RE: veterinary 24 hour care

Arlo Guthrie — Thu, 20 May 2021 10:58:08 GMT

Cyonica - I think that makes all sorts of sense, transferring records like that. I wonder whether legislation is needed for that, or just a profession-wide agreement.

RE: veterinary 24 hour care

Cyonica — Wed, 19 May 2021 21:15:18 GMT

I wonder if human medicine have the right idea, with each patient only being able to register at one practice and your records being deleted/locked once they've been forwarded to your new practice. It would help stop people bringing their pets for complicated second opinions and vying two practices off against each other, and would stop people using and abusing practices for discount plans, free services and booster schemes designed to attract and bond clients, and then going elsewhere for everything else. Could then have it so that only the practice you're registered to and their OOH provider are legally obliged to see your pets for emergencies, to stop abuse of other local practices' OOH providers, and also of nearby practices that are still open but are booked up with their own patients and would quite like to go home at the end of their shift thank you. I also don't think it would hurt for it to be a legal obligation for pet owners to have their pet registered with a vet, so the onus is on them to be registered somewhere in case of emergency, and not on practices who might genuinely be overbooked and unable to fit them in.

I don't think some clients would like this for obvious reasons, but I think it could massively benefit staff, and would force better continuity of care for patients. May also benefit practices if clients can't abuse their free services and have to be seen there for everything. With the veterinary professions in such a crisis and no one wanting to work on call or sleeping shifts any more, I do think something should be done. Will be interesting to see what others come out with and what ends up happening.