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  • Join us for VN Happy Hour: finding your nursing niche

    Join us for VN Happy Hour: finding your nursing niche

    THEME: Finding your nursing niche: how developing a nursing specialism can enhance your clinical career

    DATE: Thursday 28 April

    TIME: 8pm

    Join us for this month’s VN Happy Hour while we discuss finding your nursing niche!

    The event will include guest speakers including Emma Gerrard, Jack Pye and Abi Edis the discussing everything from how to find your niche to career diversification.

    VN Happy Hour is a free monthly event from VN Times. For information on forthcoming VN Happy Hour events, follow us on Facebook.

    To sign up for this months event click here https://tinyurl.com/nursingniche

  • ‘Perfect Pals’ calendar competition

    ‘Perfect Pals’ calendar competition

    COMPETITION CLOSED FOR ENTRIES

     

    Many thanks to those who entered our 2022 calendar competition and sent photos of their “Perfect Pals”.

    The competition is now closed, and our judges are working their way through hundreds of wonderful pictures to create a shortlist of entries, which will be published in the October issue of VN Times, with readers voting online for their favourite image.

    VOTING STARTS SOON!

     

     

  • What about vets on the front line?

    What about vets on the front line?

    Our profession is generally pretty good at pulling together in the face of adversity.

    I’ve always loved the community feel of being able to go to CPD events, and usually know someone, or have connections with someone, who is there.

    I love being able to send a message to my uni friends at any time of day or night – be that for clinical advice, moral support or reassurance on something entirely non-vet related – and get a reply. Failing that, you can often seek an answer or support from one of the vet Facebook groups on numerous topics.

    In light of COVID-19, the veterinary world has rallied together… to a point.

    One for all, and all for…

    Those who have been furloughed are finding a wealth of free online CPD available to fill their time and keep connected clinically. Not only are there webinars, but there’s a plethora of online workouts or discussion groups to actively engage in.

    That all sounds lovely, but what about those of us who are still working? What support is there for the minimal staff left in clinics who (despite all these figures on turnover being down) are battling ridiculous increases in workload?

    Less is… less

    There’s less staff in most clinics, to varying degrees, but I have heard horror stories about severely restricted numbers and even certain groups furloughing everyone but vets.

    Whatever business decision may lie behind that, these clinics must be in chaos. Vets, who are already stretched trying to do their “normal” jobs (it is currently far from normal), are also running their own bloods, cleaning, answering phones, chasing and taking payments, sorting insurance claims and ordering stock, among other things.

    These tasks may be alien to some of us, and trying to navigate previously undiscovered depths of the practice management system at the end of an exhausting shift adds unnecessary stress.

    We love our nurses and receptionists as it is, but those who are currently deprived of them will be unearthing a a gargantuan respect for them in the future.

    Crisis consulting

    Consulting in this environment makes you realise how much multitasking we would ordinarily do. Currently, my consults look like this:

    • Owner arrives and calls reception.
    • I try to work out which car he or she is in, then take a brief history from 2m away.
    • Take the animal into the practice.
    • Find a nurse to assist with the handling.
    • Examine the animal.
    • Telephone the owner from the practice or go back outside to discuss with him or her from a safe distance, before returning to the animal to give treatment.
    • Give the animal back to the owner.
    • Dispense medication, then ask the owner to call reception again to pay…

    This takes a lot longer than normal consults, so working to offer the same number of appointment slots is both relentless and draining.

    Lies and abuse

    Everyone is used to certain number of disgruntled clients, but the barrage of abuse those on reception are receiving from clients is unprecedented.

    It would seem many members of the public are not getting the “stay at home” message and are furious when we explain a nail clip is not an emergency. As a result, we are now seeing clients exaggerating, or just plain lying, in order to be seen.

    A choice example last week was a dog booked for a potential euthanasia, but turned out to be a weight clinic. We then had to stifle our disbelief and anger at these time wasters before moving on to the next client, who has desperately tried to hold off from having to make the difficult decision to say goodbye to their dearest pet under these circumstances – and yet we can only offer words of comfort from a distance and inject from the end of a drip line, which really doesn’t seem enough.

