In May 2024, the CMA launched a market investigation into veterinary services for household pets in the UK. As part of the investigation, we were commissioned to conduct qualitative research on the experiences and views of veterinary professionals.

Between September and November 2024, we conducted 100 in-depth interviews with veterinary professionals at first opinion practices across the UK, including 80 veterinary surgeons and 20 nurses.

Our methodology prioritised rigour, with systematic recruitment from the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons list. To reduce the potential for self-selection bias, we used consecutive random sampling and invite-only participation.

We made significant efforts to ensure that the research did not solely include the easier-to-reach or most available professionals. To achieve this, we conducted multiple recontacting attempts and follow-ups.

Our discussion guide was designed so that insights from the interviews were grounded in concrete, recent examples, with interviews focused on professionals’ most recent cases, to mitigate against ‘cherry-picking’ selective examples in the interviews.

It was fascinating to gain a deeper insight into the market dynamics and operational realities of the UK veterinary sector.