I wanted to alert readers to what is becoming a serious issue for pet owners: if your pet suffers a medical emergency at night, or on a weekend, you will need your vet’s “out-of-hours” service. In the last couple of years this has taken on a totally new dimension, leaving owners with massive bills.
Many local vets are deciding that the extra costs of running an out-of-hours service are too high, so they are buying in the services of a company called Vets Now.
Basically, it pays the local practice to take over its premises for the weekend. When you call, they tell you there is an “out-of-hours fee” of over £100, which is fair enough.
But this is just the start. My cat had to go in on a Saturday with sickness and diarrhoea. I was told this might entail a couple of overnight stays and was quoted more than £1,800. After a discussion, some items were removed and we got down to £1,482. I had no option, as all other vets in town were also with Vets Now. In the end, my cat only stayed 24 hours but this still cost me £742 on a bill which looks as if it is being made up as it goes along.
CA, Tunbridge Wells, Kent
Mainly because of the enormous fees, 48% of reviews on Trustpilot rate Vets Now as “bad” or “poor”.
Quite how your bill climbed so high is mystifying to the uninitiated. Among the charges are three for “hospitalisation” totalling £237, on top of hospital admission and consultation fees. “Minimum database” costs £40.50 and “OOH fee standard” another £106.61. That’s £448.57 before any of 10 tests and treatments are factored in.
Vets Now, which works with 1,000 vet practices, says its fees are more expensive than out-of-hours services operated in-house because the latter are subsidised by routine daytime procedures.
This is despite the fact that vet practices pay a subscription to help cover the cost of running the emergency service.
“In return for our fees, pets receive a high standard of round-the-clock care and our vets and nurses are on duty all night,” it says.
The mysterious “OOH fee” stands for “out of hours”, despite the fact that all Vets Now services are out of hours and already reflected by what it admits are “premium” prices.
This, Vets Now says, is because it provides full clinical care rather than just first aid. “Minimum database” is, it explains, a blood test and “hospitalisation” the level of monitoring a pet requires.
There’s no response from your usual vet when I contact them, but the British Veterinary Association says that third-party emergency provision is important for smaller vets practices who do not have enough staff to share a viable out-of-hours rota.
It advises checking out-of-hours provision before choosing a vet and taking out pet insurance, the reliability of which is another story.
If you need help email Anna Tims at your.problems@observer.co.uk or write to Your Problems, The Observer, Kings Place, 90 York Way, London N1 9GU. Include an address and phone number.
