I WOULD like to make a point regarding the way veterinary services are going, in particular the price of out-of-hours veterinary care.

It seems to be the norm now that large corporates are buying up smaller veterinary practices, leaving limited choice for customers.

Those practices that are not bought out very often offload their out of hours work to those same large corporates.

These large companies then cover all the out of hours work within an area, charging huge prices and leaving clients to travel long distances in emergency situations.

It also appears that there is no regulation over what charges are made by vets as the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons states: "The RCVS has no specific jurisdiction under the Veterinary Surgeons Act 1966 over the level of fees charged by veterinary practices.

"There are no statutory charges and fees are essentially a matter for negotiation between veterinary surgeon and client".

Many years ago I trained to be a Registered Nurse.

I knew, being in a professional such as that, that I would not be working a nine-to-five existence so why are many vets now offloading their out-of-hours commitments to such large companies

I know prices have to be higher outside surgery hours and I know some vets work very long hours but by using such conglomerates people cannot afford to have their animals treated.

I know there is insurances but even so, hiking prices just means insurances also become unaffordable. If this is the way forward I really worry for the future.

Mrs K Owen by email