07.09.2018 Views

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.

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