    Unfortunately, the COVID clearout seems to be worse than the annual Christmas clearout, and these scenarios are not isolated, but heartbreakingly frequent.

    Lost in translation

    And what support do we get? We get the RCVS and BVA back-pedalling on their original statement, to then shirk responsibility and leave it “up to individual practices” to interpret the “guidance” how they wish.

    After the clarity of the original stance on vaccinations, this ambiguous follow up was very disappointing. The truth is many vets feel that corporates and business owners will take this as a green light to return to business as usual, while firmly claiming that it is most definitely not business as usual.

    I can agree with that – the way we are working is certainly not the usual, but if we are now to do vaccines and neutering again, what exactly are we missing? Stable med checks, done via telephone rather than in person?

    Taking the high or low road?

    We get colleagues taking the moral high ground, questioning our commitment to the oath we took on graduation to put animal heath and welfare above all else. Just because I don’t think vaccinations are currently a priority, it doesn’t mean I don’t care about my patients anymore – human health has to come first.

    We get corporates issuing yet more paperwork to encourage us to document risk assessments – while seemingly offsetting the responsibility to us – so that if their business gets sued for denying to provide care or (God forbid) agreeing to see an animal that results in transmission of COVID-19 between owner/vet, it was the vet or receptionist who took the phone call’s fault for making that decision.

    Aside from this, the phones are ringing off the hook and vets are running around like blue-arsed flies, so practically, where are we going to find the time to fill in these bloody forms?

    Horseplay

    Before any of that, the request to risk assess mild ailments is fundamentally flawed when we are being told to go out and do horse boosters.

    While equine vaccinations and other routine work that is now being pushed again, because equine turnover is the most severely affected of all veterinary sectors, we are told to maintain safe social distancing at all times.

    With equine vets reported to be one of the most dangerous occupations, is it sensible to expect us to administer vaccines with no one holding the horse? In some, if not most, cases, that will probably be okay. But with owners consistently lying to us to be given an “emergency” appointment, how long before an owner lies about his or her severely needle/vet-shy horse and one of us pays the price?

    Heading for burnout

    I don’t pretend to understand the intricacies of business management, but you cannot flog a dead horse. Many vets who have barely had time to inhale lunch are working different and longer shifts just to cope with the “emergencies” – and yet you’re asking us to do more?

    It’s incredulous that the veterinary sector seems to think itself superior to all the other thousands of businesses up and down the country that are struggling or facing collapse. By continuing to pile the pressure on to staff with increasing risk of burnout, you might preserve some income, but you’ll be lucky to have any vets left by the end of this.

    Is anybody listening?

    We are angry that the higher-ups in the profession are treating us this way. We feel guilty for being jealous of, or feeling antipathy towards, our furloughed colleagues. We are emotionally drained. We feel guilty because this can only be a fraction of how front-line NHS staff must be feeling – and above all, we are exhausted.

    In a profession with an already poor record for mental health and suicide, we are now even more stretched, under even more pressure from all angles – and no one seems to be listening.

  • VN Times Calendar Competition

    VN Times Calendar Competition

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  • New locum matching service unveiled

    New locum matching service unveiled

    A service is being launched to help practices across the UK fill their locum job vacancies in minutes.

    Locum Vet Finder (LVF) has been designed to help solve some of the problems created by a recruitment crisis that has left hundreds of practices struggling with unfilled locum vacancies.

    Based on an innovative technology platform that matches locums’ professional profiles to practice vacancies immediately, LVF promises to reduce the amount of time spent sourcing locums.

    Transformational

    ”We believe Locum Vet Finder can make a real difference,” said Jo Woods, managing director of Veterinary Business Development, the company behind LVF.

    ”As a company, we thought long and hard about our audience, and how we might develop something that would really transform this process for them.

    ”We know it is tough, but we genuinely believe it’s the right time to put this technology into the hands of practices.”

    A central hub for both locums and practices to advertise their availability or requirements – by species, working hours and salary – LVF allows locums to apply for roles in minutes, while market-leading smart matching technology ensures practices get the locum that best matches their need, alerting practices and locums to their matches instantly.

