In a world where corporate-owned veterinary practices continue to rise, the natural question you may have is: corporate vs independent, which is better? Perhaps the answer to this lays in some part as to what the individual pet owner seeks as veterinary care for their pet. It is important to note that vets everywhere, working in a range of business set-ups, want the best for their patients. However, there are some differences between the business models of independent and corporate practices that it might be worth noting when choosing a vet practice to care for your pet.
How independent practices work
Independent practices such as our own, are sometimes viewed as the ‘traditional’ type. This is in many ways a label that we welcome due to our general ethos, so long as it isn’t mistaken for ‘old-fashioned’. We pride ourselves on staying at the forefront of the profession in terms of facilities, equipment, and treatment protocols, and here we explain how being independent helps us to do so.
The vast majority of independent practices are owned by vets (just as our practice is) and have the beauty of having decision makers who are veterinary trained and working at ground level.
The corporate way
Comparatively, corporate-owned companies (some of whom own hundreds of practices) have a more complicated web of directors and shareholders some of whom are not veterinary trained. This can mean ‘standardisation’. In addition, it is common for corporate vets to be required to work within predetermined parameters whereas practices like ours have more freedom and flexibility
Getting to know your vet.
Continuity of care can be better at independent practices which is not only great for pets, but it also serves as great satisfaction for our team who get to know their client/pet base and build great working relationships often seeing cases through to the end.
A local service
Our independence from corporates also allows us to tailor our care to the surrounding demographic of patients. Veterinary care has never been a one-size-fits-all thing, even across regions and counties, pets face different health challenges.
In conclusion, pets are individuals and have their own specific set of needs; as an independently owned practice we have huge scope to be able to respond to those needs in the best possible way. We can choose which medications, laboratories and wholesalers we use, and what is best for our clients and patients.
We strive to provide the best in veterinary care
