17 Oct 2025
The Federation of Independent Veterinary Practices has warned proposals on the provision of veterinary medicines could have serious consequences for practices and their clients.
Allister Webb
Job Title
Independent veterinary practices could be put at risk of closure by reforms proposed through the ongoing inquiry into companion animal services, a leading business group has warned.
Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) officials insisted their ideas would benefit both clinicians and their clients when they were published earlier this week.
But the Federation of Independent Veterinary Practices (FIVP) has today (17 October), voiced its fears for the future if the package is implemented in its present form.
Its chair, Rita Dingwall, said: “We are concerned that the CMA is advocating a completely new business structure for veterinary practices that has the potential of unintended consequences for independent veterinary practices, their clients and the care and welfare of pets.”
The federation has welcomed several aspects of the inquiry group’s proposals, including its recommendations on ownership transparency and new veterinary sector legislation.
But its concerns relate primarily to the investigation’s call for actions to make it easier for clients to access cheaper medicines online.
The proposed measures include requiring practices to inform their clients of savings available through online platforms and the automatic provision of a written prescription where a product is likely to be needed frequently.
The authority argues those steps would encourage pet owners to seek alternative sources if they wish and protect them from what its press statement outlining the measures described as “excessive prices”.
But the FIVP said it feared the authority had “not understood” the impact those ideas could have on practices.
Mrs Dingwall added: “If independent practices are unable to support their veterinary services through the income received from veterinary medicines, pet owners could face higher service fees – or the closure of their local independent practice.”
The group now intends to gather further evidence from practices while compiling its response to the latest consultation process triggered by the new proposals, which runs until 12 November.
But its intervention echoes fears which have already raised by the sector’s largest care provider, IVC Evidensia, about the “administrative burden” the CMA’s proposals are likely to place on all its businesses.
Meanwhile, an online petition, which demanded equal access for independent practices to an unredacted version of the authority’s remedy report as that already offered to large veterinary groups has now attracted more than 7,000 signatures.
