ReikiAnge Posted December 28, 2006 Report Share Posted December 28, 2006 Can't think of any complaints I've had over charges made by our usual vet. I've paid out for two home visits during the last few years, during normal "office" hours, and I felt the charges, including medication, were very reasonable in both cases, especially as both a vet and vet nurse has come out. There have been a couple of occasions where the vet has recommended against surgery for two of our dogs - once with Cass where the vet didn't feel it was advisable to operate on her legs (joint problems) and we agreed, and another where Max was due to have a lump removed from his toe but the vet due to carry out the op disagreed with the initial diagnosis and, after consultation with a third vet, advised us not to proceed with the op and the lump did indeed go away with some ABs. They were also happy to give over the phone advice for free one Sunday morning (out of hours) after Cassie seemed to have an allergic reaction and after talking to them on the phoning and advising her breathing etc. was fine, were happy for us to give her some pirotin and monitor her, rather than taking her in. I don't always agree with them, but I can ask for a referral if I feel it's necessary (such as to the homeopathic vet for Sweetie) but I can't complain so far about costs and we've been with them about 8 yrs now I guess. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cockergirl Posted December 28, 2006 Report Share Posted December 28, 2006 I don't feel vets bills are excessive for the service they provide. The vet I use is excellent, they are available 24/7 and will give free advice over the phone at any time of day or night. They are not the cheapest but even if their prices did increase I'd probably stick with them anyway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lucyandmeg Posted December 28, 2006 Report Share Posted December 28, 2006 Some drugs are quite cheap or so my copy of the BNF tells me.I'm sure the animal versions can't be much different.Also my out of hours vets use my own vets practice as their base so have no overhead costs as such apart from their own wages but £117 for a 10 minute visit...that's £702 an hour Forgive me for thinking that is a little expensive an hourly rate.The only cost to take out of that were an analgesic injection and 6 analgesic pills. I'm sorry but it is well known that the nhs is understaffed and severly lacking in money. THere are always reports in the local papers about people who have had to wait several hours for a doctor to come from out of the area. Personally having had my dad with on the transplant list and having to call out the doctor on a regular basis at the weekends i know this to be true. Its not the staff's fault, but thats just the way it is. (Now do you see how disconcerting it is for veterinary staff to get all this criticism all the time!) It really does seem like you get what you pay for. Some drugs are cheap, others are expensive, just like on the nhs, some like prednisolone are very cheap, others such as medication for dogs with cushings are horrendously expensive, which is always reflected in the prices you will pay. It makes absolutely no difference if they use the normal vets practice at the weekends. THe overheads are there 365 days a year! If someone is in the building there is electricity costs. The rates, telephone line rental, equipment maintenance are all spread out over the year. The difference is that at the weekend the vet may not be at the practice all the time, so may have to travel more to and from the practice, and is less likely to see as many people as they would during that time. Costs have to be spread out, of you see 50 people in a day on a weekday and then only see 2 people at the weekend, they have to charge more to cover those costs. I believe it costs more to call out a plumber, electrician or locksmith at the weekends, why should a vet be any different, they are still a business and the vet is still on call for the weekend and even if not called out they are unable to do anything without fear of the phone ringing. £90 is actually quite a standard ooh fee, its alot more at my practice if its after 10pm, i can assure you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GSDFan Posted December 28, 2006 Report Share Posted December 28, 2006 I don't think you can possibly compare the NHS with a Veterinary Practice. The NHS is understaffed, under paid and under far too much pressure. The service I get from my Vets is far better than the service I get from my Doctors Surgery or from the nearest hospitals, but that is because I pay my Vets quite a lot of money. I could get similar service if I 'went private' but I'd pay more for that than I ever pay my Vet. I have the greatest respect for the majority of Vets I have dealt with, I also have the greatest respect for the majority of Doctors and Nurses I have dealt with Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kats inc Posted December 29, 2006 Report Share Posted December 29, 2006 I don't think you can possibly compare the NHS with a Veterinary Practice. The NHS is understaffed, under paid and under far too much pressure. The service I get from my Vets is far better than the service I get from my Doctors Surgery or from the nearest hospitals, but that is because I pay my Vets quite a lot of money. I could get similar service if I 'went private' but I'd pay more for that than I ever pay my Vet. I have the greatest respect for the majority of Vets I have dealt with, I also have the greatest respect for the majority of Doctors and Nurses I have dealt with Thank you.As the only HV in covering 5 GP practices today I think it's fair comment not to even compare.I'm not dissing vets in any way.I get just as annoyed with the out of hours GP service here where doctors can earn £1,000 a week,one even earnt £28k in a month recently.It is grossly disproportionate to what the majority of society earn. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
