Royal Canin and Vets: Stay, Go, Diversify will be holding a month-long free CPD webinar series on mental health in the veterinary profession.

The company says the webinars will equip veterinary professionals with strategies to strengthen wellbeing both individually and for practice teams.

Lauren Hayes, Scientific and Regulatory Affairs Manager at Royal Canin, said: “Working within clinical veterinary practice can be hugely rewarding and enriching, but it cannot be ignored that our industry also has its challenges.

"Veterinary surgeons have a significantly higher risk of suicide compared to the general population and mental health issues around work life balance and compassion fatigue are widespread.

"Through our webinar series, we hope to encourage conversations around mental health and help provide advice directly from leading experts.” 

The one-hour webinars will take place at 7pm every Wednesday throughout September.  

1. 7th September with Dr Rosie Allister, Insight to impact: how can we support collective mental health?
2. 14th September, Adrian Nelson Pratt, Building better workplaces - real stories from those finding their sweet spot in general practice
3. 21st September, Carolyne Crowe, Assertive Conversations
4. 28th September, Katie Ford (pictured right), The Imposter Syndrome Club: Let's get talking!

https://vetportal.royalcanin.co.uk/news/new-veterinary-professional-health-webinar-series/ 

Petplan has announced the finalists for this year's Veterinary Awards. 

This year, there have been over 30,000 nominations for the awards. 

The finalists this year are:

Vet Nurse of the Year
Caroline Jones, Battle Flatts Veterinary Surgery, York
Helen Rooney, Pet Blood Bank, Loughborough
Lesley Ramsey (pictured right), Debenham Veterinary Practice, Stowmarket 

Vet of the Year
Andrew Hayes, Towcester Equine Vets, Towcester
Clare McCabe (pictured right), Claymill Veterinary Clinic, Cookstown
Laurence Behrens, Goddard Veterinary Group, Dagenham

Practice Support Staff of the Year
Rhiannon Lewis, Streatham Hill Vets, Streatham
Laura Cameron, Lomond Veterinary Clinic, Helensburgh
Louise O’ Reilly, Vets4Pets, Llanrumney 

Practice Manager of the Year
Kristen Lorimer, Blue House Veterinary Centre, Stoke-on-Trent
Louise Newman, Blue Cross Vets, Merton
Nicki Ridgeway, Vets4Pets, Ridgeway

Practice of the Year
Hollybank Veterinary Centre, Northwich
Lanes Vets, Poulton
Milfeddygon Williams Vets, Gwynedd 

The awards will be hosted at the Kimpton Clocktower Hotel, Manchester on 23rd March.

Bella von Mesterhazey, Sales & Marketing Director at Petplan, said: “This year’s finalist line-up includes an outstanding array of veterinary professionals and practices, and Petplan is delighted to be celebrating the highest achievements in pet healthcare once again." 

A new study, published in the latest issue of the Journal of Small Animal Practice (JSAP), has found that key surfaces in the small animal veterinary hospital setting are unlikely to be cleaned satisfactorily, potentially posing a risk to both animal and human health.

In the study, Fluorescent tagging for environmental surface cleaning surveillance in a veterinary hospital ¹, researchers at Ohio State University used a fluorescent dye to tag pre-determined surfaces in a large veterinary teaching hospital.

The dye was invisible to the naked eye, but fluoresced under a blacklight (UV-A source). It could be easily removed by regular cleaning.

Surfaces were tagged and then assessed 24 hours after tag placement to determine whether they had been cleaned. Tagging and assessment took place during non-peak hours in an attempt to eliminate observer bias. The study ran for a period of 5.5 weeks between June and July 2014 and a total of 4984 surfaces were tagged and assessed.

Jason Stull, corresponding author of the paper said: "Overall, 50% of surfaces were adequately cleaned so that the tag was completely removed. Cleaning varied widely by surface/object and hospital location. Of the surfaces designated as having primarily human contact, the equipment cart and door handle to the dog walking area were most frequently cleaned (100%), whilst examination equipment including the otoscope, ophthalmoscope and swivel light handle were the least frequently cleaned (2.3%).

"Of the surfaces designated as having primarily animal contact, the ward cage interior was the most frequently cleaned (89.0%) whilst the dog run interior was the least frequently cleaned (23.1%). In terms of hospital location, the most frequently cleaned area was radiology (77.5%) and the least frequently cleaned area was the small animal treatment area (4.2%)."

