practice change - client

Re: practice change - client

Laura James — Sat, 16 Feb 2013 15:52:47 GMT

[quote user="Roseann21"]

[quote user="Laura James"]We get a lot of clients who leave our practice then try to come back during OOH due to cost and not wanting to travel to the necessary clinic. In this case we won't see them back[/quote]

That seems really harsh! Surely OOH visits are by their nature urgent? I can't believe anyone would turn someone away in that situation. Sounds very much like sour grapes!

[/quote] A lot of our clients like to use another practice during normal hours because they are cheaper then use us during OOH because we are cheaper and will often say 'we went to so and so today but the dog isnt any better' - therefore as we can't get a history we send them back there. We will also send them there if its not a proper emergency (a lot of people also say this practice doesn't to OOH (it does but it's based about an 45 minutes drive away). Obviously if it's a real emergency then we will see them if they can't get to their own practice in time!

Re: practice change - client

Sal the 1st — Sat, 16 Feb 2013 10:46:33 GMT

We get clients who have moved practice but then when they find their new practice OOH is miles from where they live or doesnt open on a Saturday morning all of a sudden we are their first choice - we dont refuse to see them in an emergency but we do ask that they contact their own vet first or that we contact their practice - we do not encourage people to use more than one practice. For routine appointments we usually suggest they contact their own practice. We do explain to clients that using more than one practice may be to the detriment of their pet if it is already receiving treatment for a condition and may also be to the detriment of their pocket if more than one practice is carrying out the same investigations. Basically we encourage people to use a single practice unless they are needing referral for specialist cases.

One place I worked we used to have a breeder who was using 3 practices - 1 for vaccinations - 1 for surgery because it was cheaper, and another for other problems and we managed this in the following way.

Referral from the veterinary surgeon who had recommended the surgery or if we were just being used for convenience we used to insist that we couldnt make an appointment until a history had been received from previous practice. We made it clear that we would not issue replacement vaccination certificates (the owner often 'lost' them) unless we had carried out the vaccination and would not supply repeat prescriptions or dispense medication for animals that we had not registered/ we had never seen ( which was often requested). These dogs were insured and we would only fill out an insurance claim for treatment carried out or supplied by ourselves ( again it was often requested) that instead of the owner getting a claim form for treatment at the other practice we just submitted it all on ours - as we felt with this particular client there was a real potential for insurance fraud

Re: practice change - client

Helen Tottey — Sat, 16 Feb 2013 10:46:16 GMT

I agree, i don;t think it makes sense to delete histories not only for the legal reasons (think 5 or 7 years you supposed to keep records) but also business reasons. i don;t think many clients now a days stick with one vet, so long as you request history from previous vets so have up to date records yourself then that is all you can do.

Re: practice change - client

Roseann21 — Sat, 16 Feb 2013 09:36:40 GMT

That seems really harsh! Surely OOH visits are by their nature urgent? I can't believe anyone would turn someone away in that situation. Sounds very much like sour grapes!

Re: practice change - client

Roseann21 — Sat, 16 Feb 2013 09:33:40 GMT

I think your'e right Julie-Anne, we never delete clinical histories, partly because legally you have to keep records for a certain number of years (would need to check how many) and partly because you would need the history to send to any other practice they might go to. I don't understand why anyone would want to delete clients/histories anyway?

Re: practice change - client

Julie-Anne Wilson — Fri, 15 Feb 2013 23:47:25 GMT

[quote user="nicnac125"]I always wonder about the data protection side of things, cos obviously the initial practice still has all the sensitive contact stuff, you don't delete the client completely, cos they might come back...

[/quote]

Could you delete anyway? Doesn't the clinical history come under records that have to be kept for 5 years? I class everything as that so you know you can't go wrong.

Re: practice change - client

Laura James — Fri, 15 Feb 2013 21:41:14 GMT

We get a lot of clients who leave our practice then try to come back during OOH due to cost and not wanting to travel to the necessary clinic. In this case we won't see them back but if they come back to us during normal hours then we will happily see them

Re: practice change - client

Susan Jackson — Fri, 15 Feb 2013 21:01:50 GMT

I've seen many clients go to another practice once and then return. I simply ask the other practice for the history of that one appointment and then update their records.

Usually they do think the grass is greener and get a shock. I must admit that I see lots of this when clients want repeat prescriptions without seeing a vet and when the other practice declines to provide treatment without appt or blood tests then they soon come back.

The only more permanent move tends to be with puppies and kittens or moving home.

Re: practice change - client

nicnac125 — Fri, 15 Feb 2013 18:07:17 GMT

I always wonder about the data protection side of things, cos obviously the initial practice still has all the sensitive contact stuff, you don't delete the client completely, cos they might come back...

Re: practice change - client

Helen Tottey — Fri, 15 Feb 2013 16:39:00 GMT

I think that very much depends on the practice protocol.

If they come back to you after leaving it is sometimes a positive move, people have perception that the grass is greener but find out it isn; so if they choose to come back then they are often better clients for it!

I have heard of a practice though that if a client leaves they are told they are not allowed to come back but personally i don't agree. there could be many reasons they leave and if you are in a practice that tries to find out why they have chosen to leave this can give you a great opportunity to answer any concerns and often get them to stay with you. of course there could be other reasons like going somewhere for a booster and returning to you for clinical work and this certainly divides opinion!

Why do you ask?