult fee if you buy the medication from them, and the same applies to follow ups on the same condition being free after the initial consult....because they are making their money on their drugs.

The cost of living is going up for everyone yet for many people their income is unchanged, and I for one have found myself in a strangle hold financially over the last couple of weeks. The price for a GA dental at one of my vets has just increased by £20....thats £20 in ONE GO. :shock:

I worry about how this may affect the treatment some animals will now receive because there owners can no longer afford it. I am sadly sure a few rabbits will no longer be receiving the dental work they need.

Somehow I cant see that the price of treatment will be reduced once the vets have the monopoly on the drug market. Infact it leaves them free to charge even more because they are a business and lets face it, some of them forgot what 'compassion' was a long time ago.

I've sign it.

Sooz22 said:

You misunderstand me.

I assume at present that the vets take the 'free' prescriptions into account in their consultation fee's and as such these are higher to cover the meds they are not receiving payment for.

For example some vets do not charge a consult fee if you buy the medication from them, and the same applies to follow ups on the same condition being free after the initial consult....because they are making their money on their drugs.

The cost of living is going up for everyone yet for many people their income is unchanged, and I for one have found myself in a strangle hold financially over the last couple of weeks. The price for a GA dental at one of my vets has just increased by £20....thats £20 in ONE GO. :shock:

I worry about how this may affect the treatment some animals will now receive because there owners can no longer afford it. I am sadly sure a few rabbits will no longer be receiving the dental work they need.

Somehow I cant see that the price of treatment will be reduced once the vets have the monopoly on the drug market. Infact it leaves them free to charge even more because they are a business and lets face it, some of them forgot what 'compassion' was a long time ago.

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I agree with this.

I also think that there has been a big rise in the amount of people getting their pets insured. Surely this sort of helps to cover the rise in internet available medications?