Vet’s fees have been very much in the limelight recently mainly because of the ongoing CMA review. This year 148 practices across the UK responded to the fees survey.
A few headline figures:
Consultation fees for small animals increased by 4.5%
Vaccine fees for small animals increased by 9-16 % (the higher values likely due to lepto 4 replacing lepto 2 vaccines)
Prescription fees increased by only 3% to £19.25 (excluding VAT). This is significantly more than the £13.33 proposed capped rate by the CMA.
Neutering cats and dogs increased by 8%.
Surgery and diagnostic charges have significantly increased. Examples are pyometra, xrays and ultrasounds which have increased by 20% for small animals.
For large animal all visit charges have decreased. Prescriptions are now £24.48, an increase of nearly 20% compared to last year
Equine consults charges increased by 10%. Many visit charges have decreased. The Largest fee increase was in blood sample and interpretation of results by 42%.
Comments:
There were no real surprises in the survey this year with lots of moderate increases as in previous years and just a few with more significant increases.
Most vet businesses work by cross subsidies. They are able to treat wild life, run out of hours surgeries, give large neutering discounts and generally charge less for certain fees by using profits from drugs to subsidise this. This is because being able to treat and do these procedures is essential for animal welfare. The CMA are looking to change this model. They would prefer more competitive charging of drugs but by doing so the cross-subsidy model will be affected and the waterbed effect means that fees must increase in order for businesses to still be profitable and successful.
SPVS have been in meetings with the CMA to try and slow these changes down so any fee increases can be put in place slowly and minimise the possibility of harmful effects or negative impact on animal welfare. We have yet to see what the final remedies hold but rest assured SPVS will be there to support its members navigate any changes. SPVS will be running several in person road shows after the final remedies are released around the country to help with this. To register your interest in attending these roadshows and to see provisional dates and regions please visit https://spvs.org.uk/cma-spvs-response/