11 Apr 2025
A legal expect has warned the sector is at a ‘crossroads’ over whether potential benefits arising from the current review of veterinary services will continue in the long term.
Allister Webb
Job Title
Image: © gpointstudio / Adobe Stock
The veterinary profession has reached a “crossroads” on whether changes triggered by the current review of its services are likely to be sustained, a legal expert has claimed.
A debate in north Wales was told the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) inquiry had “potentially” yielded benefits already.
But union officials have urged the authority to back significant regulatory reforms when it delivers its provisional recommendations for change later this summer.
David Reader, a senior lecturer at the University of Glasgow, described the sector’s response to the CMA process as “quite fascinating” during the “Veterinary Services in Cymru: Crisis or Crossroads” event, held in Bangor on 4 April.
A range of projects, such as the development of new guidance for staff and clients, have been pursued within the sector to address the authority’s concerns since the investigation formally began last May.
But Dr Reader said he was also aware anecdotally of cases where practices had capped treatment costs in a manner that would not have happened before the investigation began.
He said: “Potentially, already the investigation is having a benefit, but at the same time, we’re at a crossroads now in terms of how many of these initiatives are for the long term and what benefit stands to arise for the long term.”
Several professional organisations have expressed optimism – particularly in their responses to the most recent working papers published in February – that the CMA is listening to their concerns about the nature of the investigation.
Inquiry chairperson Martin Coleman also praised the profession’s collective approach to the process in a speech at the BSAVA Congress and Expo in Manchester last month.
But British Veterinary Union chairperson Suzanna Hudson-Cooke said the investigation should recognise the need for formal veterinary business regulation to help protect animal welfare.
She also called for reform of the prescribing cascade, an area where Mr Coleman has suggested action could be taken while the inquiry continues, arguing the present system “isn’t really fit for purpose”.
Until now, that idea has been broadly opposed within the sector, with groups such as NOAH arguing reforms could end up increasing costs for pet owners.
However, Dr Hudson-Cooke suggested that dividing the cascade between food and non-food producing animals would have benefits, and many of its present considerations “aren’t relevant” for pets.
The meeting also heard renewed calls for the establishment of an independent veterinary ombudsman to oversee the profession.
Meanwhile, a new administrative timetable for the inquiry has indicated provisional remedy decisions are not now expected to be released until July, having previously been expected in either May or June. Interested parties now have until next month to make their final submissions ahead of those decisions, while further hearings in response to the inquiry group’s proposals are expected to take place in August.
However, the CMA has indicated it still expects the investigation to be completed by November in line with its published statutory deadline.