The overall proportion of surfaces satisfactorily cleaned was similar to that reported in previous studies, however, the findings for some surfaces and hospital areas differed.² This demonstrates the importance of veterinary cleaning surveillance in individual practices so that targeted interventions can be implemented.

Nicholas Jeffery, editor of JSAP said: "With health-care associated infections being a persistent problem in human and veterinary medicine, it is important that surfaces and equipment within the veterinary practice are adequately cleaned. This research demonstrates the potential use of a commercial fluorescent dye for veterinary cleaning surveillance to inform hospital cleaning practices."

The full article can be found in the February issue of the Journal of Small Animal Practice which is free for BSAVA members. It can also be read online here: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jsap.13090 

References

1. G. Langdon, A. E. Hoet, J. W. Stull (2020) Fluorescent tagging for environmental surface cleaning surveillance in a veterinary hospital. Journal of Small Animal Practice, 61 (2). Available at: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jsap.13090
2. J. S. Weese, T. Lowe, M. Walker. (2012) Use of fluorescent tagging for assessment of environmental cleaning and disinfection in a veterinary hospital. Veterinary Record, 171. Available at: https://veterinaryrecord.bmj.com/content/171/9/217.info

Premier Vet Alliance is hosting a one hour webinar: "The Future Practice – Harnessing Technology To Help Your Team" on Thursday 26th May at 7:30pm.

The webinar is presented by Will Stirling, partner at VetsDigital, a digital marketing agency which supports the veterinary industry across Europe.

Will will offer practical advice and guidance on the growing importance of applying digital marketing and the effect it can have on both team morale and the bottom line.

To register for the webinar, visit to: https://tinyl.io/5aIi

Vetoquinol has announced that it has agreed terms to acquire the European Economic area and UK rights to Profender and Drontal from Elanco Animal Health.

The deal is expected to complete by the middle of 2020.

According to the terms of the deal, Vetoquinol will acquire the Profender and Drontal product families, the intellectual property, registrations and other rights currently owned by Bayer AG’s animal health business. 

Jeff Simmons, president and CEO of Elanco said: "We’re pleased with the continued progress on a number of fronts to move the acquisition of Bayer AG’s animal health business toward completion.

Matthieu Frechin, CEO of Vetoquinol, said: "We are very pleased to acquire the Profender and Drontal product lines that are highly valued by veterinarians and pet owners. The acquisition of these two strong brands is at the heart of our strategy. On the one hand, they will significantly increase the size of our business and our visibility in the parasiticide segment, one of our strategic therapeutic areas. On the other hand, they will strengthen our portfolio of Essentials, the engine of our growth."

Pavels Antonovs MRCVS, a Humberside-based locum veterinary surgeon, has been reprimanded by the RCVS Disciplinary Committee for working whilst under the influence of alcohol.

Mr Antonovs faced three charges.

The first was that in September 2020 whilst in practice at Beverley Vets4Pets, he attended work when under the influence of alcohol.

The second was that between September and December 2020, whilst at Peel Veterinary Clinic, he attended work on two occasions when under the influence of alcohol.

The final charge was that between February 2021 and February 2023, Mr Antonovs failed to respond adequately to requests from the RCVS regarding concerns raised about his conduct and/or health.

Mr Antonovs admitted the facts of the charges and the Committee decided that the facts amounted to serious professional misconduct.

The Committee therefore decided, in the particular circumstances of this case, to impose a reprimand and warning as to his future conduct on the basis that it would be proportionate in order to maintain public confidence in the profession and uphold proper standards of conduct and behaviour.

The full details of the hearing and the Committee’s decision can be found at www.rcvs.org.uk/disciplinary

The BSAVA has shared 18 ways veterinary professionals can manage time more effectively.

The tips, put together by Tessa Plagis (communication advisor at St. Anna Advies), Alan Robinson (director of VetDynamics) and Rebecca Robinson (coach at VetDynamics and senior clinician in veterinary anaesthesia at the AHT), are being shared to set the scene for Congress 2023, where international experts will be exploring how time management at organisational, systems, teams and an individual levels can lead to drastic improvements in performance, job satisfaction and wellbeing.

The Association points to the demands on the profession caused by the fact that veterinary professionals have been saying 'yes' to everything for years: yes to more clients, more patients and more overtime.

This, says BSAVA, is taking its toll: experienced practitioners and recent graduates are leaving the profession, and many more are suffering mental and physical health issues associated with sustained high stress.

Tessa Plagis, communication advisor at St. Anna Advies, said: “We are at a tipping point and can’t keep doing what we’ve always done. If we want sustainable veterinary businesses going forward we need to change the structure of how we work.”

