Using the VPIS Service

Re: Using the VPIS Service

Alexander Campbell — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 17:48:40 GMT

Hi Caro

Thanks for this response - Obviously most of the responders came from veterinarians or practice managers - so its good to hear alternative views, and we will certainly try and take these into account..

Our problem is one of having to charge or there won't be a service at all - or worse that it won't be available out of hours. What we are desperate to avoid is the cost being a deterrent to people calling the service if they need to, becuase if that happened then animals may not get the optimum treatment they deserve when they have accidents!

The problem we also had was that raising the annual fee was causing a lot of the smaller veterinary practices to not renew their memberships as they did not call us very often and they felt it was getting too expensive for them. In some ways they were subsidizing the real regulars or the large group practice organisations. We are hoping that this will redress that slightly and therefore that we can keep the fees as low as possible.

Our modelling aims to ensure that the "bundles" provide a much reduced call charge rate for heavy users.

I should also stress that we currently make no profit at all - and we must get to being cost neutral.

I agree the problem about telephone triage is an issue. As part of the consulatation we did ask for views about whether we should become public access and use an income generating number for that service but there was a definite view that we should NOT do this.

So we'll keep your comment in mind when the final details are being ironed out.

Thanks for the feedback!

Alex

Re: Using the VPIS Service

Alexander Campbell — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 17:44:29 GMT

You were not the only one by any stretch.

We believe it was a quite deliberate attempt by the competition to confuse and to pass themsleves off as us. We had to resort to threatening legal action. They have now withdrawn the logo and I believe have changed their name.

I suppose the fact that they felt they had to resort to such underhand tactics meant they felt we were going to bedifficult to compete with - so I think that's a compliment - albeit an odd one.

We were concerned about the USA base as its hard to see how a USA based organisation will have data on all Uk products etc - and cases referred abroad would be lost to follow up and reporting here, and therefore not benefit UK vets and vet nurses in future.

Cheers

Alex

Re: Using the VPIS Service

Fiona Leathers — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 17:15:48 GMT

Alex - is that the letter that we got sent??? If so, I never realised and I apologise for linking the 2 together!! Actually reading the small print at the bottom leads you to it being a company rather than the VPIS. We got this letter round about the time of the threaten closure & I've just put 2+2 together and got 93!! Sorry!

Re: Using the VPIS Service

Caro Laithwaite VN — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 16:48:26 GMT

That will be very difficult for where l am (sent you a pm Alex) as we take calls from the public and ring vpis to determine if they need to come in to us. I would say about 70+% of the calls l make fall into this catagory. And the other nurses also do the same.

So it would be difficult and may cause a lot of problems as people will have to come down regardless of if the animal needs help or not and have a vets fee and a poisons fee slapped on them. Or possibly a nurses fee and a big phone call fee.

More importantly it means taking longer to get help as we have to get the animals into us first. then ring so that we can charge. At the moment we can have everything set up if they have to come in.

There is already a lot of controversy about vets fees and this is not going to help. I think it would be better to have the flat fee possibly raise a bit for those like the situation l work at and the other for other vets who possibly do not get a lot of calls and want a bundled charge or to pay for separate calls as they do not see a lot of poisoning cases and may well have the animals in and able to charge differently.

Well call that a view from the ground floor and someone who has made a fair few calls to vpis.

Re: Using the VPIS Service

Alexander Campbell — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 13:37:39 GMT

Hi everyone!

I've just logged on and noticed this thread - so as head of the service I thought I'd better clarify the situation.

Currently, up to end of March 2010, the old subscription system of a one-off fee allowing unlimited access is still operating. The fee, as before, is generally dependent on the number of vets in the practice.

You may have been aware we were threatened with closure if we could not make this service cost-neutral to our hosting organisation. To ensure the 24 hour nature of the service (and 50% of your calls are out of hours) we need to generate more income. hence we will be introcuing a pay as you go sort of compnent as of next year.

The annual "membership" fee will be significantly reduced, and will include a few calls.

