Vets to charge fees on formerly free written prescription?
September 8, 2008 by Webmaster
Filed under Pet Insurance News
As from 1st November 2008, vets will have the possibility to charge a fee for writing a prescription following a change in law.
This marks the end of a three-year ban during which vets were not allowed to incur any fees for producing a prescription: the ban was introduced to break the monopoly vets were holding on medicine supply. Since then, vets have been forced to lower the price of medicine due to an increasing competition of online pharmacies that offer the exact same products at a discounted rate. As a result they have been clawing back on lost revenues but increasing other charges like consultation fees, treatment costs and possibly, from 1st November 2008, prescription fees too.
Each practice will be able to determine whether and how much they want to charge for writing a prescription but they will need to make it clear to their customers and be consistent. Insured customers won’t have to worry as prescription fees will be covered by their pet insurance policy.
Others might see a small increase in vet bills but at least they’ll be able to buy medication online. Petmeds.co.uk currently offers free postage and an extra 5% discount with the following code: pet435.
Get the latest deals and offers on pet related products.
There is little doubt that most veterinary practices are going to charge for their prescriptions soon after the 1st November. There are grounds to do so, and it would probably be eccepted by their clients. Many veterinary practices do not reduce their prices for drugs due to still relatively low precentage of pet owners who seek for online medications. Despite of three years of free prescriptions, and vast price differences, it is more viable for vets to keep their prices. Charging for prescriptions will reduce this gap between vets and online pharmacies and will not enhance the price awearness concept. Comparevetdrugs.com is a price comparison website for veterinary medications. it is promoting healthy compotition and will result in increased public awearness. this in turn will shift the market direcion to the online pharmacies in the UK as a whole.
I have recently been looking in to whether it would be cheaper to buy the drugs that my dog needs from an online store. The prices for the drugs themselves are 50% cheaper. However, you then find out that your vet wants £27 for a pescription fee, he will not provide a pescription for longer than 2-3 months, he will charge to re-assess the condition. By the time you have finished there is little net savings and you have lost your vet’s compassion that has taken years to build.
Unfortunately they have got you over a barrel and the sooner the government realises and extends the Competition Order of 2005 the better.
This is a very fair point. If you have pet insurance, then prescriptions fees will be reimbursed. By going online to buy medication you lower your chances of a premium increase on your insurance. It’s not unusual for insurers to give a premium increase based on the amount of money you claimed for the previous year, so buying online makes sense.
However, it’s true that you don’t want to jeopardise your relationship with your vet, who’s looked after your pet for so many years. Vets may be bitter if you buy online but to be fair they’ve eventually been found out: they over-price the medicine they sell in their practice and make huge margins. It’s only fair they now get a backdraft, especially in these economic circumstances.
My dog is almost 10 yars old and has started to take medication for arthritis. The vet is happy with his improvement and will re-assess him in 6 months. The medication however is very expensive and can be purchased on-line for less than half the price as supplied by the vet. Consequently I asked my vet for a written prescription. They provided one at a cost of £8 but they will not put this on ‘repeat’ even though arthritis is a long-term condition and insist we go back to them every month for a new prescription. This seems wrong,as they are happy not to see our dog for 6 months.It feels that they are ‘ripping us off’ however they quote the Veterinary Medicines Act. Have they got a fair argument?
Hi Tracey,
I think your vet can do pretty much what they want in that respect. Just found out an article from Pete Wedderburn regarding this very problem. Funnily enough he mentions dog arthritis. He says:
“A repeat consultation may be required for long-term medication if the vet judges that it’s too long since the animal was examined to be sure that the medicine is still appropriate and safe.”
“You know that your dog has arthritis and he’s been on the same drug for the past two years: why can’t you just go and buy it in the same way as you buy Solpadeine for your own headaches? The fact is that prescription only drugs need to be used safely. Yes, your dog might be fine, but it’s also possible that he might have developed jaundice that you might not be aware of. Continued use of the drug could be dangerous for him. Drugs are regulated for a good reason: to make sure that they cause as little harm as possible. It may be frustrating for cash-strapped pet owners, but the system has been set up to be as safe as possible for pets, whilst still offering consumers some choice.”
I would say that it’s one of these cases and at least you can get the medication online at a cheaper price. By the way, you can get 10% OFF at Petmeds.co.uk today.
See: http://www.pet-insurance-discount.co.uk/link/petmeds
To read more about Pete’s article: http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/peterwedderburn/100008891/buying-best-value-medicines-for-your-pet/
I hope this helps.
Dear Tracey,
If the vet has established that he does not need to see your dog any more frequently it specifically states in the RCVS rules that, if you ask for a prescription he is not allowed to insist that he sees the animal more frequently than he normally would.
An email to the RCVS, or highlighting this to the vet should do the trick.
Chunty,
The RCVS rules also state the prescription fee must be ‘reasonable’, most vet practices usually base it on the time that it takes to write it and charge a fee of between £5 – £8.
I know that many people are worried about ‘offending’ the vet by getting their medicines elsewhere, however, when the min mark up the vets charge on prescription medicine is 100% and sometimes 200% or even 300%, they are starting to realise that this cannot continue.
I hope that this helps
Kind regards
Niall
Vetepet.com
ive just been to the vet which is a chain, the vet is very good but the prices are not. my dog is on synulox for a skin condition the vet wanted 35 pounds for 10 tabs. ive just had a heated conversation with him and took him his drugs back, after seeing on hear that they are a pound each a save of 25 pounds, yes 25 pounds!!!! but i did have to pay 10 pounds for piece of paper , not even a proper prescription still saving 15 pounds. but wait then the vet said ,how many pills do you have left? well none i reply well he said the treatment will be broken so i had to buy 3 days off of him to cover me while i wait for my prescription to come through the post, at the cost of 21 pounds.what a rip off these people are supposed to love animals i think they love there range rovers more. somthing should be done about this, there are a lot of people out there who love there annimals but just can not afford to play this game so how do we go on?????????
Hi Atl,
It is quite frustrating indeed, especially as prescription used to be free for a while. You’ll always need a prescription for some drugs and the vet will always charge you but you can save a lot by buying medicine online.
Also, if you have pet insurance, this would be covered. Good luck on your future visits to the vet’s!
Hi,My dog needs phenobarbitone tablets for seizures.The vet charges 28pence per tablet but I can buy online for 11 pence per tablet.Vet charged £12 for prescription and said she will only write out 28 days.So,£12 per month for piece of paper which knocks out my savings online.Can this be fair?????
My dog needs 2 tablets per day.
Hi Diana, it doesn’t seem fair but I guess that’s why vets charge so much for prescriptions. You could ask another vet in your area how much they’d charge and for how long they would give you a prescription. If it’s an ongoing condition that will require treatment for life, then there’s no justifiable reason why your vet can’t give you a prescription for 6 months or so.