Our 2024 vet industry trends and challenges research report, based on over 240 veterinary professional responses, presented several challenges and trends within the industry. We recently followed up with several veterinary practices to generate insights into how practices are tackling these challenges that were found in the 2024 report.
Read along to see how 13 veterinary professionals are navigating these challenges, you might find the strategies they’ve applied applicable for your own clinic. We hope you find the insights useful!
Keenan Edinger, Managing Director in Australia
Challenges faced: Global veterinary shortage and staff recruitment, staff burnout and mental health, having the right technology to manage my practice, payment/finance options for the practice client, marketing/client communications, learning and development, and adapting to new technology and procedures.
How are you addressing these challenges?
“Significant use and implementation of new technologies to drive operational productivities and efficiencies resulting in increased patient care, customer service and staff moral and culture.”
Sally Trembath, Practice Manager in Australia
Challenges faced: Global veterinary shortage and staff recruitment, marketing/client communications, learning and development, economic conditions and the cost of living and adapting to new technology and procedures.
How are you addressing these challenges?
“I recently attended Crampton Consulting Group’s Practice Management School and it was fantastic for covering some of these challenges!”
Laura Schimke, Practice Manager in Australia
Challenges faced: Staff burnout and mental health.
How are you addressing these challenges?
“Mental Health is our main priority at this stage. To help combat/support those that may be affected, firstly we have an appropriately trained MHFA officer.
I have also implemented a Warm and Fuzzy Wall. This is a wall within the back part of the clinic that has an A4 poster of each staff members name. There are approximately 40 different sayings that are located around the names. When you feel that you want to give a staff member a compliment that everyone can see, you go along select the saying that you want to put up (“You are amazing today”, “You rocked that consult”, “You are Worthy”, “the world needs more people like you”) these are just some of the sayings available. Once the week is finished all sayings are removed for the posters and placed back around the posters ready to start the new week. We also do Staff Member of the month. Each team member puts in 1 vote per week for another staff member that they think deserves of a special mention. A comment must be written as to why the staff member receives the vote, however it is anonymous.At the end of the month I (as the PM) will open the nomination box and work out who the winner is. Each team member will get their nominations, so they can see the reasons why they were nominated. The winner of “Staff Member of the Month” receives a prize from the prize box. I have sourced these items from suppliers, other staff members and donations in general. Prizes range from hand creams, picnic rugs, pie makers, juicers, (just to name a few). They are also presented with a little Star Pin that they can wear. As our clinic is quite spacious, I have been able to set up a Mental Health Retreat Room, where you can go in relax, refresh and recharge. This door must remain open until it is been used. Within this room are a number of activities to be done. There is an electronic dart board, if you need to get frustration out. Colouring in books of all types, books to read, a white board to draw on, chairs just to sit and relax, and some bean bags to really snuggle and relax. Oh and there must be music, we have a radio in reception and our back treatment area, where music is played all day everyday (volume appropriate).”
Skye De-Ath, Practice Manager in Australia
Challenges faced: Staff burnout and mental health, attracting new clients, client loyalty/retention, learning and development, and economic conditions and the cost of living.
How are you addressing these challenges?
“Staff mental health and burnout – This is being managed by 4-day work weeks. Early finish on one day every fortnight for self-care. The team have access to EAP as well. We limit the number of Euthanasia’s preformed daily by Vets (1 per vet per day is our limit). We ensure staff have dedicated breaks and catch up spots throughout the day. Attracting new clients – Updating social media (Tik Tok/relevant and on trend topics being posted). Running promotions e.g refer a friend and both receive a discount. Client loyalty/retention – A customer service survey is sent to clients to gather feedback. We maximise touch points with clients, reminders, recalls, emails and access to our wellness plans: Best for Pet. Learning and development – VTC/free training courses for staff, CPD, in clinic training sessions run by staff and lunch and learns. We ensure all staff have a career plan. Economic conditions/cost of living – Offering multiple treatment plans, offering Vet Pay/ Afterpay and wellness plans: Best for Pet. Our EAP offers financial support, we ensure all employees are being paid fairly and have regular pay reviews.”
