UK-based veterinary business chain VetPartners is in the process of acquiring a veterinary practice in Midleton, Co. Cork.

The proposed acquisition by VetPartners Practices Ireland of Midleton Veterinary Hospital has been notified to the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC).

The notification date is listed as today (Wednesday, July 31).

VetPartners Practices Ireland owns and operates veterinary practices across the state. VetPartners Practices Ireland is an indirect subsidiary of VetPartners, a UK-based veterinary services provider.

The wider VetPartners Group is active in France, Germany, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, Portugal and Switzerland.

VetPartners was established in October 2015, and is made up of several small animal, equine, mixed and farm practices and production animal health businesses.

The veterinary business also has a network of referral practices to support vets to offer specialist care for small animals and equines.

VetPartners has over 11,000 employees and 650 sites across all countries, and also operates a equine nursing school, laboratories, a research dairy, a locum agency, and pet crematoriums.

Midleton Veterinary Hospital is a veterinary practice located in Midleton, Co. Cork, which provides a range of different veterinary services.

It is a multivet veterinary practice covering both large and small animals.

Its veterinary team is led by Liam O'Reilly, who has completed advanced courses in surgery, medicine and scanning. He is assisted by six other vets. All veterinary surgeons attend courses on an ongoing basis.

The veterinary nursing team consists of four nurses. Like the vets, they attend courses on a regular basis. They assist the veterinary surgeons at surgery and also offer advice on worming, flea treatment, diets and weight control.

The CCPC has said that submissions from third parties on the acquisitions are due by August 14.

In other veterinary-related news, the Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA) has put “a number of key areas” - which it says “must be addressed” in the ongoing veterinary medicines debate - to the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine.

Farm organisations and other stakeholders met with the department yesterday (Wednesday, July 31), to discuss the proposed changes under the Veterinary Medicinal Products, Medicated Feed and Fertilisers Regulation Bill 2023.

Veterinary practitioners, merchants and farm organisations have all raised concerns about the statutory instrument (SI) of the bill which is expected to be signed by Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine Charlie McConalogue “shortly”.

The SI would see significant changes to prescription rules and the route of supply of veterinary medicines, including some vaccines. The act provided Minister McConalogue with the powers to create regulations under the act.