As some of our clients will already be aware, regulations regarding the prescriptions of certain types of medications have changed in recent months, with the last of these changes occurring on Friday 12th January. These changes affect how we prescribe antibiotics, antifungals, anti-virals and anti-parasite treatments and controlled drugs.
We may now only prescribe these medications at the time of an examination of your pet. It has been our policy for many years to only prescribe most of these medications at the time of an examination, so in many instances there will be no change. However, the notable exception is with flea and worm treatment.
Previously, we have had Practice Protocols in place that our vet, nurse and reception team have been able to work together to follow to provide parasite prevention products for our patients, including the use of weigh and worm/flea appointments with the nurses. From Friday 12th January, our vets will perform these examinations in order to be able to prescribe the necessary products.
For some pets, we will have been able to pre-empt these changes and the vets have worked hard to put notes on for suitable animals before these regulations came into force. However, this has not been possible for all animals, especially those not seen since mid-September 2023. We hope that we will be able to create notes for most patients once they have been seen for vaccinations, as we will routinely apply notes at this time. However, we ask that you bear with us as we get used to this new protocol.
In addition, pets who have not yet reached their adult weight will continue to have to be seen so that vets can prescribe correct doses.
Unfortunately, we are not able to absorb the cost of these vet appointments, so these will be chargeable at the price of a medicines check consultation, which is heavily reduced from a standard consultation fee, at a cost of £24.98 (correct at January 2024). For those animals on the Pet Health Plan, we will not charge for these appointments.
It may be necessary to see your pet more frequently than previously if we are prescribing some of the other groups of medicines that these new rules apply to. For example, if your pet requires additional pain relief in the form of controlled medications, or if we are considering extending a course of antibiotics/anti-fungals/anti-virals. Our team will try to apply notes where possible, but not every condition is amenable to pre-planning for a significant length of time, and we must consider the careful use of these groups of medications both for patient safety and drugs resistance stewardship, both of which are of great importance.
If you have any questions regarding these changes, please do not hesitate to contact us. Email or Facebook Messenger remain the most ideal methods of contact for general queries, however we welcome phone calls should these be more convenient for our clients.