Omlet Smart Autodoor - New in box

[Old Speckled Hen]

Panorama 9pm tonight

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00t66pb

 

Frightening. The Vet press is full of this and I feel I have to apologise before even seeing it

I'll have to come out of the retirement closet now and admit this was my profession. The vet chain under scrutiny is the Kentucky Fried Chicken of the profession and when they moved into my neighbourhood I got wind of some hairy stories from that direction.

I thank heavens most of my working life was spent in my own one and a half girl vet band. In advance ...... only a few of us are bad and a good many of us are beyond excellence.

[Jools]

I'm not sure I can bear to watch it OSH. I did see the Bionic Vet the other night for the first time and that moved me to tears .... mind you, everything does at the moment.

 

I've been blessed with vets from Towcester to Appleby to Broughton. I don't know what I'd do without a vet I didn't trust 100%.

[The Dogmother]

Thanks OSH, I half-saw it in the paper this morning but didn't have time to read it. I will try to watch this.

 

I am lucky in having an excellent vet here in Banbury.

[The Dogmother]

It seems that is is largely about Medivet, who are contesting it already on their website

[Reikiranf]

I guessed it may be about them, when my old vet sold his practice to them as he couldn't find an independent vet to take it over I changed vet, but having got a couple of kittens from CPL I did get them neutered at the old practice as they charged half the price of my current vet and although I had a neutering voucher I wanted to cost CPL as little as possible.

[LuckyChickenLover-]

Not looking forward to watching tonight. But I kind of feel that I should.

[Old Speckled Hen]

One problem is that anybody can now own a veterinary provider so that means that a business can now employ veterinary surgeons to earn money for them.

I think this came about maybe 10 years ago...maybe more I'm sure MediVet have vets on the board however.

I have talked to new graduates employed by MV and they are put on a selling course before they are allowed near clients. I am so ashamed of this attitude. I had hordes of new clients when my neighbour sold out to them, mostly because of the blatant overcharging and creation of un needed work up.

Smoke and fire, yes but having said that, I was married to a journo for nigh on 20 years and I know how stories work and most of us will see through the trees hopefully.

I always liked Jeremy Vine on Eggheads

[Patricia W]

We've got a couple of lovely vets at the end of my road. A young married couple - and he used to keep chickens- so very convenient for me! In fact, I think all the vets in our local area are OK.

 

Tricia

[WarrensWorld]

We've two fantastic Vets Ronan, and Niall, and guess what they love Chickens and Dogs. If you're over here with your Dog, and have a problem you'll find them at the 'Animal Hospital' in Castlebar.....

[Lewis]

Will have to Sky+ this.

 

Not heard about it 'till you mentioned it. The work exp vets were fine, no problems there

 

... have heard horror stories at the farms though (both used the same vet ) with the way he treated one horse in particular, £1000s and months later the horse is starting to look a bit better.

 

I was looking online, as you do, and looks like he's been to a few hearings, inc one giving a racing greyhound prohibited drugs ... still practising they don't use them anymore!

[bigmommasally]

I use South Woodham Ferrers Medivet for my bunnies, since my previous vet sold out to them. I have been reallly happy with them. The neuturing for each of my buns was around £38. I know friends who have paid double that at other vets. The vaccinations are reasonably priced (under £20) and they know how to do the myxi jab properly. They always give the buns a good check over every visit including checking their teeth. So I am a happy Medivet customer.

[Griffin]

My local vets were bought out by Medivet a couple of years ago. Almost overnight the majority of staff left and I wasn't overly keen on their replacements. The best vet in all the world had left and I just didn't get on with anyone else there. Thankfully I don't have to go there very often, my cats & dogs are all fit and well. I take my chickens to a specialist avian vet about 14 miles away in Swindon and I've just registered our new rabbit there with him. They only take cats & dogs as referrals from other vets for specialist treatment so I need to keep mine registered with the Medivet surgery nearby. I could've taken Jessica Rabbit there for her vaccinations and to be neutered but I don't trust them. I know I'm paying through the nose for her at the specialists, £88 for myxi & vhd vaccinations and treatment for ear mites, plus nearly £100 to have her spayed, but I guess you get what you pay for. We'd be heartbroken if anything happened to her when she's spayed but if the worst did happen at the Medivet surgery I'd blame myself. She's my responsibility and I have very little faith in Medivet.

[Chucky Mama]

I'm near Swindon Griffin {waves} where are you?

[majuka]

I'm in two minds whether I should watch this or not. They are discussing it on my dog forum - I think it is something that will make me very angry.

[Griffin]

I'm near Swindon Griffin {waves} where are you?

Faringdon

[Patricia W]

Did anybody watch it? I was out.

 

Tricia

[Jools]

Not me, I chickened out.

