Wary of making a complaint against your vet ? Here's how to escalate concerns
animals
Vet
Pet owners feel the odds are "stacked against them" when raising concerns against vets, leaving many put off filing complaints, according to a leading consumer group.
New research by Which? found that more than a third of owners did not raise concerns, because they did not want to fall out with their vet, while 16% did not know how to complain.
It also showed that more than 50% of pet owners consider the price of vet care was excessive, despite just less than a quarter saying they have issues with the quality of care.
How can pet owners escalate complaints? ITV News explains.
Are pet owners protected under the law?
According to Lisa Webb, a legal expert at Which?, pet owners are protected under the law.
If a vet has acted negligently, pet owners can seek compensation or damages from the veterinary practice, Webb said.
Under the Consumer Rights Act, vets have a duty to provide a 'service with reasonable care and skills', according to Which?
They are also expected to be open and honest about fees under the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons Code of Professional Conduct.
What can you do if you are unhappy with the service provided?
If you are unhappy with the service provided, Which? says you can either complain to the practice directly or request a remedy under the Consumer Rights Act.
This could include redoing part or all of the service at no extra cost, or agreeing to a price reduction or refund.
How can you complain to the practice?
Which? advises that customers should first speak to the practice about their complaint.
If this does not resolve the issue, customers can then ask the veterinary practice for its complaints procedure. Each practice will its own way of handling complaints.
The practice must provide the complaints handling policy, their regulator and their insurer's details when asked, Which? says.
What if the complaint still isn't resolved?
You can escalate your complaint further by seeking help from the Veterinary Client Mediation Service (VCMS).
Which? says they can help if you are seeking:
An apology
A refund
Corrective or further treatment
A payment of goodwill
As this is a voluntary service, the vet must agree to the VCMS' involvement, according to Which?
You can also complain to the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons.
They deal with the most serious complaints including very poor professional performance, criminal convictions and fraud or dishonesty, Which? says.
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The Independent
8 hours ago
- The Independent
The real reason fewer men may be choosing to become vets
If you take your dog, cat or fish to see a vet in the UK, the person who treats them is likely to be a woman. According to the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons, 61 per cent of current UK vets are female. University admissions are even more skewed. Among vets who had recently qualified, nearly 80 per cent were female. This wasn't always the case. In the 1930s, when James Herriot – author of books including All Creatures Great and Small and for many the iconic British vet – was practising, almost all vets were male. The women's liberation movement of the 60s and 70s saw an influx of female vet students. You might expect a levelling of the playing field to lead to a profession now equally split between genders, but that isn't so. I teach veterinary clinical communication skills to veterinary students. My research relates to developing communication strategies that are effective across a wide range of cultures and social groups. However, vets are not very culturally diverse: as well as the majority being female, nearly all are heterosexual and white. This can limit their experience and understanding of different perspectives. As part of a wider piece of research into student experience of communication, I have reviewed the history of veterinary demographics, with some surprising results. Historically, vets worked mainly on farms with large animals, for which clients perceived physical strength to be crucial. Increasing pet ownership means most vets now work with small animals. This change in focus has altered society's perception of veterinary work from 'practical' to 'caring', and it has been suggested that this has discouraged boys from considering the profession. Veterinary salaries have also stagnated for some time, which may make the job less attractive to men. There is very little research to support any of these theories, but the most relevant and largest study available comes from the US in 2010. When applications to vet schools across the country from the 1960s to early 2000s were reviewed, one factor predicted student choice: the more female students there were, the less likely males were to apply. This is an understudied sociological phenomenon called 'male flight' or 'gender flight'. It seems that, in some professions at least, men lose interest once the number of women rises above 60 per cent. Another study of UK workplaces found the same thing when modelling various reasons for gender disparities. Men not choosing professions such as pharmacy and accountancy due to the increased female presence was the best explanation. These findings are concerning when connected with a UK study from 2018 called Drawing the Future. Thirteen thousand UK school children aged between seven and 11 were asked to draw pictures of their dream job. Researchers found that – perhaps unsurprisingly – dream jobs were strongly gendered, and that this happens from a young age. 'Vet' was third overall, a very popular job choice. But when you split that by gender, it was the second most popular job for girls, but only ninth for boys. This very much matches the gender balance of vet school applicants, so we can hypothesise that attitudes to being a vet are set early in life. Need for diversity Most diversity initiatives aim to reduce barriers for underrepresented groups. The veterinary profession isn't nearly as diverse as it could be – only around 4 per cent of vets come from Black and ethnic minority backgrounds, compared to 18 per cent of people in the UK population overall. Various reasons for this have been suggested, including a lack of representation and financial barriers. But we actually don't know why this is; applications to veterinary medicine by non-white students are lower than for other degrees. But in the case of gender, boys can become vets. They simply don't want to. There's value in diversity in general within the veterinary profession. Vets don't just work in clinics with pets: they also play a key public health role, preventing disease in animal populations and ensuring the health and welfare of farm animals. There are many animal charities that rely on vets to help support the human-animal bond, such as rescuing and rehoming animals, working with pets belonging to homeless people, or caring for the pets of people fleeing domestic violence. This means working with people from all over the UK, from all backgrounds. Many studies of stress in the veterinary profession identify difficulties with communication as a key problem. Indeed, communication is highlighted as a key skill for veterinary students by the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons and many studies of veterinary education. But there lies a challenge common to homogeneous professions. Learning to communicate effectively with others is more difficult when there is less diversity. This issue of gender flight has broader social implications. When men leave a profession due to increased numbers of women, wages tend to stagnate, which is a serious issue for students who frequently leave their five-year vet degrees with substantial debt. One place to start might be looking at how young children view vets – and what might make it a profession to choose as a result of personal ability and preference, rather than social pressure.