Tessa says the issues are both organisational and individual: “Many veterinary professionals struggle to give boundaries.

"We are people pleasers and tend to say ‘yes’, even if that means compromising other important aspects of lives, such as family.

"This set against a background of too few vets, which means that there’s nobody to help us out when there’s too much to-do.”

To find out more about time management, book your ticket for BSAVA Congress at: https://www.bsavaevents.com/bsavacongress2023/en/page/home, and in the meantime, here are Tessa, Alan and Rebecca's time management tips. 

Tessa's tips

• Measure what’s happening now. Double appointments, vets running over, late closing time; pinpoint the problem and get insight into its scale by analysing the current situation.
• Measure how long it takes to do routine procedures from start to finish. Is everyone sticking to their roles and fulling utilising their expertise?
• Keep to time in consults by prioritising and not always doing those extras. When a client comes in for a vaccine but also wants you clip claws, empty anal glands and look at a lump, assess which is urgent and what needs to be dealt with in a second appointment. This does need to be a team-wide approach, otherwise you tend to hear ‘but the other vet will do it.’
• Cluster appointments.  For example, have a morning of cat spays rather than bouncing from a dental to a castration to a spay.  It’s more efficient and has the advantage of giving you, and the nursing team, comparable outcomes to monitor, making anomalies easier to spot.
• Learn to say ‘no’. Focus on what is possible, rather than what’s not.  Instead of ‘we’re fully booked today, the next appointment is tomorrow,’ try ‘the next available appointment is tomorrow.’ Don’t rearrange your schedule to fit theirs.  It’s doesn’t work in the long term.
• Introduce firebreaks. A good technique that stems from human medicine accounts for emergencies. Another tip, which requires a team-wide approach.
• Make clients aware of the length of appointments. ‘We’ve booked you in for a 15min appointment at 4pm on Thursday,’ for example.  It sets expectations at the start.

Alan's tips

• Simplify the jobs and their outcomes. In consults, outsource non-clinical elements, to other internal teams. Vets are compassionate and will take on the responsibility for the management of emotions when they don’t have too and without due regard for their own needs.  Compliance is another area which doesn’t necessarily need to fall to the vet.  Multi-functional teams can support and assist, offering an ‘ecosystem of care’.  The financial side of consults can be moved outside of the clinical sphere through pet clubs, insurance and full subscription models.
• Develop efficient systems. Draw from other businesses, lean, six sigma and business design reengineering processes are efficient and proven.  Do things you have to do well, delegate, outsource or automate other elements. Simply stop doing those things you don’t need to do.
• Consider reducing the number of active clients per vet.  We’ve found the optimum is between 500-700.  It means more time with fewer people. While it is hard to say no to the ever-increasing demand, there are ways to develop a strong client base. Healthy pet clubs ensures you’ve clients who are engaged in preventative care and are committed to the well-being of their animals, for example.
  “There’s a lot of work happening in the realm of mental health at the moment,” notes Alan. “But we’re treating stress as an individual problem not an organisational or system one.”

Rebecca's tips

• Set long-term goals for you and your business. One important aspect of effective time management is knowing that you’re achieving the right things.
• Invest in your team. By building a team and using it in a constructive way, I’ve found it’s helped my own time management.  I’ve gone from trying to organise me and my time to realising that by helping others, I can improve my own work life.
• Prioritise your own tasks. By prioritising what I need to do, I can help my team feel more valued and motivated to prioritise what they need to do.  It means we end up with a more productive team.
• Try not to get embroiled into the other’s to-dos. While they might be both important and urgent, it doesn’t necessarily mean that you have to action them. Helping them to do it themselves has made a massive difference to them and me.
• Set SMART goals and boundaries for achieving them. Make sure everybody knows the outcome that you are working towards.  It prevents people from going off in a completely different direction to the one you’re expecting.
• Don’t rely on your head to remember everything. It’s too busy, so write it down. Likewise, draft your case notes at the time of the consultation.
• If it takes less than 2 minutes, just do it. Don’t try and remember the to-do all day, it requires a lot of energy and means you’ll be actioning it when you’re already feeling exhausted.  
• Take time for a little self-care. Rather than trying to keep going until you grind to a halt, make a little time for yourself.  You’ll be more productive overall.

The RCVS and the BVA have issued a joint statement following yesterday's announcements that Scotland and England will go into new national lockdowns as the UK coronavirus alert level has been raised to 5.

