Prescription Charges

[kirsty]

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Just read that vets will be charging prescription charges now, started on 1st November. Apparantly some as much as £15 per prescription. I bet there will be a lot of animals suffer due to this. I know many people get there medicines from online pharmacies due to them being much cheaper for medicine

On the 1st of November the ban on charging a fee for a veterinary prescription was lifted. We at MedicAnimal understand that owning a pet is a costly business and over the last few weeks many of you have called and emailed us expressing your concerns about this issue. This is your opportunity to make yourself heard - all comments will be passed on to the Office of Fair Trading and the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons.

MedicAnimal wants to help you AND your pet and as a company run by vets we also understand your vet's viewpoint. In the spirit of finding a solution we at MedicAnimal have decided to trial offering a £5 credit on prescription medicine orders over £25 - this offer will become available in the next 2-3 weeks, please watch our website for further information. We would love to hear your thoughts - please let us know if you feel that this will help to offset the cost of obtaining a prescription for your pet, especially in the case of long-term treatments.

 

[Hula]

I don't understand anyone having a problem with this ? People are always complaining about how much vets charge when in actual fact they do a lot of things for free . Vets spend ages on the phone every day handing out free advice to people who want to speak to them .

Has anyone ever had to deal with a lawyer ? They charge you for every minute you spend talking to them even on the phone ! I have just put my house up for sale and have already got a bill for £ 600 , £ 300 for putting my house on the internet ! People complain about vets call out charges out of hours , a friend of mine recently had to call out a joiner out of hours and got a £180 call out fee as well as the cost of the actual job .

 

[kirsty]

I have never went down the route of getting a prescription personally. I have always just got medicine straight from my vet apart from Frontline which I buy online and does not need a script. Frontline is about £3.50 cheaper to buy online for me.

It was maybe a bad move the whole introduction of prescriptions in the first place. I suppose if you now add on the prescription fee a lot of people will just go back to getting the medicines from their vets anyway, as it won't work out any cheaper in a lot of cases.

As far as tradesmen are concerned as you mentioned Hula, they are extortionate. I got a joiner who lived in the next street to come and open my back door and he just pushed it with a lever and charged me £100 :rant: It only took him 2 seconds

 

[Trish]

i once looked into getting a perscription for molly but our vet said to have one made up they would have to do a health check at a cost of £19 ,so i wouldnt have made a saving at all

 

[Hula]

The reason these internet companies can sell drugs more cheaply than vets is that they are buying in massive quantities of the drugs .

Yes vets do make money on drugs but they have other areas where they are not making much money at all . Add to that the fact that so many people either don't pay their bills or have to be chased to do so .

Why should vets stand there and write out these prescriptions for free ?

 

[kipper fluke]

I have never went down the route of getting a prescription personally. I have always just got medicine straight from my vet apart from Frontline which I buy online and does not need a script.  Frontline is about £3.50 cheaper  to buy online for me.
It was maybe a bad move the whole introduction of prescriptions in the first place.  I suppose if you now add on the prescription fee a lot of people will just go back to getting the medicines from their vets anyway, as it won't work out any cheaper in a lot of cases.

As far as tradesmen are concerned as you mentioned Hula, they are extortionate.  I got a joiner who lived in the next street to come and open my back door and he just pushed it with a lever and charged me £100 :rant: It only took him 2 seconds

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did you manage to buy frontline spray on line or the capsules please ?

 

[kirsty]

I have never went down the route of getting a prescription personally. I have always just got medicine straight from my vet apart from Frontline which I buy online and does not need a script.  Frontline is about £3.50 cheaper  to buy online for me.
It was maybe a bad move the whole introduction of prescriptions in the first place.  I suppose if you now add on the prescription fee a lot of people will just go back to getting the medicines from their vets anyway, as it won't work out any cheaper in a lot of cases.

