The Society for Practising Veterinary Surgeons (SPVS) has released an update and resource hub on how veterinary practices and professionals can manage expectations and improve client communications for the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) after the publication of it’s issues statement.
Unhappiness can be measured by the gap between expectation and reality. The reality of delivering high quality client care at a cost that the client may wish to pay for this can only be managed so far. We also must look at improving client communications and expectations.
“We really need to explain ourselves better and do more to empower the clients to have more informed discussions with us” said Peter Orpin, SPVS Board chair. “Consultation lengths have increased by 50 to 100 percent over the last 10 years and this has led to reduction of consultations per full-time equivalent vet. Practices continue to invest in more technology and skills to deliver better health outcomes and client experiences.
“These factors combined with inexorable increases in costs, which are significantly greater than inflation, have led to increases of more than threefold in the overall costs per consultation over the last 10 years. Not all these costs have been passed onto the client. For example, labour costs as a percentage of turnover have increased by 15 to 20 percent.
“We are doing more and more for our clients but we are struggling to ensure fees keep pace with the changes.”
The SPVS CMA working group have identified five areas that the CMA could influence to make changes to the veterinary marketplace:
- Increase supply
- Reduce demand
- Legislative reform
- Increase transparency and competition
- Help improve client information and manage expectations better
“Simply increasing competition or seeking to increase choices for clients on its own will not alter their expectations” said Vicki Farbon, practice owner and SPVS Board vice chair. “If practices lose substantive income, they will need to reapportion lost income elsewhere or cut services. Both options may impact on animal welfare and the viability of marginal practices.”
SPVS has promoted the development of a centralised website for clients that provides information akin to the NHS website. In addition, the website could provide more information for clients on their responsibilities as pet owners/guardians and the cost of owning a pet, as well as providing clearer guidance on veterinary fees, how best to ask about costs at any stage and normalising conversations about treatment options.
The website also includes an effective client/patient charter highlighting the mutual respect required for a beneficial vet-practice-client relationship and emphasising that vets and clients share a common goal. This has the potential to save time and costs for practices and deliver better outcomes for clients.
The conclusions of the SPVS CMA group are:
- Client education/empowerment underpins contextualised care and should be supported by impartial online information
- Transparency, choice and clarity of prices are essential. They all must all be contextualised to be effective
- Unintended consequences need to be carefully evaluated, especially those that impact on marginal, start-up independents
- Many long-term measures, if adopted, will help rectify supply and demand issues and provide sustainable outcomes
SPVS continues to engage with its members, actively representing their views, listening to feedback from practices and encouraging transparency with clients as well as working hard to provide practical support for members.
SPVS’ CMA resources can be accessed here and include:
- A webinar from In Communication, SPVS partner and specialists in training in veterinary client communications, covering:
- How to best broach costs to clients without triggering an adverse response
- Communication of treatments options in a succinct way
- Time blind shared decision making and when and how to make a simple decision on behalf of the client
- Questions from clients: eight common questions that we suspect your team will be asked by owners and model responses to share with veterinary teams
- Summary of the five key concerns raised by the CMA and details of how to talk practice staff about them, and possible actions
- SPVS presentation to the CMA focusing on the drivers for fee increases
SPVS is part of a joint working party with the British Veterinary Association, alongside the British Small Animal Veterinary Association, the Veterinary Management Group and the British Veterinary Nursing Association. This joint working party is focusing on how best to support the profession and help the Competition and Market Authority (CMA) with their investigations of the household pet veterinary services marketplace.
For more information about SPVS, becoming a member, member benefits and support for practices visit the SPVS website.