"We are urgently looking at what these new national lockdowns will mean for veterinary professionals and services, and we are liaising with the Chief Veterinary Officers.

"We aim to issue updated guidance in the coming days but can confirm that we will not be reverting to emergency-only work, as we saw at the start of the first UK-wide lockdown last March.

"Instead, we are developing guidance to support veterinary professionals to carry out work that is essential for public health and animal health and welfare, in the context of the very strong ‘stay at home’ messages from both governments.

"We recognise that this continues to be a very challenging and difficult time for our colleagues, and we want to thank veterinary teams across the UK for continuing to work safely so that we can all play our part in stopping the spread of Covid.

"Once again we thank animal owners for their understanding and ask them to continue to respect their vets’ decisions at this time. The range of services available will vary between practices so that vets can work in Covid-safe ways to keep their colleagues and clients safe."

AMufacture has launched The Ear Protector, designed to make face masks more comfortable for people working in public-facing businesses. 

The Ear Protector sits on the back of the head and hooks onto face mask strings, pulling them backwards and away from the ears, thereby relieving pressure and stopping chafing. 

The product was designed by AMufacture's Chief Operating Officer, William Howden, a former Olympic sailor who competed in the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. He said: "Early in the pandemic, it became apparent to us that there was a serious need to address an unresolved problem with face masks – people were really beginning to suffer and were getting distracted from their work."

The Ear Protector is sterilisable in a dishwasher. It is also recyclable when it reaches the end of its life.

For more information, visit: http://www.theearprotector.com 

The RCVS has launched 'Veterinary care from your kind of vets', a new campaign to raise awareness of the Practice Standards Scheme (PSS) amongst animal owners.

The two-month campaign is comprised of a series of very polished videos which are now being shared on YouTube. 

The videos share the experiences of a number of veterinary professionals from PSS practices who talk to the camera first as owners themselves, and then as vets.  

The College says the aim is to demonstrate to the public that their animals will receive veterinary care from empathetic practice teams committed to delivering the kind of veterinary care they would want for their own animals.

Mandisa Greene, Chair of the Practice Standards Group, said: "In order for a veterinary practice to be accredited under the Practice Standards Scheme it needs to demonstrate that it is meeting a broad range of stringent standards and undergo a rigorous independent assessment every four years. 

"However, we know that awareness and understanding of the Scheme amongst animal owners is relatively low, and that there is always more we can do to help change this. We have therefore developed this digital campaign to help RCVS-accredited practices explain to animal owners what RCVS-accreditation means, and why they should care about it.

"We think it’s important that RCVS-accredited practices, which go through a great deal of effort and work to achieve their accreditation, receive the recognition they deserve and we hope that they will help us to spread the word far and wide."

Ian Holloway, RCVS Director of Communications, said: “A vital ingredient of this campaign will be the support and involvement of RCVS-accredited practice teams right across the country. Throughout the two-month campaign, we will be posting lots of wonderful video stories, pictures and PSS infographics across all of our social media channels, along with other fun ways to help spread the word.

"We’re posting launch packs to all accredited-practice premises this week, which include a variety of campaign posters to display in waiting rooms and details of how to download all the digital resources from our campaign website for use in practice and online. 

"We really hope that everyone associated with an RCVS-accredited practice, including their clients, will be able to share this campaign across their own channels as widely as possible, remembering to use the campaign hashtag #YourKindOfVets, of course!"

Anyone wanting more information about the campaign should email: yourkindofvets@rcvs.org.uk.

Pfizer has released the results of its first Performance Index (formerly the Fort Dodge Index) which shows mildly improved trading conditions for the companion animal veterinary market in the first quarter of 2011. 

Those aspects of veterinary business that showed an improvement in the first quarter of 2011 include: turnover growth (+0.8%, up from -0.1% in March 2010); client retention (+0.1%); the average number of visits per year (+ 0.17%); annual transaction value (+ 1.1%); average transaction value (+0.8% to £41.74); fee per product service (+0.2%) and products and services sold per visit (+0.6%).

Leveraged sales (typically pet-care products), which were down 2% (from 40% to 38%) in 2010, have increased 0.9% in the first quarter of 2011 to make up 39% of practice transactions.

Less positively and pointing to the need for veterinary practices to implement ongoing marketing initiatives, the number of new clients coming into practice is down (-0.4%) as is the number of active clients (-0.26%). Revenue from loyal clients (those that visit the practice for additional products and services, particularly vaccination and other preventative healthcare programmes) was static. Although flat growth is an improvement on previous reports, this is still a concern, as it is these clients who are the driver for revenue growth in many practices. 