[scarlettohara]

I did - it was horrible

[Chucky Mama]

I did, Medivet go a right royal hammering. It was based around them and on one vet (who has since been struck off) in particular. Thankfully it wasn't the standard 'all vets are crooks' type bashing that normally goes on. It was undercover footage showing poor practise, inappropriate behaviour, inexperienced staff carrying out - or a rather failing to carry out, procedures and a bit of dodgy billing and misdiagnosing. All fairly damnning really and difficult to defend. How much it will help I don't know. Medivet is hoovering up so many small vets that if you don't want to go to them in some areas, you are stumped. However, we mustn't tar all Medivet vets with the same brush. I feel sorry for all the good Medivet staff out there.

[ISCA]

I did not watch the programme but have heard about it. I have never heard of Medivets and only use independent owner-run veterinary practices myself. However, if this was all the damning evidence Panorama could find, shocking though the individual situations may be, we probably have little to worry about. The UK have the finest vet schools in the world and I personally have never had any problems with the care provided by my vets and costs remain reasonable when you consider the overheads of running a veterinary practice. If I had to cost and charge NHS patients for the care they received they would soon realise how cheap animal medical costs actually are!

 

I have noticed Pets at Home have vet clinics in their stores now, whatever next...GPs in Tesco?!!!

[Griffin]

I have noticed Pets at Home have vet clinics in their stores now, whatever next...GPs in Tesco?!!!

Actually one of the best vets I've known owned a Companion Care franchise in a Pets@Home store. He went above and beyond the call of duty to help in the battle to save one of my handreared kittens. Either him or his colleague was always on the end of the phone late at night or early in the morning and when it became clear little Artemise had had enough he met me at the surgery at almost 11pm to help her on her way and didn't charge my branch of Cats Protection. At the time theirs was the only surgery open routinely on a Sunday too, so by using them I didn't have to pay ridiculously high out-of-hours fees on a Sunday. He also saved my Springer Spaniels life twice with emergency surgery after the idiotic dog swallowed stones that got stuck in her intestines If there were Knighthoods for vets he deserved one

[Egluntyne]

I have noticed Pets at Home have vet clinics in their stores now, whatever next...GPs in Tesco?!!!

 

There is a walk in clinic in a Sainsbury's near me.

[Olly]

I watched it (had to close my eyes at some bits ... although no animals were harmed apparently, imagine how you would feel to see that your cat or dog was being worked on by someone too inexperienced to insert a catheter ... ) but I did feel it was really about this one disreputable vet, rather than Medivet as a whole. Obviously they were responsible to the extent that their procedures should have prevented this happening, but a rogue vet, doctor, therapist, or whatever will always circumvent the systems.

 

I don't have a Medivet locally, I have an excellent local practice, but even there I don't see the same vet every time I go, and I think a lot of it is about building a relationship with an individual vet, especially if you have an old or chronically sick animal.

 

As far as vets within PetsAtHome are concerned, well we already see opticians and pharmacists in the supermarket, GPs clinics as mentioned above, we will be seeing lawyers in the supermarket in a year or two - they can keep the overheads down and offer a cheaper service, and as long as they are still regulated properly by the relevant professional body, good luck to them. I still prefer to use an independent optician, dentist and so on - while they still exist.

[donald]

HI

 

There were some very bad points to this programme but I do think it was very tabloidish too. The vet being half hour late was just ridiculous criticism(there was no mention why they were late ie could have been on an emergency etc) Also leaving a nurse in charge etc I cannot see a vet staying in a hospital 24hours a day(that doesnt even happen in private human hospitals) etc. And supervision role of a vet over a nurse it was not very clear as he could have left verbal/written instructions for her to treat the animal if she was competent.

 

Having to practice on animals ie taking blood happens to humans too. It is common for anyone who needs to learn these skills in humans to do it this way. My 2 day old baby was pinned down and the screams could be heard down the ward and beyond, it was very distressing to watch, I helped the doctor and it was just cruel but the only way. To sedate a baby would have carried more risks etc

 

Unfortuantely with animals it can be cruel to be kind and you cant mess with them.

 

I do not understand the dreadful treatment the poor dog post operatively who had just had a leg amputated was chased around the back room. This was completely cruel and inexcusable. I think the attitude of the male nurse (who subsequently got promoted) was very big headed and he was not very compassionate, a complete unprofessional

 

There were aspects of the programme which were terrible but I bet Medivets isnt the only place where this goes on.

One independant vet where I lived a few years ago changed my dogs antibiotics to "more expensive ones as you have pet insurance"!!!! He wasnt part of medivet and when I moved house my new independant vet took the dog off all medication and it never had a problem again!

 

There is good and bad in all professions. Donald