Competition Commission recommendations to be implemented through self-regulation

The Department of Trade and Industry has agreed that chief elements of the Competition Commission's recommendations on the provision of prescription-only medicines (POMs) will be implemented through the RCVS Guide to Professional Conduct.

"RCVS Council decided that it would be better to include the recommendations in the Guide, where possible, rather than see them in legislation and I am pleased that we have been able to achieve this.  This follows several years of discussion with government and other veterinary bodies such as the BVA," comments Stephen Ware MRCVS, Chairman of the RCVS Competition Commission Working Party.

Implementation through the Guide will be restricted to those elements of the draft Order that increase the transparency of medicine pricing and the availability of prescriptions from veterinary surgeons.  

Those recommendations to be included in the Guide (ie 3, 4 and 5 of the original draft Order) will not be appear in the final Order put before Parliament and enacted. They concern the provision of information (written and verbal) on POM supply, availability and charging; the need to produce itemised bills to distinguish the costs of services from the cost of POMs; and guidelines on repeat prescriptions.

To make such additions workable, the Guide will be modified to remove the current restrictions on vets publishing prices for veterinary medicines.

"More straightforward language can be employed in the Guide than in an Order, allowing, as elsewhere in the Guide, for a veterinary surgeon's professional judgement to be used. In addition, these new measures will be consolidated sensibly with previous guidance on the provision of information about fee estimates and prescriptions," according to Mr Ware (pictured below).

"Implementation through the Guide allows the profession to maintain its self-regulation. This is preferable to the recommendations being implemented by an Order made under the Fair Trading Act 1973, which would subject veterinary surgeons to the enforcement machinery of the OFT. Instead, enforcement will be through the RCVS's disciplinary process and the provisions of the Practice Standards Scheme," he adds.

These changes will take effect subject to the RCVS Council Meeting on 3 November, where exact wording will be agreed, and be incorporated into the online Guide at this point. They will be brought to the attention of members in the November issue of RCVS News, and a hard copy of the updated Guide will be mailed out in January 2006.

RCVS Council agreed that it would not be appropriate for those recommendations which it can not or does not wish to enforce to be implemented through the Guide. Thus the recommendation for a zero prescription fee will not appear in the Guide; it will, however, be included in the Order.

RCVS members are reminded that one of the ten guiding principles of the Guide to Professional Conduct is that veterinary surgeons should familiarise themselves with, and observe, the relevant legislation in relation to their obligations as professionals, employers, employees and business owners.