Panorama reviewed

RE: Panorama reviewed

Anonymous — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 10:49:18 GMT

I felt really sad after watching panorama. I am proud of my practice and the company i work for, as i am confident the patient care is of a very high standard.I am sure that many of the Medivet practices are also good too. Panorama obviously picked up on a few bad apples (and they were very bad) and decided that this is common place in most practices. Personally I found it quite irresponsible of the bbc - people's livelyhoods are at stake here. I think it also highlighted the importance of having experienced, registered veterinary nurses in each practice - something i have always tried to promote in my profession.

Lastly I think it lost sight of just why most vets and nurses go into practice - because we love animals! It failed to mention that despite the years of training, long hours, demanding and stressful job roles - which unfortunatley mean high suicide rates (esp for vets) we continue to go to work every day and make sure that we give animals the best care we can,not to mention keeping cleint happy and informed.

I feel quite defensive about how hard most of us work and how dedicated we are and think sadly that was completely missed by the bbc.

RE: Panorama reviewed

molladog — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 12:52:43 GMT

A lot of the problem with the big Corporate companies stems from the fact that most of them are on Comission and therefore are going to push clients into having loads of tests done when some are not necessary. Bring back the smaller more personal Vets that we used to have a few years ago. Its become too 'Big Business' now in my opinion.

RE: Panorama reviewed

Rocky — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 05:55:26 GMT

Putting the financial points aside, I would like to address the other aspect of the documentary because in my opinion, the rough handling or physical punishment of ANY animal in our care is not acceptable and there is a fine line between justifying a slap or a whack.

Some of the feedback I have read on other forums states that the public would be alarmed at 'normal restraining techniques' and some of them have even tried to justify what goes on. This makes me wonder if violence against animals in the surgery is not quite as isolated as one would think.

But however anybody trivialises what the staff did in this documentary, I can tell you now that if you restrained or treated an animal this way for your veterinary or nursing exams, you would fail - simple.

I also know that those I spoke to when I spoke about the cruelty that I witnessed many years ago as a student nurse, it was said to me'Oh well, these things happen - and by publicising it, its causing damage to the profession' and that was said to me on more than one occasion.

Trouble is though, if you are a good vet/nurse then you shouldnt take offence to publicity surrounding any cruelty that may occur in the profession. The bad ones need to be named and shamed and yes, there will be a fallout but keeping quiet or belittling it for fear of pet owners not taking their animals for treatment is in no way a valid reason to not say anything.

If these situations are not dealt with then it will continue and whilst a majority of veterinary practices and staff are professional and caring there are some that are not.

Young students coming into the profession cannot be allowed to think that smacking an animal is the right thing to do, they need to be taught by example and what kind of example is being taught if they see violence and a distinct lack of compassion as a method of control? - it is not fair, it is cruel and must be stopped.

Not just for the pet owners trusting the vets with their animals, more importantly for the animals - they have no voice.

This isnt about publicly 'attacking' the caring staff that do their jobs properly, this is about the welfare of the animals that suffer in the hands of those that don't treat their patients with the compassion that they deserve - we are here for the animals and they must come first.

Lets face it, we all have bad days at work but is it really acceptable to do what they do? And who on earth believes belting a cat/dog round the head will calm it down?

This makes for uncomfortable viewing/reading for many in the profession but it is now time for it to stop to give pet owners the time and opportunity re-build their faith in those they trust to care for their animals.

RE: Panorama reviewed

Rhiannon Stundon RVN MBVNA — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 21:18:46 GMT

Excellent assessment of the documentary Arlo. I think that some of the issues raised in the programme can be used by us to postively promote VNs to the public and encourage them to choose practices that employ RVNs. "Veterinary Nurse" needs to become a legally recognised professional title just like Veterinary Surgeon and the Veterinary Surgeons Act and the Veterinary Code of Conduct needs to be seriously updated to define and exclude/include those procedures/treatments that can be carried out by Vets, Student Vets, VNs and SVNs and then non-qualified people.

I thought the decrepancy between Medivet's and the RCVS' interpretation of the Act and Code where ridiculous and highlights very strongly the need for urgent reform.

By the way the "trainee veterinary nurses" in the documentary were not student veterinary nurses, they were not enrolled with the RVCS and had not started a college yet.

I really feel for all those excellent unqualified staff working in practice as veterinary nurses with years of experience and I really believe that the new Diploma can help "mop up" these people. If you are an unqualified "VN" I urge you to find your local college and start the part time new VN Diploma course and qualify as a VN at last...you'll never look back! Costs and set-up and hassle for vet practices has diminished significantly so nag your boss to let you go to college and complete your training.

RE: Panorama reviewed

Lynne Vickers — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 12:18:53 GMT

I agree with Arlo that the documentary did leave most of the Veterinary profession unscathed and may indeed have increased the client list on some of the smaller private practices.

What we have to remember is that 9 months of filming was condensed into this 1 hour documentary and there was no focus on anything positive.

Jeremy Vine also sensationalised this in his Radio 2 programme prior to the Panorama airing and had an array of callers recanting their own 'horror stories' from all types of veterinary practices across the country.

The programme for me high lighted that there were several members of staff, mostly trainee nurses, who did show lack of compassion and were unnecessarily heavy handed when restraining animals but we all know how difficult some patients can be and if procedures are to be carried out then a certain level of restraint is unavoidable. Would clients prefer that their animals were chemically induced into submission at an extra risk and expense - I think not!

It’s some time since I was in general practice but trainee nurses have always taken blood samples, inserted catheters and monitored anaesthetics amongst other things, these tasks have to be performed by trainees at some point as part of their training. I am sure there are still practices out there with staff who are not even undertaking VN training who are doing all of the same tasks.

The way the Shar Pei was handled was unforgivable the dog was upset and in pain and should have been given longer to recover from his ordeal before an attempt was made to remove the catheter. However I don't think the nurse involved should be dismissed (unless it is a repeated offence) I think he should be made to apologise personally to the client, he will be totally embarrassed and hopefully ashamed of his actions but we all know frustration can get the better of us, in any profession.

From the cost point of view I feel that the profession as a whole is very bad at justifying their bills, let a client know how much it genuinely costs to run a practice, I used to work at the AHT where clients often challenged the final bills, but if someone takes the time to explain some of the costs that have to be covered (even down to the cost of buying a DOOP bin or paying for clinical waste disposal) they are usually appeased. If a client wants the very best up to date treatments and monitoring then the ongoing costs have to be covered, all the equipment needs annual electrical testing and servicing, this costs...alot! It's always worth asking the client the question 'it's expensive compared to what?'

It doesn't matter what the profession is, service and goods cost and the hidden costs for any business have to be recouped and should be highlighted.

I think Medivet have handled the situation very well, and have issued a very thorough and professional response. They know there are some issues that have to be addressed and I have no doubt they will be.

RE: Panorama reviewed

Nicola Smith — Sat, 24 Jul 2010 10:05:36 GMT

At our practice we always offer clients the options to treat their pet eg wait and see, tests, pts etc I dont think any practice should not be offering clients choices - they are not their pets and its not their money to make the decisions. I am saddened to see the profssion being taken over by chains and corporates as the people at the tops priorities are profit not the patients and increasing pressure is put on their staff to increase income which may then result in procedures not in the interest of the animal being performd by certain individuals just to get their bonus. It is human nature there will always be people like this and this just encourages their behaviour.