A survey conducted by the RCVS revealed that veterinary surgeons were deemed the most trusted professionals by members of the public.
The survey, conducted using 2,000 individuals across the UK, asked participants about their level of satisfaction with vets, how much value for money their vet provided, and their level of trust in the profession.
Some 94% of participants either completely trusted or generally trusted their vets (34% and 60% respectively).
This placed veterinary surgeons as the third most trusted profession in the UK, below only opticians and pharmacists.
Satisfaction levels were also high, with 80% of participants either very satisfied or satisfied with their vets. This marked veterinary science as the fourth highest profession for satisfaction rates, behind opticians, pharmacists and dentists.
Only 32% of respondents believed that veterinary surgeons represented excellent or good value for money. Some 29% believe they provided poor or very poor value for money.
President Dr Niall Connell said: “These results clearly demonstrate that there is a great deal of good will towards the veterinary profession and the work they do in treating the nation’s animals and serving their communities.
“The basis of all good relationships is trust, and it is fantastic to see that our clients continue overwhelmingly to trust our knowledge and expertise and remain very happy with the service we provide them.”
He added: “The picture on value for money is clearly a bit more mixed, although clearly 70% of the respondents recognise that we at least charge fair fees in terms of our time and expertise.
“There is, of course, always more work that we can do in order to help the public understand veterinary costs and fees and promote the value of veterinary care, as demonstrated by last year’s joint Pets Need Vets social media campaign with BVA, in which we highlighted the benefits to pet owners of being registered with a vet.”
