As the CMA’s veterinary remedies order takes effect this week – focusing initially on consumer transparency and pricing through compulsory price lists and prescription fee caps – former RSPCA Chief Veterinary Officer Dr Caroline Allen FRCVS stated that political focus on the investigation produced headline-driven, superficial reforms that fail to resolve the pet care affordability crisis.
Dr Allen, who spent eight years overseeing animal welfare at the RSPCA and has nearly thirty years of experience, said the cost of vet care is a genuine welfare emergency. Rising insurance premiums, increasingly unaffordable treatment and a growing number of owners unable to access care for their pets are real and serious problems. But price lists and prescription fee caps, while reasonable, do not get near the heart of it.
“The cost problem is real and I don’t want to minimise it for a second. People are struggling. Animals are going without treatment because their owners simply cannot pay. That is a welfare crisis,” said Dr Allen. “But MPs and the CMA have spent three years using this investigation to make political points about rip-off vets, and what they’ve actually delivered is a requirement to publish a price list. That is not a solution. It is a gesture.”
Dr Allen said part of the affordability problem is structural. Veterinary training increasingly emphasises high-tech, protocol-driven medicine. Vets are taught to offer high-tech, algorithm-led care and can feel like bad clinicians if they deviate from it. But for many owners that level of intervention is simply out of reach, and what is missing is the space for vets and owners to meet in the middle, focused on what is best for the individual animal in that family’s circumstances.
She also warned that a growing culture of blame is driving costs in the opposite direction. Owners who threaten to complain, report or sue their vets create an environment where defensive medicine becomes the norm. Vets who are frightened over-investigate, over-refer and produce longer estimates to protect themselves. That pushes costs up, which fuels more anger, which drives more defensiveness.
“What we actually need is better clinical conversations. A vet who feels confident enough to say ‘we don’t have to do everything here, let’s talk about what makes sense for your pet and your situation.’ And an owner who feels safe enough to be honest about what they can manage. That is where good animal welfare happens. Politicians cannot legislate for that, and three years of blame and suspicion have made it harder, not easier.”
Dr Allen said pet owners should use the new transparency rules but should also feel empowered to have more open conversations with their vets, starting with straightforward questions: what happens if we don’t do this, what is the realistic outcome, and is there another approach that might work for our situation. But that means they also need to recognise their own risk appetite and understand that you cannot expect high-tech, risk free veterinary care on a limited budget.
