'Subscription'Vet Group

RE: 'Subscription'Vet Group

Clive Ansell — Sat, 05 Nov 2022 14:40:24 GMT

[quote userid="3169" url="~/001/nonclinical/f/life-in-practice-discussions/30477/subscription-vet-group/239828#239828"]Whatever happened with the Animal Trust ones who were offering free consults? Think there was one near Gillian Mostyn[/quote]

They are still alive and kicking

Animal Trust - Not For Profit Vets | Experts in Veterinary Care

I have recently been involved with a case that shows one of the drawbacks of their type of business model. (It was not the Animal Trust, but a similar set up)

A fixed low price fracture repair was carried out (Owners sourced it themselves online and were not referred). Clients transported the dog 80 miles in each direction, with a complicated tibial fracture, and home again post anaesthesia on the same day. Clients were told to contact their own vet or a local vet for post op checks and follow up radiographs. No clinical note or history were obtained. There appears to be no follow up care at all. Clients have no money and are miffed that they are having to pay for follow up consultations and for anaesthesia and radiography, they were under the impression that there was a fixed all in price from start to finish.

It seems that they do the surgery, bag the loot, then wash their hands of it.

RE: 'Subscription'Vet Group

Francisco Gomez — Fri, 04 Nov 2022 20:02:08 GMT

[quote userid="3169" url="~/001/nonclinical/f/life-in-practice-discussions/30477/subscription-vet-group/239828#239828"]

Whatever happened with the Animal Trust ones who were offering free consults? Think there was one near Gillian Mostyn

I've seen job ads.

[/quote]

I locumed there for a week many moons ago and we were always fully booked. Many people would come for reassurance a little too often, and there was the odd client who thought of us as a charity (which it isn't or wasn't).

My problem with this is that there are already too many people unable to fill vacancies. How on earth you expect this to help anybody. If you're non-stop, there's no time to wait, reflex and learn. And experienced vets are too burned out and fed up with overworked conditions to have to attend every single query for free. At the moment, the consultation fee allows many vets to decline a consultation without incurring in negligence. If this is removed, I'd like to know how the flow customers is kept at bay. Maybe a limit on subscribers and stringent opening times will do the trick.

RE: 'Subscription'Vet Group

lisashaul — Fri, 04 Nov 2022 18:49:39 GMT

I also wonder how they will manage the "frequent flyers" problem

Even if you pre-filter with a teleconsult, those clients are hogging resources, and likely to cause strain in a tight-margin business.

You might grin and bear it in the name of growing the business, for a while, but it could derail the business model and annoy the staff very easily

RE: 'Subscription'Vet Group

Michael Woodhouse — Fri, 04 Nov 2022 09:48:12 GMT

Whatever happened with the Animal Trust ones who were offering free consults? Think there was one near Gillian Mostyn

I've seen job ads.

RE: 'Subscription'Vet Group

Clive Ansell — Fri, 04 Nov 2022 07:32:57 GMT

Wot Neil said.

Wouldn't look out of place in an episode of Alan Sugar's apprentice.

I've seen similar schemes in many guises in many different practices. They don't seem to work or last in the long term, and the ones I have seen all have drawbacks one way or the other.

As Neil points out, where consults are "free" (They're not really) there are some clients who regularly attend once or twice weekly with trivial nonsense.

The last one I worked with covered all in house treatment, but excluded external lab fees, any OOH fees, and referrals of course. There was pressure from clients to not go to OOH clinics and not refer cases. In addition there was pressure from management to use cheaper and fewer drugs - not good when loads of skin cases that were on preds were switched to Atopica and Apoquel by steroidophobic newbie vets!

What clients need to know, is that there is no such thing as a free lunch. Margins are tight. so one way or another they will be paying, just by a different route. Think of Ryanair and the £0.99p flight, but a grotty stale sandwich and bottle of water will be £10.

Anyway, a new idea and a new venture, best of luck to them.

RE: 'Subscription'Vet Group

Neil Wheadon — Thu, 03 Nov 2022 22:58:17 GMT

I think Vets4pets tried this a number of years ago. (Complete Care?) I have also worked in practices where this was offered in the past.

You saw the remnants occasionally as these were quickly withdrawn. Typical presentations were the 'worried well' and I recall a client that came in weekly because the stools weren't quite right

Neil

RE: 'Subscription'Vet Group

Bob Russell — Thu, 03 Nov 2022 14:08:46 GMT

I assume it will be online consults followed by a real consultation if required. This is the direction the profession is being driven in, with the RCVS directing the traffic towards the cliff edge!

RE: 'Subscription'Vet Group

cairncross — Thu, 03 Nov 2022 12:56:21 GMT

How do they regulate the frequency of visits once the consult is free I would have plenty who would be there twice a week just to get value for money or because they were lonely etc