Jodie Raethel, Director of Clinical Operations in Australia
Challenges faced: Staff burnout and mental health, marketing/client communications and learning and development.
How are you addressing these challenges?
“Burnout & Mental Health – we have a designated HR team member that staff meet with on a regular basis. We are a very open hospital where staff are able to express their concerns and needs which we listen to and act upon constantly. We are trying to minimise overtime, allowing all staff to have a strong work/life balance. Marketing & Client communication – Getting in an external marketing company to start the process and guide us on the correct path. Communication is difficult but we try to be as open as we can be when discussing procedures/work getting done on patients to clients in an open conversation.
Learning Development/Training – I have developed a certification training plan for all my nurses to achieve. It is a list of all aspects of veterinary nursing and check off sheet which must be completed as competent before the certification is given. This also ensures everything in the hospital is done the same way, no matter who is completing the task. This allows us to give really vital training to all nurses and give them a career plan to be reached.”
Robyn Edleston, Vet and Practice Owner in Australia
Challenges faced: Global veterinary shortage and staff recruitment, client loyalty/retention, payment/finance options for the client, learning and development, economic conditions and the cost of living, supplying the right treatments, procedures and products for patients and adapting to new technology and procedures.
How are you addressing these challenges?
“By offering flexible work hours, maximising utilisation of nursing staff, advertising extensively for vet staff, staying up to date with technology and utilising online training. Also offering clients several payment options. We communicate the importance of high standards of treatment to staff and clients. We keep our services affordable and offer value for money.”
Tony Atyeo, Vet and Practice Owner in Australia
Challenges faced: Global veterinary shortage and staff recruitment, staff burnout and mental health, attracting new clients, payment/finance options for the client, economic conditions and the cost of living.
How are you addressing these challenges?
“We have completed practice coaching programs involving all aspects of Veterinary practice. Several of our leadership team have completed the training over several years. We have adopted many of the philosophies suggested, in particular related to financial strategies, personal development, marketing, human relations, personnel management, business strategies. The training has been comprehensive and has kept us in an improved business model and profit status.”
Nicholas Sygrove, Vet and Practice Owner in New Zealand
Challenges faced: Attracting new clients, client loyalty/retention, marketing/client communications, learning and development, economic conditions and the cost of living, supplying the right treatments, procedures and products for patients.
How are you addressing these challenges?
“Investing in myself and staff learning new skills. Rather than increasing fees to meet targets upskilling myself and staff to be able to offer more services.”
Challenges faced: Global veterinary shortage and staff recruitment/retention, economic conditions and the cost of living.
How are you addressing these challenges?
“Currently looking at sourcing vets from overseas. If you use recruitment agencies, this can be very expensive because they take a percentage of the vet salary over a set period. New staff need to stick around long enough to make this viable. Encouraging clients not to neglect their pet’s health needs during an economic downturn is very challenging. This tends to impact clients on low to medium incomes more so those on higher incomes (although this group can be some of the least likely to spend money on their pets in general). We have been careful not to price our services out of our clients reach. Not an easy process because it often means we slip further back when comparing ourselves with other countries. This can make attracting vets from these countries a little more challenging.”
Olivia Patterson, Vet in New Zealand
Challenges faced: Staff burnout and mental health, attracting new clients, client loyalty/retention, payment/finance options for the practice client, marketing/client communications, learning and development/training, supplying the right treatments, procedures and products for patients and adapting to new technology and procedures.
How are you addressing these challenges?