After that usage will be more on a pay as you go system. However, we hope to introduce a system whereby practices can buy "bundles" of enquiries - and thereby tailor their subscription to their avergae usage. By doing so they will get calls at more cost effective rates. We envisage sending practices statements of their calls - so they can consider passing charges on to clients if they wish. In a recent consultation many vets said that was what they'd prefer.

We are still developing our new database and new website (www.vpisuk.co.uk) to incorporate some of these features. Full details will be available iand widely publicised n due course.

Some of the confusion abput charging probably arose because a company with an almost identical name and logo started a pay as you go service in late March this year. It turned out that calls made to them were transferred to a centre in the USA. They were charging £35 + vat for this. They were in NO WAY related to the VPIS service that was developed in the UK and which started officially in 1992.

If you have further questions about this please drop me a line.

Cheers - Alex Campbell

Re: Using the VPIS Service

Kim Buckley — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 20:20:40 GMT

We use it all the time. Oh well. Get our moneys worth I suppose Does everyone have to go pay as you go or can you still get a subscription if you want to?

Re: Using the VPIS Service

Sandra Taylor RVN, MBVNA — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 19:54:18 GMT

I have used it twice this week, both within an hour of one another.

1 lab....surprise surprise had eaten 50 diclofenac 50mg tabs and another dog, ate 50 5mg preds.

Re: Using the VPIS Service

Caro Laithwaite VN — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 15:29:20 GMT

Use it loads. God knows why they still want the number when l may have spoken to them 2 times+ before the same night and they know me... oh well guess it is "protocol"

Re: Using the VPIS Service

Fiona Leathers — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 14:49:30 GMT

Maybe not enough people know about it, thats why they were re-launching! Only had to use it a couple of times in practice but I think it was well worth the subscription money anyway!!

Re: Using the VPIS Service

Claire Cameron — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 13:48:09 GMT

[quote user="Bouncyfi"]This is the letter we received from them in March stating that they were starting a "Pay as you go", so its not a new thing[/quote]

Ahh they said at London Vet Show it was new. eeeh you learn something new everyday Thanks Fi

Re: Using the VPIS Service

Fiona Leathers — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 12:56:52 GMT

www.vetnurse.co.uk/.../5661.VPIS-letter.pdf

This is the letter we received from them in March stating that they were starting a "Pay as you go", so its not a new thing

Re: Using the VPIS Service

Claire Cameron — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 20:38:52 GMT

Hiya

I spoke to the VPIS and it costs £165 annual membership, no charge per call. Membership runs April to April and no reduction if part year.

They will be starting a 'pay as you use' system shortly

Re: Using the VPIS Service

Fiona Leathers — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 20:36:41 GMT

I think this year, it was changed to a fee for each phone call rather that a yearly subscription, because not enough people were subscribing. I think each phone is £35 + VAT and the practice get charged after. We just charge the client the amount - usually they are more than happy to pay. I've got a letter at work regarding it, so I'll check it out tomorrow

Re: Using the VPIS Service

sjcafi — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 20:12:46 GMT

Thought it may have been just a subscription. Boss charging owners for any phonecall to the vpis. Thanks all for info.

Re: Using the VPIS Service

Maisy — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 17:31:52 GMT

[quote user="loobylou"]

We use them and I wasnt aware they charged for each call, thought it was a yearly subscription fee. We certainly dont charge extra to our clients and the boss is pretty good at finding extra things to charge for

[/quote]

Hahaha!! I've noticed in a few places there have been additional VPIS fees added to clients bills if their service is needed, though haven't dealt with poisoning in a little while. Think it is just the yearly subscription fee that is paid rather than additional calls as well, so guess the client fee is added to pay for subs?

Re: Using the VPIS Service

loobylou — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 17:27:24 GMT

Re: Using the VPIS Service

Maisy — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 16:24:40 GMT

Though thinking about it, didn't they change their subscriptions this year? I'm wondering now if practices don't get charged for calls anymore and it is all part of the subscription fee. Hopefully someone can let you know soon!

Re: Using the VPIS Service

Maisy — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 16:21:02 GMT

I think they invoice the practice after calls have been made, so normally there is an additional cost added to the clients bill for this