Price Cap Should Be Placed On Vet Prescriptions, Watchdog Says - Beritaja

Pet owners could beryllium paying doubly arsenic overmuch for commonly prescribed medicines from vet practices than they could salary online, a watchdog investigation has found.

The Competition and Markets Authority, which has been investigating the assemblage since 2023, said value caps should beryllium placed connected prescriptions provided by vets to extremity pet owners from being ripped off.

It recovered customers could beryllium paying doubly arsenic overmuch for commonly prescribed medicines from vet practices than they could salary online, leaving them spending "hundreds of pounds more".

It said vets should person a medicine interest headdress of £16 and should beryllium required to show customers about savings they could make by buying medicines online.

"These measures will thief punctual consumers to see buying medicine online and protect them from having to salary excessive prices for the prescriptions they would request to do so," it said.

"Pet owners salary 16.6% much connected mean astatine ample vet groups than astatine independent vets. For astatine slightest 3 of those ample groups, mean prices accrued faster astatine practices they bought than astatine practices that remained independent."

The CMA's 21 projected measures include:

• A request for vet businesses to people broad value lists
• Changes to make it easier for pet owners to entree cheaper medicines online
• Requiring vets to springiness clear value accusation to pet owners arranging a cremation
• Giving pet owners clear value accusation erstwhile they are choosing a treatment, pinch prices successful penning for treatments complete £500 and itemised bills

"The existent regulatory strategy is not fresh for purpose. It only regulates individual veterinary professionals and not vet businesses, contempt the mostly of practices being portion of a ample firm group," the CMA study found.

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