Vet charges, Injection Fee ?

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Limit

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I have just received my vet bill for a call out last week. Apart from the usual, call out fee , consultation fee my filly had one intravenous injection ( 1g Excenel) @ £36.36. I then had a charge of £7.28 intravenous injection fee. Is this a new thing ? I think its a bit OTT just to give a one off injection.
 
I've never had that on a bill (or at least not yet). You're right it does seem a bit ott, just another way to get money out of you. Even for syringe and needle consumables thats quite a mark up on what it would cost the practice.
 
Nagling, I hadn't either till this last bill arrived and have used this vet for many years. Asked some of my friends who use other vets, all said no so far. Lets hope its no going to become common practice.

Thanks for the replies.
 
As we can all jab/jag our own horses, intramuscular or sub cu. can the vet charge for this?....."give me the syringe I'll do it myself"

However, so far as I know, we cannot give an intravenous jab legally.
 
I would imagine the fee is for the skill and time of a professional person plus the cost and mark-up of the consumables. In previous years vets cross subsidised professional fees with income from the sale of medication. Since the advent of the written prescription and internet pharmacies margins have been squeezed and professional fees now more accurately reflect business costs. I have no embarrassment in admitting that I want to run a profitable business and an injection fee contributes to this.
 
I used to hold vets in high esteem but now I see them as kind of medically trained pirates, I wouldn't be surprised if they started charging us a fee if they farted on our premises or in their car during the course of the visit.
 
Must admit I spent alot of money this winter trying to figure out what was wrong with my horse and lots of vets visits only to find they just kept giving me random bits of medicine and saying 'here try this'! After all this it turned out she just couldnt eat dusty hay!

Recently had both horses jabs done, and found myself acctually trying to convince the vet that is you go overdue by a month that they need to be reboostered, and verts exacts words were 'Naa we'll just fudge it'. One horsie also had to have an internal exam to check she wasnt in foal/had any nasties like tumours in her tummy (it was very big and pointy), but she fine and all healthy, and typically the next day her belly went round and normal for her again. Think she was just ahving a phantom pregnancy and is all good and happy again now thankgod, but cant wait to get the bill for that!
 
My horse's jabs fell due over Xmas period and it slipped my mind by a few days, they made me start the whole course over again, "avast ye mateys..."
 
skint1 said:
I used to hold vets in high esteem but now I see them as kind of medically trained pirates, I wouldn't be surprised if they started charging us a fee if they farted on our premises or in their car during the course of the visit.
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Or to look at it another way, highly trained people who charge appropriately for their time and expertise. You do realise that a 10 minute appointment with your GP costs the NHS around £100, before the cost of any drugs. A typical equine vet will drive to your horse, usually spend a lot more than 10 minutes examining it and talking to you, and charge you around £50 +drugs.


skint1 said:
My horse's jabs fell due over Xmas period and it slipped my mind by a few days, they made me start the whole course over again, "avast ye mateys..."
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No-one can make you start the course again. Vets will recommend it because if they don't, and your horse then gets ill, or turned away from a show, then moaning idiots will be on the phone giving them an earful. Whether or not to restart is your decision.
 
Limit said:
I have just received my vet bill for a call out last week. Apart from the usual, call out fee , consultation fee my filly had one intravenous injection ( 1g Excenel) @ £36.36. I then had a charge of £7.28 intravenous injection fee. Is this a new thing ? I think its a bit OTT just to give a one off injection.
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Our vet adds insult to injury and charges for 'aesthetic injection technique' on top! And not only charges for xrays per plate but for 'interpretation of xray'!

I have even been charged for 'removal of shoes' prior to an operation on a previous horse, by an equine hospital. :eek:
 
And why shouldn't you be charged removal of shoes? Why do you expect time to be free? Everything is priced very much according to the time it takes and how much this is worth in a professionals time. A vets hourly rate is about £120, to be fair to their knowlegde.
You would be quick enough (and fair enough) to complain if their knowledge and professionalism was poor.
 
And why shouldn't you be charged for interpretation? The idea is its broken down, thye could just lump both those as 'xray', but interpreting them takes time as mucha s the consumable of the plate.
 
