There have been alarming reports from pet owners who have found themselves in need of emergency out of hours help who have unwittingly had to attend one or other of these emergency clinincs.
As more UK vets are opting out of providing out of hours service, Vets Now are moving in to cover this gap. While the standard of care *may* be good, this is leading to VERY high costs for pet owner who need to use their services.
In some instances, pet owners have reported a less than efficient service, sometimes with dire mis-diagnosis and reports of pets being sent home still very poorly, often with drips still attached, when the regular veterinary clinic is due to open.
It may be a cost efficient option for the vet but the charges are leading to unneccessary delays in treatment as owners (and rescues) find it difficult to meet their over-inflated costs.
The movement for one surgery to provide care for a large geographical area also causes problems in getting the animals to the surgery.
There is now an online petition which anyone can sign to pursuade the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons to investigate and publish their findings on the out of hours veterinary service provided by Vets Now, particularly in regard to their pricing structure.
This can be found here:
http://www.gopetition.com/
FOR THE SAKE OF UK PETS AND THEIR OWNERS I hope as many people as possible can add their own stories and true experiences of Vets Now to this facebook. I also hope that with enough evidence and true stories that the media will become interested in this and also highlight the downfalls of this "service".
Everyone is encouraged to check with their own vet to make sure they still offer a regular out of hours emergency cover themselves and also to impress upon their own vet that you do not wish them to consider using this alarming "service" by Vets Now.
It has been reported that a group of vets from an area of Essex got together to all agree to use Vets Now in order that their clients could not simply switch to another practice !
Do not wait until you need emergency cover to be stung by this new venture, act now !