“Mostly discussing these topics in team meetings and getting feedback from the team on what they are experiencing and what they think are some ways we can address concerns within each of these topics. Staff burnout/mental health – currently encouraging staff to take leave while it is ‘quiet’ in clinic (July-Sept). Support staff team within themselves communicate the need for breaks to each other and arrange their caseloads to ensure everyone is getting breaks and the workload is evenly shared. Vets manage their own breaks as they feel they need them (within the confines of how much break entitlement they have contractually). Catch up times (blocked out periods of the day where consults are not booked) are made available to vets. Attracting new clients – working with special interest groups/ rescues to have better outreach to the community and encourage word of mouth. Promotions are advertised on our website and social media. In near future – holding in clinic, free to attend information evenings for clients/the public. Client loyalty/ retention – client feedback is reviewed and trends are addressed. Focused on booking revisits at time of appointment, recalls and reminders. Payment options – available in clinic, Afterpay and third party loan provider. Learning development/training – both in-house and out-of-house CPD is offered by the company/our specific clinic at regular intervals. Vet rounds to discuss cases are daily (30 minutes) for collegial CPD/case management. Multiple veterinarians have recently achieved, or are in the process of securing, their memberships through the ANZCVS. Nurses also have CPD opportunities through the SuperNurse programme and CPD at our learning centre. Supplying the right treatments/ products/ procedures for patients – largely this is done through having the knowledge of what can be done/what is available (CPD, memberships) and having access to equipment (our clinic is fairly well equipped with multi-parameters, tonometer, equipment for blood transfusions, syringe driver etc). Adapting to new technology and procedures – all our vets are keen to keep current with technology and procedures and actively do so.”
Marnie Hooper, Vet Nurse in Australia
Challenges faced: Global veterinary shortage and staff recruitment, staff burnout and mental health, payment/finance options for the client, economic conditions and the cost of living.
How are you addressing these challenges?
“Staff shortage and retention: I try to support staff around me to foster healthier work/life balances. Also listening to their issues and validating reasonable concerns. Staff burnout/mental health: supporting organisations that are working towards a better industry such as Sophie’s legacy. For my own burnout, I try to work only 1-2 shifts a week (12hr ECC shifts). I also try to maintain my identity outside of vet med with hobbies and other passions that bring me joy. I also see a psychologist who specialises in burnout and working with paramedics and police who suffer similar industry related stressors. Financial options for the clients: our clinic now have Vet Pay, Zip Pay and Afterpay which helps. I think pet insurance should be utilised more by the general public. I feel our price increases and clinical fees are very difficult for the average person to afford. Perhaps education to the public of the lack of government subsidy in veterinary care. This shows the true costs of medical care being paid. Other/client abuse: People don’t understand that the frontline staff are the ones providing the skills and experience in caring for pets, the misconception that we pick and choose costs to the client is false and we receive the backlash from this constantly. Common things I hear from these types of clients that cannot afford vet care and that we only care about the money and not animals. This couldn’t be farther from the truth. I focus heavily on my patients and find joy in caring for them. I think it’s because it targets who we are fundamentally as people and the people in this industry are typically kind, compassionate and caring. There is a lot of joy and positivity in veterinary medicine but at such a high suicide rate we really need to start trying to listen to and protect these people that care for our pets.”
Louise Pierce, Vet in Australia
Challenges faced: Client loyalty/retention, learning and development, economic conditions and the cost of living, supplying the right treatments, procedures and products for patients.
How are you addressing these challenges?
“We are educating clients, we provide email communications and updates for each individual patient following a consultation but this is time consuming and really impacts on our ability to service clients efficiently. We are posting a lot of information on social media as well, as well as providing education for kids with school and kinder visits.”
Challenges faced: Attracting new clients, client loyalty/retention, payment/finance options for the client, supplying the right treatments, procedures and products for patients.
How are you addressing these challenges?
“Attracting new clients – I work on word of mouth and now have thousands of clients all around Australia who use my telemedicine practice on a regular basis now that the remote and regional practices are closing or no longer servicing these areas. Urban area clients also use me when charges by local vets are too large to be afforded. Client loyalty – I am completely honest with my clients and state up front that if my service is not appropriate for their needs there will be no charge. I charge the amount of time it takes to solve the problem. Payment options – All clients pay by direct debit into my account immediately following consultation. Supplying the right treatments – As an experienced practitioner I can identify if the patient requires a more comprehensive workup than available over the phone. If so, they are referred to the closest clinic. In over 80% of cases, I can solve their problems over the telephone because my training at Vet school and in Practice taught me how to problem solve and not be overdependent on technology to make a diagnosis.”
For more information on our 2024 veterinary industry trends research, download the report here. Or view our summarised version.