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A cap on veterinary prescription fees is one of the measures the UK Competition Authority is considering in its investigations into the sector.
The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is pressing ahead with a formal investigation into the veterinary market amid concerns pet owners are paying too much for treatments.
The company said it had heard from people who were struggling to pay their veterinary bills and didn’t always know what treatment options were best for their pets.
The British Veterinary Association welcomed the review, describing regulation of the sector as “completely outdated”.
The CMA estimates that there are up to 16 million households in the UK that own at least one pet.
The Office for National Statistics estimated that the cost of veterinary and other pet services had increased by about 50% since 2015, much higher than the overall inflation rate.
The regulator launched a survey last year to ask people whether they were concerned they might be paying too much, and received 56,000 responses from pet owners, vets and charities.
Earlier this year, concerns were raised that pet owners may not be able to access basic information such as price lists online and may not always be informed about the cost of veterinary treatment before agreeing to treatment.
The CMA is now launching a formal investigation, meaning it could intervene directly in the market.
The regulator gave pet owners three tips when seeking treatment:
- Look beyond your nearest veterinarian as fees and services vary from practice to practice
- Ask if there are other treatment options
- If the treatment is not urgent, you should also purchase the medication elsewhere, for example from an online pharmacy or a pet store.
“The message from our work as veterinarians so far has been clear: many pet owners and professionals have concerns that require further investigation,” said Sarah Cardell, CMA chief executive.
“We’ve heard from people who are struggling to pay their vet bills, may be overpaying for medications, and don’t always know what treatment options are best available to them,” she said.
The CMA stated that local veterinary services are worth £2-2.5 billion a year, but when other aspects such as cremation, specialist treatments and medication are taken into account, the total value of the industry is estimated at £5.7 billion a year.
The competition authority stressed that the sector was increasingly dominated by larger companies and that this could limit consumer choice.
There are around 5,000 veterinary practices in the United Kingdom, but since 2013 around 1,500 of them have been taken over by six large corporations.
These are CVS, Independent Vetcare Ltd, Linnaeus, Medivet, Pets at Home and VetPartners.
Four of these six companies tend to retain their name and brand when purchasing an independent practice, which the CMA said could create an “illusion of competition” for consumers as they look for alternative practices.
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The regulator said the investigation would look into:
- Whether consumers received the right information to make informed decisions
- If a limited choice of veterinarians in some areas impacts pet owners
- The amount of profits made by veterinary companies
- Whether veterinary practices have incentives and opportunities to restrict consumers’ choice in the provision of treatments or services
- Whether the regulation of the market needs to be changed
Possible remedies could include requiring companies to provide certain information to consumers, setting maximum fees for prescription drugs, or mandating the sale or dissolution of companies.
Malcolm Morley, senior vice president of the British Veterinary Association (BVA), told the BBC’s Today programme that the trade body was “very interested” in the investigation and had worked closely with the CMA over the past few months.
“Some of the points that the CMA is raising are things we have been raising for a long time,” he said.
“The regulation of veterinarians and veterinary practices is completely outdated and not fit for purpose.”
Mr Morley added that the area of purchasing treatments online also needed to be explored.
He said many independent veterinary practices are forced to buy drugs from wholesalers at prices higher than what consumers would pay when buying from an online pharmacy.
Gemma Attenborrow, a dog owner from Birmingham, told the BBC she spent almost £10,000 on spinal surgery for her French bulldog Bali.
She said she was charged “extremely much” for average service.
Ms Attenborrow said that pet owners may be too afraid to visit the vet because of the high bills and that this is “unfair” to both the animals and the owners.
Abuse of vets
However, the CMA also heard from vets who said they were sometimes abused by pet owners over what they felt were high fees.
While they acknowledged that fees have increased, they also said interactions with pet owners are also affected by factors such as:
- Owners “don’t understand the true cost of veterinary care”, partly because people compare it to NHS treatment, which is free at the time of use
- Many new, inexperienced pet owners since the pandemic
- Pet owners without insurance
- TV veterinary shows create expectations “where costs are rarely, if ever, discussed.”
BVA President Dr Anna Judson said: “Since the CMA first announced its investigation, veterinary teams in practice have been faced with really unpleasant, often abusive, behaviour.
“This is unacceptable and we ask everyone to remember that veterinarians are human and are often not responsible for the pricing structures in a practice.”
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