How to follow up booster and pet health plan reminders

To follow up booster and health plan reminders, work three lists every week: the owners who were reminded and did not book, the plan members whose direct debit failed, and the plans coming up for renewal. Your practice system already sends the first reminder. What it does not do is notice the silence afterwards, offer dates and book from the reply, and that is the part a practice can work on to lift booster uptake. An AI worker can do that in writing. What a late vaccination means for the animal is a question for a vet, and so is any worry an owner raises.

Three dates that put a name on a list

When a vet vaccinates an animal, the system records when the next one is due and sends the reminder by rule. A health plan adds two more dates: the monthly payment, and the day the plan renews.

After the reminder: who does what

1. The system sends the booster reminder. Nobody touches it.

2. The unanswered ones are found. A receptionist compares reminders sent with appointments made, when an afternoon allows.

3. The owner is tried again. By phone or message, one owner at a time.

4. The booster is booked and confirmed. Reception books the appointment type the practice uses for boosters and confirms it.

5. Failed plan payments. The practice manager, or the plan provider, reports the direct debits that did not collect. Someone contacts each owner and decides what happens to the benefits meanwhile.

6. Renewals. A plan that renews each year needs the owner told beforehand.

7. The record. Owners who have moved, changed practice or lost their animal are taken off the reminders.

What the CMA's Order adds

The CMA made its Order on veterinary services in September 2026, for the whole UK. Three parts touch this job. Under Article 9 a practice offering a pet care plan must publish what the plan includes, how often each service can be used, its monthly and annual price, the standalone price of each service and the cancellation terms. Where an annual plan "automatically renews", the business "must send a reminder to the Pet Owner before the renewal takes effect". Under Article 7 the first digital message confirming a consultation booking must include the consultation price and a link to the published price list; the CMA's guidance, not the Order, says it should also carry the price of "any pre-booked standard treatments". The compliance date for both is 22 December 2026 for a business with 15 or more first opinion practices or out-of-hours centres, and 22 March 2027 for a smaller one.

Changes to make before the next reminder run

• Check the record before every send. The worst message a practice can send is a booster reminder for an animal that has died.

• Put appointment times in the message. An owner can accept one by replying.

• Set the rule for lateness with your vets. Decide how far past the due date an ordinary booster appointment can still be offered, and when the booking goes to a vet instead.

• Work failed payments in the week they fail. Contact the owner while the missed payment is still the only one.

• Put renewal dates on a list now. For a plan that renews automatically, the reminder becomes a requirement.

Working the three lists: what an AI worker can do

An AI worker can take on the written follow-up on all three lists, by rules the practice sets. The worker has written duties, a named person at the practice to answer to and a review each month. For this job it can keep one register of the dates, check each animal's record before anything is sent, and follow up unanswered booster reminders by email with dates to choose from, in wording you have approved. It can book from the reply by your rules and send a confirmation carrying the fee and the price list link. It can list the plan members whose payment failed, send them your standard message, and send the renewal reminder ahead of each plan's date. Each week your practice manager gets what is left: who has not answered, whose payment has still not come in. The role is specified on renewals and expiry tracking, the booking side on diary and scheduling, and the insurance claims, histories and unpaid bills that reach the same reception are on our page for veterinary practices.

What goes to a vet or the practice manager

• A late vaccination. Past the point your vets have set, the agent does not book an ordinary booster. What the animal needs is a vet's decision.

• Any concern about an animal. Where an animal may need emergency attention, RCVS guidance says the veterinary surgeon "should decide and advise whether attention is required immediately, or can reasonably be delayed", and that support staff should not "suggest a diagnosis or clinical opinion". An owner who replies that the animal is unwell is passed straight to your team with what they wrote, and given your published out-of-hours details.

• A reply that the animal has died. It goes to a person, at once, and the reminders stop.

• Plan decisions. Cancelling a plan, allowing time to pay, refunding or reclaiming a discount are the practice manager's, and so is what the plan's published information says.

• Phone calls. Owners who do not answer email stay on reception's list.

Figures and rules to have to hand

• Last quarter's reminders sent against boosters booked.

• The list of failed plan payments, and where it comes from.

• Your vets' rule on lateness, in writing.

• The bookable appointment types, your price list's address and the message wording.

• Each plan's renewal date and your cancellation terms.

Our article on scaling a veterinary practice without hiring more staff sets these lists beside the rest of the desk's work.

The booster, payment and renewal lists would be an AI worker's to work by your rules, and anything about an animal would be for your vets to decide. Lists kept for a quiet afternoon wait for one that never comes. Talk to our agent.