Vets are a business, I’m not naive enough to think that partners don’t get some kind of bonus from profit but being in a healthy profit does mean that practices themselves can benefit - eg better equipment, more staff. But the vet sector isn’t the most morally grey in terms of making profit - you should look into how charities operate and the % money that actually goes to causes. Or how supermarkets advertised cost savings during a cost of living crisis. The business side of things is going to want to stay in profit and is going to seem cold and detached.
I completely disagree! Supermarkets and charities aren't directly profiting off pain and suffering. When it comes to literal life, death and/or pain, profit shouldn't be allowed. I wouldn't be able to sleep at night knowing I was raking in profits off the back of sick animals and their owners. As it stands it appears that being a vet is a license to print money, as the government have now discovered and are investigating.
vets themselves do care about what happens to animals but it’s hardily their fault if an owner is uninsured and/or cant afford the going rate for treatment.
Where did I/anyone here say it's the vets fault? If they weren't charging absolutely obscene fees, insurance would be more affordable and less people would be left to make hard choices for their pets. And it doesn't matter how your slice it, or justify it, or blame it on wholesale or staffing costs, the fees are obscene.
And this is very much a UK problem, as people in Europe seem to be getting the same drugs/treatment at less than half the cost we all seem to be paying. Yet they've still got the same amount of overheads to cover.
What are they going to do? Offer to pay the costs themselves? Your average vet has about as much control over prices as we do and have to use reputable/ industry mandated suppliers. They can’t just pop on a website and buy a 25p drug and think “ah it’ll do”.
Again, no one has said that is even a possibility, but there's no way buying from a wholesaler workers out more expensive than the cost direct to consumer. It doesn't (or at least shouldn't) work like that.
Not at all, I just know bullshit when I smell it. I also know
"we can't get it as cheap as you" is an age old pile of bollocks that's spouted by people as a justification for what their charging, when 9 times out of 10 it's complete crap! I know, because I've been in/around similar sectors that love to say that to protect their profits.
I can access the wholesaler prices because I have the password for their website saved in my Google drive. I cannot access my practice management system from home.
Well, don't forget to come back once you've compared the wholesale prices to the client cost.
Can't wait to see how you justify charging 5+ times the wholesale price....or are we then going to have you listing off the cost of the practice's energy bills and what not?
But how can you possibly know that no savings have been passed onto you. You absolutely cannot.
And you absolutely cannot say it has. People love to act like they're doing you a favour by "passing savings on", so even if it wasn't possible to work out, I'm sure someone at the practice would spout that soundbite the second the costs were questioned.
All I was interested it was which drug it was, since you were adamant that 25p becomes £7. As I've said, I'm just genuinely interested. I'll take a look at this one as well. For some reason I thought you were talking about human drugs.
And it does, as I've repeatedly demonstrated throughout the thread.
And why would I be speaking about human drugs on a thread about pet medication?
Maybe we should just give out medications for the same price we buy them for.
As I've said, repeatedly, I have no issue with vets covering legitimate overheads in costs/fees, but again - putting utterly extortionate markups on medication and calling it "overheads" is profiteering. And the prices charged are absolutely extortionate and cannot simply be put down to running costs. It does not add up.
And frankly, as far as I'm concerned, anyone making any profit off the suffering of an animal (or human) should be absolutely ashamed of themselves.
Then I’ve had great service from Vets Now. Lot of valid arguments on both sides, on the whole I think an investigation is welcome, especially when it comes to big chains buying indies. It won’t impact pharma. I saved a lot when my old vet recommended an over the counter human med instead of paying extortionate prices for Pardale V.