    Features

    LVF features include:

    • Smart matching aligns skills to the needs of practices.
    • Complete control – instant notification of matched vacancies.
    • Bookings can be made directly via the platform, with no third-party involvement.
    • Practice and locum profiles for practices and locums to build their LVF brand.
    • Star rating reviews.
    • A 24-hour service.
    • Free for all locums and cost effective for practices.

    For more details, visit www.locumvetfinder.co.uk

  • First time for everything

    First time for everything

    I’ve been lucky enough to not, until very recently, have a patient die on the operating table.

    Nothing quite prepares you for what you experience in that moment you realise the animal is crashing. We had CPR training at uni, we run through the practice crash box to refresh everyone of what’s in it, and I hadn’t had to use it yet.

    “There’s a potential caesarean coming down,” one of the receptions had come through to the kennel area to inform me. “I’d better shuffle those appointments I’d just opened up for you.”

    Inauspicious beginnings

    On arrival, the bitch in question was four days overdue, with no indication of labour, an open cervix, and generally looked fairly flat – but not as though death was imminent.

    A C-section was agreed as the best course of action, and she was moved through to prep where the nurses already had everything ready to go – thanks to the prior warning. More nurses than usual were hovering, as it’s all hands on deck for a caesarean.

    It took me longer than usual to get the catheter in – perhaps the flat veins should have been a warning sign that she was actually in worse condition than she seemed. I was usually pretty good at catheters, but everyone has off days, right?

    Auto pilot

    Fluids running, antiemetic given (she was drooling a bit and it has been shown to reduce anaesthetic requirements), abdomen clipped, ready to induce… a trainee nurse asked an RVN to confirm the heart rate as she was struggling.

    I picked up the propofol and instantly the bitch did the “death gasp”. At the same moment, both the RVN and I realised she was crashing. I had no time to think; I grabbed an endotracheal tube and intubated, while the nurse started chest compressions. Another nurse connected the oxygen and started ventilating.

    Somebody thrust some adrenaline into my hand and I’d barely asked “where’s the dose chart” before it had been pointed at. I hastily drew it up and administered, while asking the trainee nurse to bring the surgical kit in from theatre.

    One after another

    Image © sunnysky69 / Adobe Stock
    “I never really had time to think about how awful the whole situation was – and yet everyone just got on with their jobs.” Image © sunnysky69 / Adobe Stock

    By that point I think we’d all accepted we would likely lose the bitch, but needed to keep her going while we tried to get the puppies out.

    As soon as I incised into the abdomen, green-tinged fluid poured out (she was on an angle as the nurses were still doing compressions). I exteriorised an enormous uterus and start fishing out placentas, opening them, clamping umbilical cords, cutting and handing on to a nurse, receptionist, practice manager, anyone who was present – they all knew what to do.

    Puppy after puppy came out – I was astonished at how quickly I was working and there were still more. Meanwhile, the prep room floor was becoming a lethal sea of peritonitic fluid.

    “How are they? Any alive?” I asked, still working, hoping something would come out of this horrid mess. I already knew the answer: most of the puppies were completely rigid, seemingly long dead.

    All over

    Once every puppy was out (no survivors), I ran for the phone and rang the owner to explain we were keeping the heart going. I then gained permission to euthanise. However, as I returned to prep, I realised she was already gone.

    Everyone was quiet…I donned a pair of gloves again and solemnly started stitching up.

    Calm under pressure

    While it was happening, I never really had time to think about how awful the whole situation was – and yet everyone just got on with their jobs; each of us doing our bit to try and save some lives at least.

    On later reflection, even though we didn’t succeed, there was nothing more we could have done. We worked extremely fast from the moment she started to crash, and even though it was a miserable situation with a devastating outcome, I was extremely grateful for the calm manner in which everyone handled it.

  • Is the grass greener?

    Is the grass greener?

    My classmates and I recently reunited at our beloved university to celebrate joining the profession as qualified vets around a year ago. While there we attended a CPD event based around managing difficult situations as a new grad, be that with clients, colleagues or bosses.