As far as tradesmen are concerned as you mentioned Hula, they are extortionate.  I got a joiner who lived in the next street to come and open my back door and he just pushed it with a lever and charged me £100 :rant: It only took him 2 seconds

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did you manage to buy frontline spray on line or the capsules please ?

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I buy the spot on pipettes that you put at the back of the neck area :thumbsup:

 

[jayp]

Why shouldnt we able to choose where we buy drugs, the whole point was that vets had an unfair monopoly and the 3 free presc years were to make vets bring their charges in line with other EEC countries

The difference in cost is huge, the vet is paid a consultation fee and i dont object to paying a prescription fee but i do object to paying for each drug on a seperate prescription

What about the people who are trying to give their dogs the treatment they need and may have 4 lots of drugs to give regularly, I am paying £60 per month for drugs, i will now have to add £40 every 3 months prescription charges. if i paid the vet it would be £120 per month, the price of a small mortgage. He needs a blood test every 6 months, another £100

I feel since the insurance of pets became the norm the only things that have stayed a reasonable price are speys and castrations which are not covered by insurance

Cost of recent foreign body removal from foot £375

Cost of bitch spey £120

Mmmmmmm

 

[Hula]

Why shouldnt we able to choose where we buy drugs, the whole point was that vets had an unfair monopoly and the 3 free presc years were to make vets bring their charges in line with other EEC countriesThe difference in cost is huge, the vet is paid a consultation fee and i dont object to paying a prescription fee but i do object to paying for each drug on a seperate prescription

What about the people who are trying to give their dogs the treatment they need and may have 4 lots of drugs to give regularly,  I am paying £60 per month for drugs, i will now have to add £40 every 3 months prescription charges.  if i paid the vet it would be £120 per month, the price of a small mortgage. He needs a blood test every 6 months, another £100

I feel since the insurance of pets became the norm the only things that have stayed a reasonable price are speys and castrations which are not covered by insurance

Cost of recent foreign body removal from foot  £375

Cost of bitch spey  £120

Mmmmmmm

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You can choose where you buy your drugs but why should vets write prescriptions for free . It's not the drug companies check what other drugs the dog is on and whether or not they interact with each other . Ultimately the vets write the prescriptions and the vets carry the can if they get it wrong . The drug companies are not responsible if it all goes wrong as they only follow the vets prescription .

I wish I lived near you as my vet was charging £200 fo a bitch spay 3 years ago and he is not known for being expensive :wacko:

 

[jayp]

I did say i didnt mind paying one prescription fee Jan

 

[masta]

Why shouldnt we able to choose where we buy drugs, the whole point was that vets had an unfair monopoly and the 3 free presc years were to make vets bring their charges in line with other EEC countriesThe difference in cost is huge, the vet is paid a consultation fee and i dont object to paying a prescription fee but i do object to paying for each drug on a seperate prescription

What about the people who are trying to give their dogs the treatment they need and may have 4 lots of drugs to give regularly,  I am paying £60 per month for drugs, i will now have to add £40 every 3 months prescription charges.  if i paid the vet it would be £120 per month, the price of a small mortgage. He needs a blood test every 6 months, another £100

I feel since the insurance of pets became the norm the only things that have stayed a reasonable price are speys and castrations which are not covered by insurance

Cost of recent foreign body removal from foot   £375

Cost of bitch spey  £120

Mmmmmmm

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You can choose where you buy your drugs but why should vets write prescriptions for free . It's not the drug companies check what other drugs the dog is on and whether or not they interact with each other . Ultimately the vets write the prescriptions and the vets carry the can if they get it wrong . The drug companies are not responsible if it all goes wrong as they only follow the vets prescription .

I wish I lived near you as my vet was charging £200 fo a bitch spay 3 years ago and he is not known for being expensive :wacko:

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when i take my dog to the vet i pay a consultation fee, i would consider it fair and just as part of that fee is that i am buying his/her professional opinion which should include which drug or treatment is required, why should i then pay for them to write it on a script, my vet charges a fair fee on medicines etc so i have no need for a script

 

[kipper fluke]

I'm sorry- but I do think that we are taken advantage of at our lowest point by SOME of these so-called professionals-

Not going to elaborate-

No wonder some animals-don't receive the treatment they deserve....