ITV News
4 days ago
- ITV News
Wary of making a complaint against your vet ? Here's how to escalate concerns
animals Vet Pet owners feel the odds are "stacked against them" when raising concerns against vets, leaving many put off filing complaints, according to a leading consumer group. New research by Which? found that more than a third of owners did not raise concerns, because they did not want to fall out with their vet, while 16% did not know how to complain. It also showed that more than 50% of pet owners consider the price of vet care was excessive, despite just less than a quarter saying they have issues with the quality of care. How can pet owners escalate complaints? ITV News explains. Are pet owners protected under the law? According to Lisa Webb, a legal expert at Which?, pet owners are protected under the law. If a vet has acted negligently, pet owners can seek compensation or damages from the veterinary practice, Webb said. Under the Consumer Rights Act, vets have a duty to provide a 'service with reasonable care and skills', according to Which? They are also expected to be open and honest about fees under the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons Code of Professional Conduct. What can you do if you are unhappy with the service provided? If you are unhappy with the service provided, Which? says you can either complain to the practice directly or request a remedy under the Consumer Rights Act. This could include redoing part or all of the service at no extra cost, or agreeing to a price reduction or refund. How can you complain to the practice? Which? advises that customers should first speak to the practice about their complaint. If this does not resolve the issue, customers can then ask the veterinary practice for its complaints procedure. Each practice will its own way of handling complaints. The practice must provide the complaints handling policy, their regulator and their insurer's details when asked, Which? says. What if the complaint still isn't resolved? You can escalate your complaint further by seeking help from the Veterinary Client Mediation Service (VCMS). Which? says they can help if you are seeking: An apology A refund Corrective or further treatment A payment of goodwill As this is a voluntary service, the vet must agree to the VCMS' involvement, according to Which? You can also complain to the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons. They deal with the most serious complaints including very poor professional performance, criminal convictions and fraud or dishonesty, Which? says.
The Guardian
5 days ago
- The Guardian
Vet complaint process in UK often ‘stacked against pet owners'
Britain's pet owners often face an uphill struggle when they are unhappy with their vet because the industry's complaints system is not fit for purpose, according to a leading consumer body. The findings from Which? that the complaints process 'is often stacked against pet owners' come as the UK competition watchdog is investigating the veterinary sector amid concerns that above-inflation price hikes and other issues mean consumers are not getting a fair deal. Well more than half of UK households have one or more pets, with numbers increasing dramatically during the pandemic. However, Which? said pet owners were often put off making a complaint when there was a problem, and that those who did often had limited options for taking the matter forward or were left feeling their issue had been unfairly dismissed. Rocio Concha, director of policy and advocacy at the consumer body, said: 'It is completely unjust that many pet owners feel not only unhappy with the service and treatment received by their vet when their pet is taken ill, but also lack the means to make a complaint that will be properly investigated.' In its survey of more than 1,000 pet owners who had experienced some kind of problem with their vet during the past two years, pricing was the most common issue raised. More than half said the price of care or treatment was excessive, while more than a quarter said the cost was higher than they thought it would be. The third most common issue was quality of care, followed by customer service, not being given the relevant information, being charged the wrong price, and the vet or practice making a mistake. The first port of call when making a complaint is usually the practice itself. Many of the pet owners in the survey who had been put off making a claim said they did not think they would be successful, did not want to fall out with their vet, or did not know how to complain in the first place. 'Very few' owners then went on to escalate the complaint, and those who did found that the options available were often inadequate, said Which?. There is the Veterinary Client Mediation Service (VCMS), but this is a voluntary complaints scheme. Meanwhile, the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons (RCVS) has the responsibility for investigating all 'concerns' raised with it about vets – but Which? claimed it had 'very high thresholds' for investigating and progressing a complaint, 'leaving pet owners feeling dismissed, or that the process is biased in favour of veterinary professionals'. Steph Drew, from Lincoln, told Which? that the complaints system was 'designed to protect vets'. Her dog Daisy was left injured when her vet operated on the wrong leg. Drew complained to the RCVS, but her case was initially dismissed after a year, said the consumer organisation. After appealing against the decision, the case went on for three years, finally ending in a disciplinary hearing. The vet has now been struck off and found by the RCVS to have failed to provide adequate care to 18 animals in total, said Which?. Earlier this month the UK Competition and Markets Authority – which has been investigating rising costs and other issues in the multibillion-pound sector – said it had 'concerns that … firms' internal complaint handling processes may be inconsistent and operate poorly, and that the external redress mechanism provided by the VCMS is not as effective as it could be'. It also found there were 'shortcomings' with the RCVS code of conduct. Sign up to Headlines UK Get the day's headlines and highlights emailed direct to you every morning after newsletter promotion A VCMS spokesperson told Which? it could not comment on individual cases but added: 'Last year we received more than 3,500 inquiries from pet owners, and the VCMS helped resolve over 80% of complaints … It continues to develop the mediation process to improve outcomes and satisfaction for consumers and practice teams, as well as the delivery of veterinary care.' The RCVS said it had been asking the government to reform the current legislation 'for some years', adding: 'Our current remit is relatively narrow and focuses on regulating the individual professionals and not practices, which have never been regulated. We support proposals to enhance consumer protection, and mandatory practice regulation.' It said that under current legislation it could only investigate allegations of serious professional misconduct. A spokesperson added that 'the facts presented in the [Which?] case studies do not completely align with those reported to us'.