    While the scenarios were entertaining, they also highlighted aspects of working life as vets that were very relatable, sparking a number of interesting discussions. Many issues were covered, but the most significant points were certain legal or business aspects of veterinary work rather than clinical ones.

    Contractual obligations

    straws
    “Some vets are finding themselves drawing the short straw when it comes to holiday entitlement.” Image © dragon_fang / Adobe Stock

    For many of us, our first job as a vet will also be our first full-time, salaried job. As such, many new grads may be unsure of their basic minimum legal entitlements, such as holidays, sick leave and contracts, and, therefore, will not necessarily realise if they are receiving these.

    Almost one-third of attendees, despite having been graduated for well over a year, still had not received a contract – much to the shock of the representatives from the various veterinary organisations running the session. I, too, find it incredulous some practices deem themselves impervious to certain legal requirements.

    This is perhaps one of the ways in which corporate practices actually have the upper hand on independents – they tend to be better at the paperwork side of things and, even though the contracts can often be vague, they are present. This does not, however, make them any less likely to take advantage of the absolute minimum benefits that can be offered.

    More for less

    For example, the legal minimum holiday allowance is calculated in weeks. For some of my colleagues who work a four-day week, this means their holiday entitlement seems outrageously small, even if it is, in fact, correct when counting the weeks.

    What is not taken into account is many of those who work a four-day week will work longer hours on each of those days, which means they’re still working a 40-hour week. Because of this, and despite working the same amount of hours, some vets are finding themselves drawing the short straw when it comes to holiday entitlement.

    The veterinary profession is unique in many ways, but that does not make veterinary employers exempt from their legal responsibilities or from trying to allow employees to have a good work-life balance.

    Second time around

    There is so much variation within the profession, with some practices hitting the nail on the head when it comes to looking after their vets, while others work them into the ground and wonder why they have an issue with staff retention.

    It is issues like these that contribute to the loss of young vets from the profession so quickly after graduating.

    While many of my university friends are happy in their current roles, a lot (myself included) are already in their second roles, due to problems or changes in circumstances with their first jobs – and, while some of us feel confident about a long-term veterinary career, some are already considering the options for diversification after getting a bit of experience in clinical practice.

    A glimpse of the other side

    sheepgrass1
    “Many of us have partners, friends or family in other professions who seem much better off financially, socially and physically that it becomes impossible not to wonder whether the grass is greener elsewhere.” Image © michaklootwijk / Adobe Stock

    Many of us have partners, friends or family in other professions who seem much better off financially, socially and physically that it becomes impossible not to wonder whether the grass is greener elsewhere. While we do have an extraordinarily variable and interesting day job, the stress and poor remuneration compared to other roles makes you wonder whether it’s really worth it.

    I look at my friends who work flexible hours and can accrue almost double the amount of holiday time I get by working only a couple of hours extra a week (which vets inevitably do anyway without time in lieu or overtime pay). They can book last minute holidays and take sick days with no questions asked – all without feeling they are putting everyone else under pressure when they do. They are often less qualified (sometimes with no qualifications at all), yet earn more, have far better pension packages, guaranteed pay rises and bonuses.

    Yet, some veterinary employers can’t even hoof a contract together within an acceptable time frame.

    The good, the bad and the understaffed

    Some veterinary employers are on the button; they have realised the way to keep staff is to give them comparable benefits and treat them like humans, not just robots with no life outside work, but unfortunately a lot aren’t.

    I appreciate the nature of our work makes it unpredictable, that we do have to work late sometimes, that we can’t all be allowed time off at the same time, and, in some respects, it simply isn’t comparable to some other jobs. But when talking to some of my veterinary friends this weekend, I was genuinely angered at the raw deals some of them seem to be getting, and infuriated some practices still get away with treating professionals this way.

    It does seem to be getting better, though – slowly, but surely, the profession is being dragged into the modern way of working, and practices that continue to dig their heels in will soon find themselves without any staff.