To put things into prospective to have my shoudler seen to recently on private healthcare:

consultant fees (this was for him to look at x-ray and say it's still broken go away (i'm a nurse and could tell this!) - £150 every time I see him

x-ray 2 plates - £92

physio - £42 each session


Now even with our furthest visit fee and highest consult fee we as vets couldn't reach £150 for consultation!!

Regarding inject iv fee, you would be suprised how much needles and syringes cost us now. Syringes are at least £2 each, then we also have the disposal costs, which for medical/clinical waste is a huge expense, espcially those that have any blood in or on them so virtually every syringe and needle!
 
Yes - the injection fee usually covers the consumables, technique and RISK involved. ALL practices charge for this - just some choose to break down their costs so you can see exactly what you are paying for. It is not an "extra" cost that some practices dont factor in - whether or not it is itemised in your bill individually make no mistake - these are fees you will pay for with all practices.

And yes, why shouldnt a vet charge to remove shoes? Your farrier would charge you - and you wouldnt begrudge him! And of course there should be a charge for examinig x rays - are YOU qualified to thoroughly examine and report on them? Are you certain you could do it? If so - you do this for free? I doubt it.

Vets get very undue criticism on this forum. The professional fees per hour for an equine vet averages at apporx £120/hr - how many other professionals charge such low fees?? You would struggle to even find a plumber who charges such a low fee. Add to this that most vets undersell themselves and under-estimate the time they spend on each client. Your "consult fee" is in most cases based on 10minutes work - I have rarely spent 10minutes with a client who is charged a consult fee. Usually it is more like 20-30minutes (and often far more!). On other cases i have spent upto 4hours WORKING on farm(serious emergencies) and never has my boss charged the client for all of that time.

I hate the fact that HHO users begrudge those who do a hard days work. You choose to keep horses - they are an expensive luxury. Yet you bemoan those who care for them without knwing just what they invest in giving your horses the best care possible.
 
So fully qualified vets charge at £120/hour. I was charged out at more than that as a wet behind the ears trainee solicitor - partners at various firms I worked for ranged from £350 to £550. Accountants similar. OK the city type are ridiculously expensive, but vets' training seems to be massively undervalued.

I would lean towards £200 being a rational rate for most qualified professions, but vets mostly do it because it's a vocation, so they tend to limit what they charge by reference to the value of the animal, and therefore undercharge.
 
Ive always been charged and injection fee on top of the meds used for anything other than routine jabs (im presuming this is included in the cost of each jab).

I dont begrudge it as if my horse needs an IV jab then they need it and so I pay for it. I do get annoyed with everyone who slates vets and their charges.

I was plesantly surprised with my last few bills as my vet managed to convince practice manager that I was a good customer and so I did not get charged for my IV jab, just the meds, and an emergency appointment went down as a routine as it was in working hours.
 
skint1 said:
I used to hold vets in high esteem but now I see them as kind of medically trained pirates, I wouldn't be surprised if they started charging us a fee if they farted on our premises or in their car during the course of the visit.
Click to expand...

When we were asked to give a quote for fencing at the vets, we jokingly said there'd be a callout fee. They were not amused but why as we have to pay them to come out to us before they've even got out of the car; what's the difference, we're professionals too or doesn't experienced, qualified manual labour count as they have to pay plumbers and electricians callout fees?

We did do the job and did not charge for visiting site, measuring, going over plans with them and ordering the materials - we should have. :rolleyes:
 
To those defending vets, I have nothing against them and I have great admiration for their training and dedication. I used to be a model client too, paid my bills on time, never questioned them in any way but in the end I just felt like they were laughing at us and had no respect for us either. However, the vets I have used for the last 8 years have changed a lot and certainly recently deserve every bit of criticism I give them.

In fact sometimes I hope the one that ruined my mare's last weeks at our yard before she went to her loan home is a member of this forum and recognises herself and learns to keep her unprofessional trap shut and not engage in harmful speculation about an incident no human being witnessed.

and Maesfen, too right you should have, you should have invented some other stuff to charge them for too.
 
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