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SHOULD VETS BE ALLOWED TO CONTINUE TO  DISPENSE DRUGS ?

First broadcast on www.provet.co.uk  


This information is provided by Provet for educational purposes only.

You should seek the advice of your veterinarian if your pet is ill as only he or she can correctly advise on the diagnosis and recommend the treatment that is most appropriate for your pet.

Periodically the UK Government announces that it is going to review the dispensing of drugs by the veterinary profession.

In some countries within the EC veterinarians are allowed to carry drugs for immediate use, but they are not allowed to dispense drugs to their clients. In these countries eg Denmark, the veterinarian has to issue a prescription which their client takes to a pharmacist (or other outlet) to get the drugs. At the moment, in the UK, so-called prescription only medicines (POM's) can only be obtained from a veterinary practice, or from a Pharmacist if a veterinarian writes a prescription out. Depending on the outcome of the Government's forthcoming review these drugs may have their legal category changed and so be allowed to be sold direct to the public by Pharmacies, or other outlets, and veterinarians may or may not be allowed to continue to sell them.

There are several motives behind the proposal to remove veterinary dispensing rights, including :

  • To reduce the costs of drugs for farmers - the perception being that veterinarians may add a higher profit margin to prescription only drugs than other outlets would
  • To reduce "over-prescribing" of drugs - in particular antibiotics which everyone wants to reduce because of the emergence of resistant infections - if indeed "over-prescribing" by the profession is taking place
  • To remove the suspicion that a profession that benefits financially from "selling" drugs might over-prescribe in order to increase revenue.
  • To remove the suspicion that a profession with a monopoly to sell a category of drug might profiteer by adding unacceptably high profit margins to those drugs. 

If the veterinary profession did lose it's right to dispense drugs, there would be some consequences for the animal owning public and  farmers :

  • If a large proportion of a veterinary practice's income is to be removed it will inevitably have to be replaced by an increase in the cost of professional fees. 
  • The option to reduce costs by reducing the standard of service offered by a practice is of course not possible ...although some practices might decide to drop the farm animal aside of their business altogether if they cannot cover their running costs out of professional fees alone.
  • Inconvenience - because clients may  not be able to leave the veterinary premises with a full quota of drugs for their animal following a consultation.
  • Having made a diagnosis on a farm or stable premises the veterinarian  may not be able to leave the required drugs, in which case staff would have to find time to visit their nearest drug outlet....which in isolated rural communities could be a considerable distance away.

Feedback Request

Provet would like to hear your views on this topic. Please send your comments (with a brief explanation of who you are) to feedback@provet.co.uk 

Thank You

 

Updated October 2013