  • Reflecting on the good moments

    Reflecting on the good moments

    As me and my (non-vet) partner sat down for a rare mid-week breakfast together, I made an offhand comment about “having” to vaccinate 15 puppies that day.

    “What do you mean ‘have to’?” was his response. “Most people would love that, and you get paid for it.”

    I considered this – and, while I’m more of a kitten person than a puppy person, who doesn’t love puppies? It‘s the little things like this we, perhaps, take for granted.

    Sharing the joy

    All too often, as vets, we focus on the negatives: the long hours, on call, the stress of trying to keep to time when everything goes belly up, the emotional strain, the difficult clients, surgical complications, mystery cases with unanswered questions… the list goes on.

    In the midst of it all, while we‘re able to show enthusiasm during the puppy or kitten vaccine consult, sharing the owners’ joy is soon forgotten when it is swiftly followed by a few challenging consults or clients.

    At the end of a couple of stressful working weeks (for a number of reasons), I found some peace having formulated a plan for a couple of complicated medical cases and finally convincing a difficult client to get on board with a particular treatment.

    Living the life

    It‘s the little things such as vaccinating puppies that vets, perhaps, take for granted. Image © Gorilla / Adobe Stock
    It‘s the little things, such as vaccinating puppies, vets, perhaps, take for granted. Image © Gorilla / Adobe Stock

    It’s easy to get wrapped up in the vet lifestyle – researching cases when you get home at night (and even when you don’t), not being able to sleep because, subconsciously, you’re trying to work out the best course of action for one of your patients.

    Rattling off the list of procedures or appointments for the day will just seem the norm to other vets, but take a step back and remove the “vet blinkers” and actually think for moment about what we do.

    If you talk to any non-vet friend or family member about your working day, they often show seemingly exaggerated enthusiasm or squeamishness. It’s tempting to brush this off, but it’s usually genuine. From their perspective, our “normal” work can be fascinating.

    Everyday heroes

    We may not be saving lives in a dramatic fashion every day (or maybe you do), but, as vets, we get to help a number of animals on a daily basis and, as a result, their owners.

    This can be done in what feels like the smallest of gestures sometimes; as much as we may resent the notorious anal gland appointment, what that actually involves is giving a poor dog (or cat) almost instantaneous pain relief.

    While I don’t think any vet will particularly enjoy an anal gland appointment, my point is to look at the bigger picture: what may be mundane to us does actually make a difference to the individual – our day-to-day routine work is far more interesting than a lot of other jobs.

    Let it go

    Being a vet is mentally and physically draining at times, but no day is the same and we will always have stories to tell.

    So, if you’ve had a bit of a crap week (or haven’t), take a moment to think about what you’ve actually done in the past few days and enjoy the good moments – whether that’s the puppy vaccination or draining the really satisfying cat (or, in my case, cow) abscess. Then think of the clients who have been thankful for your help (even those who don’t show it) and let go of the bad moments in between.

  • Seven – the magic number?

    Seven – the magic number?

    The veterinary community is changing. We are gradually moving towards a world of better work-life balance. Rotas vary massively from practice to practice, and even within practices, depending on particular species bias. One way some practices are adapting rotas is using a seven-day working week.

    The knee-jerk reaction is often negative – especially when we consider the seven-day week in relation to the NHS. We’ve witnessed the junior doctor strikes to negotiate better contracts. No doubt, some of us have experienced the NHS staff squeeze first-hand, having been presented with long waiting lists for diagnostics or procedures.

    Ludicrious?

    waiting
    A seven-day week for human medicine could lead to staff squeezes and long waiting lists, whereas Jordan Sinclair thinks the veterinary world is a better fit. Image © Picture-Factory / Adobe Stock

    With this in mind, the suggestion of a seven-day week for our human medical counterparts seemed ludicrous in the beginning – if staffing was an issue before, surely aiming to provide more services, such as routine procedures at the weekend, would only worsen the problem?

    Be that as it may, the veterinary profession is not the NHS. We are more attributable to private medical services, where work-ups can be done immediately, results reviewed and treatments provided much faster. While we, too, are in the midst of an employment crisis, each practice varies wildly and some remain fully staffed.

