DECEMBER
2005
New
laws relating to the supply of veterinary medicines have come into force this
month.
These
are:
1) The Veterinary Medicines
Regulations 2005 which may be viewed at www.vmd.gov.uk
2) The Supply of Relevant
Veterinary Medicinal Products Order 2005, this DTI order can be seen at www.opsi.gov.uk.
A
more concise explanation of these new regulations can be perused at www.beva.org.uk
This
follows an investigation by the Competitions Commission and changes in European
Law relating to the classification of veterinary medicines. It is an offence to
supply an unauthorised veterinary medicinal product but it is now also an
offence to be in possession or administer an unauthorised product.
We
are now obliged to inform our clients that:
·
Prescriptions
are available from this practice.
·
You
may obtain prescription only medicines (POM V) from us as your veterinary
surgeons or ask for a prescription and obtain these medicines from another
veterinary surgeon or a pharmacy. We will require 48 hours notice to supply a
prescription.
·
We
may only prescribe POM Vs for animals under our care
·
A
prescription may not be appropriate if your animal is an in-patient or
immediate treatment is necessary.
·
You
will be informed, on request, of the price of any medicine that may be
prescribed for your animal.
·
The
general policy of this practice is to reassess an animal requiring repeat
prescriptions every three months, but this may vary with individual
circumstances.
·
The
current prices for the ten large animal POMV most commonly prescribed during
September, October & November were:
1. Terramycin Aerosol £9.25
2. Oxytetrin LA £20.85
3. Synulox Injection £36.47
4. Ceva Chlamydophila £58.00
5. Cepravin Dry Cow £39.75
6. Toxovax 20 Dose £54.63
7. Penstrep £14.42
8. Leo Yellow £52.64
9. Cephaguard DC £34.00
10. Synulox LC 24 £71.44
All
prices are excluding VAT and
Administering/Dispensing fee.
Further
information on the price of medicines is available on request.
Please
note that under the new Regulations the horse is considered a food producing
animal unless it has been declared
in its passport as not being intended for human consumption. Please therefore
have your horse passports available for the vet to complete when the animal is
presented for treatment, this includes routine vaccinations, as legally we are
now obliged to record in the keepers records if we have administered a
veterinary medicine to your horse.
Similarly
the owner or keeper of a food producing animal must keep proof of purchase of
all veterinary medicinal products (including wormers) acquired for those
animals for 5 years. It is an offence to fail to comply with this regulation.
As
always if you have any queries regarding any of the above please do not
hesitate to contact us and we will try to help clarify the situation!
With
best wishes from all of us at Westmorland Veterinary Group for Christmas and
the New Year