Karen

 

[Hula]

I'm sorry- but I do think that we are taken advantage of at our lowest point by SOME of these so-called professionals-Not going to elaborate-

No wonder some animals-don't receive the treatment they deserve....

Karen

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People shouldn't have animals if they can't afford veterinary care for them .

 

[kipper fluke]

I'm sorry- but I do think that we are taken advantage of at our lowest point by SOME of these so-called professionals-Not going to elaborate-

No wonder some animals-don't receive the treatment they deserve....

Karen

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People shouldn't have animals if they can't afford veterinary care for them .

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No-i agree they shouldn't-

but veterinary care should be more affordable...and no-one should be 'ripped off'

 

[Hula]

I dn't think vets could ever please most people , if they do too many tests they are just money grabbers and if they don't do enought tests they are incompetent .

They get paid far less than any other similar professional eg Doctors .

And why they do it is beyond me ? :wacko:

 

[masta]

I dn't think vets could ever please most people , if they do too many tests they are just money grabbers and if they don't do enought tests they are incompetent .They get paid far less than any other similar professional eg Doctors .

And why they do it is beyond me ?  :wacko:

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stop im welling up



They do it to make money, its a business and as a business they have to make a profit, take your head out of the clouds they are not gods if they are not making enough money maybe they should retrain as plumbers i recently changed vets because the vet i was with was overly money driven the guy im with now drives a 10 year mondeo has a very modest surgery and is only interested in the job in hand ie the problem i have brought the dog in for not to try and sell me Hills food or wormer,flea treatment etc

 

[Hula]

People don't become vets for the money , considering they have to be in the top 1or 2 % at school to even get intp vet school they could have done anything .

Why should they not get paid a decent wage for what they do , do you even know what they get paid or what Doctors , lawyers etc get paid .

A lot of vets are not partners in a business therefore for them it is not a business and don't think for one minute that only the good ones do become partners :wacko:

 

[kirsty]

People don't become vets for the money , considering they have to be in the top 1or 2 % at school to even get intp vet school they could have done anything .Why should they not get paid a decent wage for what they do , do you even know what they get paid or what Doctors , lawyers etc get paid .

A lot of vets are not partners in a business therefore for them it is not a business and don't think for one minute that only the good ones do become partners  :wacko:

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I must say I totally agree with you there Hula. My son has an interview for vetmed at Uni coming up in Dec and vetmed is the least paid of all the medical professions, Dentists are the highest paid then Doctors. I think lawyers are not that far behind Doctors. I know a dentist that is earning £140,000 a year and he is only open 9-5! Vet's have to work very long hours at times and a lot of them are on call. It's obviously a lot more beneficial if you can become a partner or owner but I imagine that will bring an immense responsibility along with it as well. I know the wife of the vet my mum used to go to, said her husbad doesn't get home to nine and ten o' clock some nights as he his busy sorting out all the paper work with the insurance claims etc! He owns the practise

 

[Hula]

Nobody ever thinks that dentists or Doctors should not have nice cars but I know vets who drive around in old cars just so the clients don't think they are making too much money it's ridiculous . :wacko:

 

[jayp]

Blimey why does everone always assume its a sweeping statement against all vets, we couldnt do without them, as in all walks of life some are better than others

All i said was i dont mind paying for a prescription as this is taking time and money but why each of the drugs on a separate script, so that the i have to pay four times!

One bloke i know is paying his vet over £1000 per 3 months for the drugs to keep his dane alive, he will have to have him PTS soon or remortgage his house

The idea behind the free scripts was that UK vets are charging an unfair markup on drugs and it was to try and bring them in line with the rest of the EEC

This was decided by the office of Fair Trading If they thought it was fair already they would not have done this