Located in Sydney’s eastern suburbs, Bondi Junction Veterinary Hospital has been at the heart of the community’s pet care for over 80 years. The practice is a private small animal hospital that’s home to four vets and a team of dedicated vet nurses, as well as highly skilled support staff. Co-owner and veterinarian Dr Ray Chan has been with the clinic for 13 years and a partner for the past seven.
“We’re strongly community-based,” says Ray. “We have clients that have been with us for two or three generations. The grandkids of our initial clients are now coming to see us with their family pets.”
Covetrus Ascend, the choice for cloud-based veterinary practice management software
Bondi Junction Veterinary Hospital had been using RxWorks on an in-house server, which was raising concerns with Ray and the team due to a looming warranty expiration. This prompted their migration to a future-proof cloud-based solution, Covetrus Ascend.
“We were looking to move to the cloud with our IT operations,” he explains. “It wasn’t really a valid option for us to stay as we were. We needed to move on.”
Covetrus Ascend stood out from competitor solutions due to its cloud-based mobility, ease of use, and its ability to provide staff with access anywhere and at any time.
“For example, if I forget to take a photo of the patient and client details before a house call, I can just log into Ascend on my phone,” Ray explains. “I can also answer emails or check records from home on my days off, if I need to.”
The team value core features of Covetrus Ascend:
- Ease of use: “We wanted it to be very user-friendly,” says Ray.
- Mobility: Staff use laptops and iPads throughout the clinic, and Ray regularly accesses Ascend from home.
- Cloud reliability: “I wouldn’t imagine we would go back [to a server],” he adds.
Excellent onboarding and ongoing support
Ray praises the Covetrus Ascend support team. “We had some issues with financial and document migration,” he explains. “Also, our accountant found the differences between RxWorks and Ascend a bit challenging at first,” he says. “But, to the Covetrus team’s credit, they fixed any issues quickly. They worked with our accountant and across hours to identify and correct the teething issues.”
Ray highlighted the exceptional service he and his staff received from the Covetrus onboarding team.
“They were always accessible. They kept us on premium customer support longer than we were entitled to. We really appreciate that.”
Most of the Bondi Junction Veterinary Hospital team completed the Ascend online learning courses before go-live, which made the transition more seamless. Ray also notes that Ascend’s intuitive interface makes training staff and locums much easier.
“They find that logging in and understanding the navigation and interface is easy to use and user-friendly.”
Positive impact on operations and internal communication
Ray and his team have embraced Covetrus Ascend’s key features, which have positively impacted the practice’s daily operations and communication.
- Internal messaging: “It took away a lot of that ‘leave a note on the notice board’ system we used to have,” says Ray. “The team can just send me a message, and I can see it at home.”
- Sticky notes and announcements: “We use them for practice-wide messages. No one has to ask where to find them anymore,” he adds.
- To-do lists: “Reception uses the to-dos for client orders and drug restocking. As they complete them, they tick them off. It’s not lost on a Post-it note anymore,” he says.
- Auto-save and multi-tab use: “Auto-save is great. I often have three tabs open: one for notes, one for history, and one for the flow list.”
- Mobility: With laptops in each consult room and iPads for nurses, Ascend’s flexibility suits the busy Bondi Junction Veterinary Hospital team perfectly.
Ray appreciates that Covetrus Ascend supports accountability and ownership within his team.
“Nurses and vets have to own what they do, as their name is attached to the record,” he says. “That works really well, as it helps to make sure we follow up.”
The hospital uses IDEXX, so their integration with Covetrus Ascend is important for Ray and his team. “Ascend and IDEXX are connecting and talking to each other well,” says Ray.
Efficiency gains across the practice
Ray is seeing efficiency gains across multiple areas of the practice with Covetrus Ascend:
- Reduced training time: “Teaching new staff is easier with Ascend than with RxWorks,” he says.
- Searchable billing: “We can start typing anything, such as ‘blood’, ‘glucose’, or ‘meds’, and relevant items pop up,” he adds.
- Task management: “The to-do list has helped us streamline reception workflows,” he explains.
Final recommendation
Ray is a strong advocate for Covetrus Ascend.
“I love using it,” he says, “and big thanks to the team, who were there when we needed them to get through the teething issues.”
He recommends Covetrus Ascend to any veterinary clinic that’s looking for an intuitive, mobile-friendly solution with solid local support, especially if they want to modernise and scale while focusing on client care.
“Ascend is easy to use, flexible, and well supported,” Ray says. “If you’re looking for a modern solution and a support team that stands by you, I’d absolutely recommend it.”
Learn more about Covetrus Ascend