IVC Referral Autumn Newsletter
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<strong>Referral</strong> Strategy Team<br />
In order to bolster our support for our <strong>Referral</strong> practices, we have recently set up a <strong>Referral</strong><br />
Strategy Team, which consists of Paul Cowling, Emma Krawiec (Senior Operations Manager),<br />
Richard Artingstall (CD at Vale <strong>Referral</strong>s) and Chris Trickey (Group Veterinary<br />
Advisor). Currently, the Team meets on a monthly basis. Chris is continuing to spend most<br />
of his time on <strong>Referral</strong> matters.<br />
In addition, we have set up a Steering Group with a wide range of expertise to help guide us<br />
and assist with decision making. This Group is made up of Stephen Collins and Harry Scott<br />
(Specialist vets & CDs), Ben Kelly (Practice Manager and BSM), Theresa Bellhouse (<strong>Referral</strong><br />
Surgical Nurse), Paul Atkinson (Special projects), Allan Leigh (Property), Richard Parker (HR),<br />
Sally Clark (Learning & Development), Graham Avent and Julie Howard (Marketing), Douglas<br />
Veitch (GVA, CD and first opinion vet) and James Harris (CD at White Cross Vet Group).<br />
<strong>IVC</strong> Group News<br />
David Hillier has recently set up a European <strong>Referral</strong> Committee to look at synergies between<br />
the <strong>IVC</strong> UK and Evidensia practices on the continent, and develop common strategies. While<br />
UK and continental referral practices are different in many ways, there are many overlaps,<br />
and this is an exciting, developing area.<br />
Recruitment<br />
This is now a major problem for all practices - first opinion and referral – who have trouble<br />
finding quality vets and nurses. We are working with the HR department to look at ways in<br />
which we can offer more support for referral staff, and be more pro-active in recruitment.<br />
The information from the current salary package survey will help us to ensure we remain<br />
competitive in an ever-changing market.<br />
Building projects<br />
We continue to improve our referral practice buildings under the watchful eye of Paul<br />
Atkinson and the Special Projects team. At time of writing, there are eight of our referral<br />
practices at various stages of development.<br />
Key Performance Indicators<br />
We see the development of KPIs for referral practice as a vital part of managing your referral<br />
business. Our aim here has been to develop some common KPIs which we can all produce –<br />
to help you manage your business on a month to month basis, to give us more information<br />
to develop common areas of weakness, and ultimately benchmark both clinical and business<br />
parameters across the Group. The key to this is setup of the various PMS systems, and we<br />
are now at a fairly advanced stage of producing suggested standard setups for Voyager and<br />
RxWorks practices.<br />
<strong>Referral</strong> Service Pricing<br />
This is another key area where we often receive enquiries, and we have started to look into<br />
this more closely. While we have a lot of information on first opinion pricing and charging, it
is limited for referrals. There is a huge variation in pricing across our referral sites, so we<br />
hope to be able to give you rational advice on this shortly.<br />
Developing referral vets of the future<br />
This is a cause of concern for all of us, and one that is commonly raised. There are no easy<br />
answers, but we are looking at different ways in which we can work towards developing<br />
referral vets of all levels.