00:00Whether you're an animal lover or prefer a fur-free home, I think we can all agree
00:06prices for everything have risen. But for the more than 10 million households in the UK that
00:11own a pet, the increasing costs have become all the more apparent. Vet bills have risen more than
00:1760% in 10 years, with 80% of owners saying the cost of having their pet has increased.
00:23In response, the Competition and Markets Authority have proposed 21 new measures for the industry.
00:28The CMA's recent report found that vet bills have risen way above inflation. They've come
00:34up with a couple of solutions to try and keep prices low for consumers.
00:38Measures the CMA have proposed include capping prescriptions at £16, requiring vets to provide
00:43itemised bills and encouraging owners to shop online for medicines rather than paying the
00:48prices in store.
00:49But here at Broadway Vets in Herne Bay, they say the answer just isn't that simple.
00:55They haven't fixed the problem, which is where we get our drugs from. In some areas
00:59of Europe, I think actually most of Europe, they get their drugs direct from the provider
01:04of the drug. In the UK, we have to buy from a wholesaler. So at every stage that product
01:09is touched by someone else, there's a markup on it. And every time there's a markup, by the
01:13time it gets to that end user, that price has gone up two, three, four times.
01:17I think it's really important that people understand what they're paying for. And I think the most
01:21important thing for us is that once we've had that conversation with how much that procedure
01:26costs, whatever it is, that we can have that dialogue with the customer and that we can interact
01:31on what the next steps are.
01:33Not only are the measures aimed at reducing prices, they also hope to make them much clearer
01:38from the outset.
01:39We're really supportive of the remedies in the report around transparency. I think it's really
01:44important for pet owners to know when they go into a practice, who owns that practice,
01:49whether it's part of a large group or not. And I think that's really important. There
01:53are some remedies in there which are common practice already across the sector, such as
01:58providing people with itemised bills and written estimates before treatment is undertaken.
02:04There are some practices that aren't doing that, which is why the CMA have included it in
02:08their provisional remedies. This investigation has highlighted a lot of press pieces around the
02:14veterinary sector that can sometimes feel a bit hostile to the people working on the ground
02:19who don't control the prices and just want what's best for people's pets.
02:22These measures are provisional, with final reforms to be decided in March. While opinions
02:28are mixed in industry, we're sure pet owners are hoping for an improvement with the poor prices.
02:33Chloe Brewster for KMTV in Herne Bay.
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