babsc71 Posted December 29, 2006 Report Share Posted December 29, 2006 I personally vote with my paws. My vet is possibly a litle more expensive than others locally but I trust her implicitly with both my dogs as she always makes me feel as if she loves them as much as me. There have been times when we have had emergencies and she's been on the end of the phone with advice. When my eldest had an operation to remove a lump, our vet phoned mid proceedure to let us know what she found and give us options/outcomes. At the end of the day, I would probably seek our vets advice about my own health over that of my GP! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Katiebob Posted December 29, 2006 Author Report Share Posted December 29, 2006 I've skimmed the last few posts so please forgive me if I've missed something that someone else has said but: On the subject of the cost of drugs, whilst these do vary from vet to vet, the 'latest' drugs available are sometimes not offered in some vet surgeries because (1) they are expensive due to (2) the pharmacutical companies which develop them decide they want to get their money back quickly. It takes ages to get a drug ' licensed' so once it is licensed, their 'funds' for developing the drug may have been costing them several years, with interest costs. Hence once a new drug becomes licenced it's important to get the money back from it so that they can start testing new drugs. You might notice that a drug which has been on the market for over 5 years and so is cheaper - generally this is because it's been licensed to more than one drug company and therefore there is some competition. I suppose that the company who developed the 'treatment' needs to recoup it's initial investment so that's fair enough. I don't believe that the most expensive vets necessarily offer value for money although I do believe that some may be able to give you 'same day' results for a range of tests, whereas some others may even have to send off to a lab for the most basic blood tests. I had this experience personally a few years ago with a cat I'd found as a stray which was obviously very unwell. After 4 weeks - and to this day I'm not certain that their diagnosis was correct but he was in the welfare of Cats Protection and saw their vet (and I was out of work at the time and not able to consult my own vet due to lack of funds) they decided that it was kinder to pts. The vet couldn't understand why I wanted to stay with this cat and hold it while they administered the final injection I'm lucky in that where I lived previously and where I live now, I have fantastic vets. I can understand various concerns from people on here because the previous vets used an 'out of hours' vet service but this was at the premises of my own vets and although the vets they used were specifically 'out of hours' vets (so that they weren't too tired all the time etc.) at least they had notes readily available for all my pets. They used to call all the vet practices of animals which weren't within the practice for their notes. Obviously though, if the vet wasn't around (closed, whatever) and the notes couldn't be faxed then it could have been a problem. My own worry here is only - don't all half decent dog owners know what their dogs have been suffering with - what drugs they're on, etc? Should it really be a problem? The practice I use currently have a vet nurse on the premises at all times and a vet on call at all times. They do not do 'out of hours' (i.e. emergency) house calls on two counts: Firstly because they need a vet and a nurse to do house calls and they still need somebody to 'man the ranch' Secondly - and more importantly - because they have been 'attacked' by individuals and have to guarantee the safety of their staff. Thirdly - if a dog/cat/animal is so sick it can't wait until the morning, the animal needs to be at the surgery where it can have life-saving surgery or the best treatment - going to someone's home doesn't mean you can take the whole dispensary with you I understand that there may be times when people will struggle to get to the surgery but there are taxis, animal taxis, etc. and I'd prefer to use these if necessary. If I were to compare the vets with the NHS, I'd come down on the side of the vets, any day. However, I completely agree that the NHS is very, very under-funded and it if were private, we'd have a much better service. None of this should reflect on the staff in the NHS who do an amazing job and deserve much, much more than they earn. Sorry for such a long post - wasn't meant to be that way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
akitas Posted December 30, 2006 Report Share Posted December 30, 2006 I have good and bad experience with vets. No matter how expensive they are. As everywhere, you find people devoted to their profession and some just in for the money. I am more a person believeing alternative therapies, so not always agreeing with what vets recommend anyway. Too often they give antibiotics too quickly. But that, I suppose, depends on the individual vet as well. As for the NHS, so far I was never seriously ill, but I always got and appointment at the GP for me or my children when I needed one and when I needed to go to A&E I felt I was in good hands and well looked after and cared for. I don't believe that high prices always equal high quality. