01/07/2022
I recently commented on a local Facebook group about Vets4Pets which might be of interest to fellow pros.
Vets4Pets as a brand is owned by Pets At Home.
The Vets4Pets practices themselves are effectively franchise operations called Joint Partnerships. So each one is run semi autonomously.
Vets4Pets are one of the leading practices in the U.K.
The challenge for pet owners and pet care pros is the corporatisation of the veterinary landscape.
Since the rules were changed almost 20 years ago to allow non-vets to own practices, the number of sites owned by corporate groups has grown to more than 1,700.
Corporatisation of vets a couple of years ago showed the emergence of these large corporate groups…
Independent Vetcare, the UK’s largest corporate with more than 500 sites, employs 2,800 veterinary professionals, CVS 3,250, Vets4Pets has 2,450, Medivet 1,850, VetPartners employs 1,250 and Linnaeus has 325 vets.
This means almost 12,000 vets and vet nurses work for a corporate veterinary group.
The RCVS estimates that over half of all vets and vet nurses now work for a corporate veterinary group.
It’s important to remember that vets and vet nurses are professional practitioners not corporate animals and 99.99% of them don’t set the pricing. Many just happen to work for the large corporate. So please, treat them kindly as there is a real shortage of veterinary professionals in the UK and su***de levels are ridiculously high, whilst at the same time demand is outstripping supply.
This trend isn’t just a U.K. thing. In the USA Mars owns something like 1,080 animal hospitals - as well as the brand Royal Canin.
And creeping corporatisation of veterinary practices - many of which are run by ‘money men’ not vets themselves means cost increases to us as pet owners.
As the FT recently reported…
“One vet in southern England says the price of Metacam, a widely dispensed anti-inflammatory painkiller, rose at their practice by 28 per cent to £82.79 for a 100ml bottle after IVC took over. The price of ProZinc, an insulin for diabetic cats, rose 39 per cent to £99.34, the vet says, and Fortekor, a heart medication, rose more than 78 per cent to £76.85.
“We probably were undercharging before, but it’s difficult when the client comes in and this has gone up by 30 per cent, that by 40 per cent,” says the vet, who asked not to be named.
IVC says drug price increases recommended by head office have been more modest, with Metacam rising by 5.6 per cent on average, ProZinc 6.8 per cent and Fortekor 9.9 per cent between October 2019 and December 2020. “
Vets and vet nurses came to the profession because they love animals, not the ‘money men’ who increasingly run the practice chains. Just because it says “All Creatures Great & Small” above the door doesn’t mean it’s not owned by a large corporate somewhere and not always the lovely James Herriot.