    Advantage

    For adequately staffed practices, the seven-day week can, indeed, be implemented to everyone’s advantage. This doesn’t mean everyone works more, it just means the rota has to be managed differently.

    An equine practice I’m aware of runs this rota. To my knowledge, the way it is implemented is some vets work alternate weeks – that is, seven days “on” and seven days “off” – while others work four days “on” and four days “off” in turn. Weekends are treated as a normal working day, so there are no more “weekends on call”, and the nights on duty are simply distributed within each vet’s working days. As you can appreciate, this means, for some staff, the days off are constantly shifting.

    This is just one example of how the seven-day working week can be implemented, and, ultimately, results in more availability for clients and more time off for the vets. However, this sort of rota would not necessarily work in all practices or fit in with all lifestyles. The workload would have to be sufficient to make it economically viable to treat weekends as normal days and the staff would have to assess whether this sort of rota would work for them.

    Work-life balance

    rota
    “Numerous ways exist to implement a better work-life balance, with the seven-day week being one of them.” Image © jolopes / Adobe Stock

    Many people value the traditional weekend, because it fits with non-vet partners’ working weeks, family or other weekend commitments, which is the main barrier to the introduction of this sort of service on a nationwide scale.

    The seven-day week doesn’t mean working seven days a week, every week. It simply means providing normal daytime services to the client seven days a week, with vets slotted into working hours accordingly.

    In a stressful professional work environment – taking into consideration on-call work and the 5:30pm pyometra surgery that keeps you working well beyond your alleged finish time – forward-thinking practices should be allowing their “full-time” vets adequate downtime: be that time off in lieu, a four-day working week as standard, and flexible working patterns or shifts, opposed to the traditional 11-hour days. Numerous ways exist to implement a better work-life balance, with the seven-day week being one of them.

    Retention solution?

    With the staff retention problem in the profession, it is imperative those practices still dragging their heels and working their vets into the ground take on board these ideas, and change their rotas for the better.

    Likewise, vets are struggling with their mind-bogglingly old-fashioned rotas should not stand for them – there are better options. If vets start voting with their feet, eventually, those workplaces stuck in the past, will have to adapt, otherwise they will find themselves even shorter of staff.

  • Corporate vet school

    Corporate vet school

    The announcement of a corporate veterinary group’s collaboration with the new Keele University/Harper Adams veterinary school struck a few chords, and seemingly opened a figurative can of worms that (like their literal parasitic counterparts) just doesn’t sit well in my gut.

    A few points to consider here, the first of which I have written about before, although not about this particular arrival on the vet school scene.

    More vet schools needed?

    Do we need more vet schools? The short answer, in my opinion, is no. The employment crisis in the veterinary industry as it stands is multi-faceted – pluck a reason out of the air and it almost certainly has some impact on why practices are begging for vets:

    • compassion fatigue
    • poor working conditions
    • work-life balance
    • salary
    • lack of long-term prospects
    • Brexit
    • client pressure
    • under-supported young vets

    I could talk about any one of these reasons at length (and have done), but, for the purposes of discussing the above gem of veterinary news, I will focus on the last point: support for new graduates or young vets.

    Vicious cycle

    circle
    “This lack of support leads to high stress levels, young vets becoming fed up and looking elsewhere for a different career that provides them with the mental stimulation they desire, but with better support, hours and pay to go with it.” Image © Michael Brown / Adobe Stock

    Some practices are excellent at providing a nurturing environment for young vets, but many are not and often not through any fault other than lack of staff.

    This lack of support leads to high stress levels, young vets becoming fed up and looking elsewhere for a different career that provides them with the mental stimulation they desire, but with better support, hours and pay to go with it – thus the vicious cycle of extremely talented young people leaving the profession after a few years begins.

    Problem solver?

    Will opening more vet schools help the staffing problem? No. It is a short-sighted, temporary solution to fill a gap nobody seems to be able to plug. But the more graduates that accept jobs from practices who ideally wanted an experienced vet and can’t source one, the worse the retention problem will become. It is unfair on both parties to take on a new grad if a practice does not have the resources to sufficiently train and help them through their first few years.

