I RECENTLY embarked on a two day visit with some colleagues to inspect a number of ‘flagship’ veterinary practices.

It is always useful to see how other people are doing things and, after only thirty-nine years in general practice, there is still much to be learned.

The trip was most interesting.

The first thing I discovered, to my great relief, was that everyone struggles with the same problems.

Keeping vital members of staff happy despite ever increasing expectations of them, coping with bad debt, and the ill feeling it inevitably brings, and handling the emotional effects of daily disease and death take up a lot of time and cause sleep loss in all veterinary employers.

The rigours and restrictions of Covid and the sheer exhaustion of it all still lingers and many find it difficult to shake off the experience.

The next thing I realised was that everyone does things differently. For example, one practice had started ‘cat only’ clinics, which sound great until you think about it.

First off, of course, is the presumption that all cats prefer other cats to dogs. Em. Not true.

Then we have the fact that cats, when anxious, emit pheromones that can be detected by other cats. Pretty soon, those ‘watch out!’ pheromones can build up massively to create tension amongst all. Quite quickly, once the hissing and spitting begins, the situation can get out of hand. And, unfortunately, you just can’t stop someone with a dog walking in to the waiting room to spoil it all.

But the practice that really got me thinking had taken technology to another level. As we entered, the owner proudly showed us his CCTV system, which constantly monitors the waiting area and consulting rooms.

With a flourish, he described how it recorded every event, allowing him to assess the performance of young veterinary surgeons, calculate average consultation times for each member of staff and settle disputes with clients over what was done or said.

Additionally, his phone system informed every caller, through a prolonged and irritating message, that their call was being recorded for training and security purposes. He was positively gleeful as he told us how conversations could be plucked from thin air and replayed.

In short, he seemed more concerned with defence than treating his patients to the best of his ability.

So. Just so you know. We won’t be doing all of that. To me, the consulting room should be a haven of confidentiality.

Clients should be able to speak freely about any matter at all without feeling they are being judged and safe in the knowledge that information will be shared only with colleagues when necessary.

Vets should do their very best and not just put on a show for the camera. But phone conversations, because they are so often a cause for dispute over what was said, or, indeed, more commonly, how it was said, are recorded and retained for a short while. Doing so protects both parties, encourages politeness and can be very, very useful for training purposes.