CMA Written Prescription Rules for UK Vet Practices

What the CMA requires on written prescriptions

The CMA's veterinary-sector reforms give pet owners a clearer route to buy prescribed medicines somewhere other than the practice, and they place two distinct obligations on the practice: a standing requirement to publicise the right, and a per-consultation requirement to offer it. These are easy to conflate, and the difference matters for getting compliance right.

This guide separates the two obligations, sets out exactly what the guidance requires you to say, and — just as important — what it does not.

The standing obligation: publicise the right

The first requirement is to make the right to a written prescription, and the option to buy elsewhere, generally known. The CMA's guidance for practices states that "You must publicise to pet owners their ability to request a written prescription (which they can use to buy medicines elsewhere) and that medicines may be cheaper elsewhere."

Two facts have to be publicised together:

• That an owner can request a written prescription, which they can then use to buy the medicine from another supplier.
• That medicines may be cheaper elsewhere — the practice is not the only place to fill the prescription, and buying elsewhere can cost less.

This is a publicising obligation. It is met through visible, standing information — the kind of statement that sits where clients will see it, rather than something said only when asked.

The per-consultation obligation: offer it out loud

Separately, the reforms place a duty on the vet at the point of prescribing. The guidance requires that "Vets must orally offer pet owners a choice of a written prescription during each consultation in which medicine is prescribed."

Read that carefully:

• It is oral — the offer is made out loud in the consultation, not left to a poster or a footer on the invoice.
• It is every consultation in which medicine is prescribed — not the first, not on request, but each time a medicine is prescribed.
• It is a choice — the owner is offered the option of a written prescription, which they can accept or decline.

This is the obligation most dependent on team behaviour, because it lives in the consult room. A poster in reception does not discharge it; the vet has to make the offer each time.

What you do not have to say

The reforms draw one boundary that is worth stating plainly, because it stops practices over-engineering the consult-room script. While you must publicise generally that medicines may be cheaper elsewhere, the guidance is clear that "You do not need to say that the medicine may be cheaper elsewhere in the consultation."

So the two obligations split cleanly:

• Publicise that medicines may be cheaper elsewhere — yes, as standing information.
• Say in the consultation that this particular medicine may be cheaper elsewhere — not required.

What the vet must do in the consultation is offer the written prescription. The "may be cheaper elsewhere" message is a publicising duty, not a line the clinician has to deliver at every prescribing moment.

Making both obligations reliable

Because the two duties have different homes — one in your standing information, one in clinical behaviour — they need different controls:

1. Set up the standing information. Put a clear statement where clients see it that they can request a written prescription, use it to buy medicines elsewhere, and that medicines may be cheaper elsewhere. This is the publicising obligation, met once and maintained.
2. Build the oral offer into the consult. Make "offer a written prescription" a standard step whenever a medicine is prescribed, so it does not depend on the individual vet remembering. Briefing the clinical team on the per-consultation duty is the part most likely to be missed.
3. Keep prescription handling tidy. The right to a written prescription connects to the prescription fee caps — what you can charge for issuing one — and to your itemised bills, where the prescription fee should appear as its own line.
4. Train new starters on both. A new vet needs the per-consultation offer in their onboarding, and the front desk needs to know where the standing information lives.

How this fits the wider CMA package

The written-prescription rules are part of the CMA's medicines-transparency workstream, sitting alongside published price lists, written estimates, prescription fee caps, ownership disclosure, and a documented complaints process. Sequencing the whole package is what the CMA preparation timeline is for, and the CMA compliance self-assessment tool flags which remedies your practice still has open. Run as one workstream inside your governance cycle, the package is manageable for an independent practice.

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This guide reflects the CMA's published guidance for veterinary businesses as of August 2026. It is general compliance information, not legal advice. The binding detail, including the exact implementation deadlines, will be set out in the CMA Orders. Verify the current position against the CMA's guidance for veterinary businesses and consult your defence body for practice-specific advice.