Pfizer Business Consultant, Simon Fowler said: "Although the figures are only very slightly improved this does mirror what we are seeing in practices that we visit. Practice turnover growth of 0.8%, while only small, is much better than any quarter in 2010. So we may be seeing the first green shoots of recovery, but there's still no room for complacency. Before we all breathe a collective sigh of relief, however, it should be remembered that as this is the first report for 2011 it is only an early picture, while a fuller story will be gleaned from the second report, which will show results from the first six months of the year.

"What is clear is the need for practices to market themselves in order to attract new clients, increase growth from active clients and increase client loyalty. VetSupport+ includes a range of marketing services to help practices in this respect. A practice has already achieved TV coverage via our Public Relations support service, while others are using PressRoom newsletter templates to keep potential and existing clients up to speed with the practice's news."

Further information about Pfizer's VetSupport+ service is available at www.vetsupportplus.co.uk.

FirstVet, the Swedish online veterinary consulting company, has announced a new partnership with Petwise through which customers of the insurer will have access to unlimited on-demand veterinary video consultations with UK-registered veterinary surgeons. 

This brings the total number of UK pet insurance companies that offer FirstVet veterinary consultations with their policies to 19, including Co-op, Costco, PETtrac, ManyPets and CoverMyPet.

Launched in 2016, FirstVet now operates in seven markets: the UK, US, Germany, Norway, Denmark, Finland, and Sweden, delivering more than 30,000 consultations per month.

David Prien, CEO at FirstVet said: “FirstVet was founded with the passionate goal of making pet care more accessible for everyone.

"Our new partnership with Petwise Senior reflects our commitment to ensuring all pets, including senior pets, receive the best possible care they deserve after all those years of companionship, friendship and loyalty.

"Since launching, FirstVet has helped nearly one million pet owners around Europe.

"I really look forward to supporting Petwise Senior pets through our FirstVet app and to the many stories that will come from this great partnership!”

A study published in Animals¹ has found that the most common cause of potentially-fatal heatstroke in dogs is being exercised by their owners.

Researchers from Nottingham Trent University and the Royal Veterinary College found that exertion or exercise – which could include dogs walking, playing or running with their owners – was responsible for three quarters (74%) of heat stroke cases. Many of these cases were in the summer months.

For the study, the researchers analysed the clinical records of more than 900,000 UK dogs. They found that 1,222 had received veterinary care for heatstroke at some point during their lives, almost 400 affected in a single year. 14.2% of them died as a result of their heatstroke.

Hot weather alone was responsible for 13% of cases, while travelling or being left in hot vehicles accounted for 5% of cases. Other triggers for heat stroke included undergoing treatment at a veterinary surgery or a dog grooming parlour, being restricted to hot buildings or trapped under blankets.

Male dogs and younger dogs were more likely to develop heatstroke triggered by exercise, with breeds including the Chow Chow, Bulldog, French Bulldog, Greyhound, English Springer Spaniel, Cavalier King Charles Spaniel and Staffordshire Bull Terrier at increased risk.

Older dogs and brachycephalic breeds, such as bulldogs and pugs, were at increased risk of getting heatstroke just by sitting outside in hot weather. Brachycephalics were particularly at risk of developing heat stroke if left in hot cars.

Emily Hall, a researcher and veterinary surgeon in Nottingham Trent University’s School of Animal, Rural and Environmental Sciences said: "It appears that people are hearing the message about the dangers of hot vehicles, but campaigns to raise public awareness about heat-related illness in dogs need to highlight that dogs don’t just die in hot cars. Taking a dog for a walk or a run in hot weather can be just as deadly so consider skipping walks altogether during heatwaves, or be sure to take dogs out early in the morning whilst it’s still cool.

Dr Dan O’Neill, co-author and senior lecturer in companion animal epidemiology at The Royal Veterinary College, said: “The UK is currently in the midst of an ill-fated love affair with flat-faced dogs. Demand for breeds such as the French Bulldog, Pug and British Bulldog has soared during the Covid19 lockdown. I appeal to owners to put the needs of the dog ahead of their own desire to possess something that looks cute."

Reference

1. Hall, E.J.; Carter, A.J.; O’Neill, D.G. Dogs Don’t Die Just in Hot Cars—Exertional Heat-Related Illness (Heatstroke) Is a Greater Threat to UK Dogs. Animals 2020, 10, 1324. https://www.mdpi.com/2076-2615/10/8/1324.