    To solve the retention problem, the profession needs to improve working conditions and encourage vets to stay, not just find more avenues to farm out new grads to try and bridge the gap.

    Are corporates good for the profession?

    I could (and probably will) discuss corporates at great length, but there is no clear answer for them being good for the profession. Having been stung with the sore end of the corporate tail once before, I’m inclined to say no, but that would be based on my experience of one particular practice. Conversely, I have colleagues who work for corporate practices that seem to be very well run and provide a great environment for learning.

    My opinion is not fact and, to keep it short and sweet, is summarised below:

    • The idea behind corporate practices is often well meaning, but does not always work when put into practice. For example, the graduate schemes sound great, but only work if they are implemented correctly on an individual practice level.
    • Some corporates are extortionately priced compared to independents – there is a fine line between charging appropriately and taking the biscuit. This is likely exaggerated because many independents have been selling themselves short for years; however, it is not okay to triple prices in a week when an independent practice is taken over. All it does is feed the myth that vets are only in it for the money.
    • Long-established corporately owned practices seem to have better client satisfaction than practices newly acquired under a corporate brand as the shock of takeover, staff changes and price increases are long gone.
    • Corporates aim to provide better working hours (a four-day week, for example) and flexible working patterns, but, again, this varies on an individual basis.
    • The hand of many partners in independent practice has been forced as the profession continues to change. Young people do not have the disposable cash to buy into partnerships, as was the tradition. Corporates have taken advantage of this by buying out those wishing to retire without any new blood coming through.

    Corporate practices can vary wildly even within the same group – much of it comes down to the individual practice, as with independents. As much as corporates offer many benefits with their nice shiny contracts, many independents match or better these. Likewise, an independent or corporate practice can be an equally catastrophic place to work in if managed badly at the practice level.

    Now, to the elephant in the room…

    Should a corporate group be running a vet school hospital?

    Is a corporate running a vet school hospital any different from the outsourced rotation format of the other newest veterinary schools – Nottingham and Surrey – whereby they have no on-site university clinic, but rotations are undertaken in nearby hospitals?

    nocash
    “The hand of many partners in independent practice has been forced as the profession continues to change. Young people do not have the disposable cash to buy into partnerships, as was the tradition.” Image © MHChristine / Adobe Stock

    The concern with new veterinary schools popping up and proposing this sort of final-year teaching is the associated practices are then less available to provide EMS placements for local students. The purpose-built corporate hospital that is to be partnered with the new veterinary school avoids this particular hurdle in part, at least (there’s no mention of an equine hospital or farm clinic), but is it still a good idea?

    Remaining impartial

    It comes down to whether the corporate presence is going to be ingrained into the teaching. Will the graduate scheme offered by the group be heavily recommended? Would the business structure and branded drugs be taught to the students?

    At university, we were always told to learn drugs not brand names to remain impartial. Would that impartiality be maintained appropriately in a hospital that uses own-branded drugs and whose bigwig advisory boards dictate which products should and shouldn’t be offered?

    Encouraging research into all available treatment and diagnostic options is a key aspect of learning and practising evidence-based medicine on rotations.

    Familiarity breeds

    Even if no direct corporate emphasis exists, surely the undercurrent is going to sway the students into applying for jobs in sister practices under a graduate scheme.

    As a new grad, you are bewildered by everything and getting a heads-up on even the smallest of obstacles can make a huge different to your day in the first few weeks. Therefore, simple things, such as the practice management system used in every practice the group owns, may be enough to sway the decision between accepting one of two jobs, simply because using a system you’ve gotten used to on rotations will make your life that bit easier during day-to-day practice.

    Conclusion

    It remains to been seen if a corporate partnership with the new vet school will be a success for the students under their care and the profession as a whole, and I’ll withhold judgement for now.

    However, with predictions corporate takeover will saturate at 70% of practices in the profession, it is undeniable the veterinary landscape is moving further adrift from its once independent roots as the corporate giants continue to tighten their grip.