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snow Posted December 30, 2006 Report Share Posted December 30, 2006 I have been watching this thread very closely and have removed some remarks and posts that were inappropriate. Please keep this ON TOPIC and civil else it will be closed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard (The Sane) Posted December 30, 2006 Report Share Posted December 30, 2006 Also my out of hours vets use my own vets practice as their base so have no overhead costs as such apart from their own wages but £117 for a 10 minute visit...that's £702 an hour Forgive me for thinking that is a little expensive an hourly rate.The only cost to take out of that were an analgesic injection and 6 analgesic pills. I see this a slightly different way as it is not an hourly rate. I suspect there was not a full waiting room when you went, in fact you may have been the only visitor that night. However the vet practice still has to pay a premium to the staff for being present at night, and they have to pay for the surgery to be open, even if at a reduced rate - they have to heat more of it if someone is present all night too. The cost adds up! Personally I think you paid a fair price. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alexis Posted January 1, 2007 Report Share Posted January 1, 2007 Re vets drugs. A vet has to prescribe and give a drug which is made and licenced for animals. A vet is in turn bound by a law known as the Drugs Cascade. By law they must use a veterinary drug licensed for that animal and that condition if one exists. If no drug is licensed for that animal and that condition your vet may prescribe a drug licensed for that condition for another animal species or for that animal species for another condition e.g my vet will prescribe dog metacam for my rats. If no such drug exists then the vet may use a drug licensed for humans for that condition and only then a drug licensed for humans for another condition. So the vet has to buy the animal drugs for which the drug companies of course charge more. It dies cost them more to get the animal licence but they do charge a ridiculous amount of money for exactly the same drugs! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alexis Posted January 1, 2007 Report Share Posted January 1, 2007 (edited) I am currently working ( at work at the moment but it is pretty quiet!) in the NHS as a doctor for £13 an hour. That's a flat rate and is the same whether I work days, nights or weekends, I worked last Christmas, this Boxing day and am doing 5pm until 1am today. My friend is a vet and for her 1st 2 years after qualifying worked in a large and small animal practice in Cornwall and was on call for 24 hours on every other day ( working around 120hours a week) and got paid £19000 a year with a free clapped out car and studio bedsit thrown in. she is now working a 4 day week for around £28000. the only vets that earn the money are the partners who own the practice. The vet who owns where she works no longer works at all but owns 3 practices and makes an absolute fortune! The small animal practices are where the money is made. A consultation with my vet is £20 before anything else. There is a vet down the road ( about 1 mile) who charges double this. We took Charlie to both of them with the same problem- one bill £90 , the other £40 and surely the overheads can't be that different with a similar sized building, 1 mile apart and with similar staffing numbers?! You can get a prescription from your vet and then get the drugs cheaper over the internet, vets used to be allowed to charge to give prescriptions but now they aren't allowed to. Edited January 1, 2007 by alexis Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lucyandmeg Posted January 2, 2007 Report Share Posted January 2, 2007 They can't charge for the actual prescription but they can charge for the vets time to check and write the prescription, much the same as they can charge to check and dispense a normal prescription. THere are loop holes for everything these days! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kats inc Posted January 2, 2007 Report Share Posted January 2, 2007 They can't charge for the actual prescription but they can charge for the vets time to check and write the prescription, much the same as they can charge to check and dispense a normal prescription. THere are loop holes for everything these days! But it only takes about 2 minutes to write a prescription.Surely writing out the bill takes longer? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lucyandmeg Posted January 2, 2007 Report Share Posted January 2, 2007 No, we have a hi-tech computer it takes 2 seconds! Seriously though it does take a little longer than that, the veterinary prescriptions tend to need a little more info than the human ones it seems. THe money charged takes into account the receptionists time to take the call and write down what is needed, the vets time to check the records and write the prescription or if its a normal repeat prescription, book and dispense the drugs. (Or so i'm told!) If you think about it, if a vet charges £30 for a consultation fee which is for a 10 minute slot, if they are spending 4-5 minutes checking history and writing a prescription then in theory they should be able to charge quite a bit. (Although in my practice its just under £7 - it seems a lot of me, but theres nothing i can do about it unfortuantely). Don't forget though, a GP charges about £20-25 for signing forms. My dad suffered from liver damaged a few years ago and whilst waiting for a transplant he had to get a form signed on a monthly basis to get certain benefits, the gp charged him £25 to sign it every month! He also charges £40 to fill out a passport form! I think at the end of the day, there is money to be made for absolutely everything. Mind you when you find out that vet practices are taxed if they provide us with tea making facilities you have to wonder what kind of world we live in! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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