Access and sustainability key to new practice success

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1 Vet Times The website for the veterinary profession Access and sustainability key to new practice success Author : anonymous Categories : Business Date : November 1, 2012 Opened in 2010, PDSA s PetAid Hospital in Sunderland was a major investment by the charity and serves an economically deprived area, providing quality, affordable care for pets in an ecofriendly, spacious building. WHEN IT COMES to serving the community s needs, then the PDSA s PetAid Hospital in Sunderland ticks all the right boxes. Built in 2010 with both the local community s need for affordable veterinary services and earth-friendly construction policies in mind, it provides essential cover in an economically deprived area. PDSA is one of the largest employers of veterinary staff in the country and it focuses on supplying animal health care to people in receipt of state benefits people who might otherwise struggle to pay for treatment for their pets. Practice manager Michael Laing says plans were in place to build a hospital on the site a few years earlier, but the organisation waited until funds were available before embarking on the project. We had seen an increase in the number of clients so the time was right to build, he says. We bought the land after an engineering business situated here closed down. Construction and the cost of equipping the hospital totalled 1.6m. Incorporating solid ecocredentials into the build was a consideration from day one. If you can do it in a sustainable way then why not? says Michael. We have rain water harvesters for the toilets and solar panels on the roof to heat water. We also have a heat exchange system to cool or heat sections of the building. 1 / 25

2 Electricity is used throughout no gas and most of the building has motion light sensors built in so that lights turn on when you walk into a room and off when you leave. Key areas, such as operating theatres, use normal lighting. The building design preserves energy too, says Michael. We looked at a single-storey building, but two storeys means we actually use less. In terms of floor space Sunderland is bigger than all the PDSA s current hospitals, except Liverpool, which is the same size. We could compare energy use with Liverpool, but it has different equipment. We will be building more hospitals over the next few years and so we will be able to look at the features that have proven to be the most economical. We can also look at ways to tweak things within the building to make it more energy efficient. The design inside and out is clean and in keeping with the charity s colour scheme of blue and white. Starting upstairs in the hospital meeting room it is clear every part of the building has been optimised for functionality. Meetings are held here as well as regular CPD involving regional trainers. Outside across the corridor is one of two duty rooms. Doubling up as a veterinary surgeon s office and the practice library, it is neat and orderly with a practice management system terminal. Down the corridor is the staff room with a spacious kitchen, large table and relaxation area for staff breaks. Deryck Wilson, PR manager for PDSA, says one of the problems the charity s clinicians have faced in the past is working in cramped conditions. The number of clients and animals registered with us has gone up by about 50 per cent in the past five years. Our pet hospitals used to be big enough, but the size has increased. To guarantee clients can get to clinics outside city centres, like Sunderland, has meant ensuring potential sites are on main bus routes. Access to the hospital is made easier because of its position next to the A19 and that, in turn, helps service its catchment area, which extends roughly 20 miles north, south and west. As a charity we have seen a large increase in client numbers, says Deryck. That points to the fact that people have more pets, more households qualify because they are on benefits, or more people know about the charity and use it. Probably it is a mixture of all three, but the economy has a role to play in all that. Sunderland PetAid Hospital opened its doors in December 2010, just 11 months after soil was broken on the site. Some of the charity s regions are static in terms of client numbers or have seen a drop in registrations in the past six months. In the north-east we are seeing an increase, says Michael. It is gradual, steady growth. Michael was born locally. He joined the PDSA in 1995 and worked in fund-raising and marketing 2 / 25

3 before trying his hand at practice management five years ago. Half his week is spent in Sunderland and half in Middlesbrough, which is 30 miles south. Most of what I do is working behind the scenes to make sure we have what we need to run smoothly, says Michael. If we are down a member of staff then I have to contact locum agencies to get a replacement. Making sure bills are paid and tracking finances so that we stick to budget is another important aspect. Hospital reception and the back office reflect these priorities. Staff deal with enquiries efficiently, even when the reception area is thronged with clients. Typically, one member of staff mans the telephone, one dispenses medicines and one sits in the reception hot seat. Clients are checked in and provide a signature to compare against the client record. They are registered for six months at a time before they must renew. The management office to the rear is clean and tidy, housing staff rotas and all operational administration, such as health and safety files. The entire ground floor is linked via a central Ushaped connecting corridor. Treatment rooms or wards are on the left as you walk away from reception, and consulting rooms are on the right. Enter the building from the car park and the large waiting area has capacity for 30 or 40 clients. It has bright and easy-to-read display boards. Donation targets for the hospital are displayed on a large thermometer, currently above 100,000. Photos show some of the available treatments and their average cost. It gives clients an appreciation of how much they are, says Michael. Light pours into the waiting area from a glass frontage that runs floor to ceiling at least 25 feet high. Vents on the ceiling extract and blow in air to keep it flowing around the building. A plaque on the wall shows the hospital won a RICS Award for Sustainability in the north-east region. Animal patients move through to treatment via a series of six consulting rooms two double and two single that are set away from the entrance. All have steel tables that fold up flush with the wall. Consult five is often used for euthanasia consultations. Consult six, round the corner of the central corridor, was the nurse station, but the hospital is trialling a new way of working and nurses now partner up with vets. An isolation ward next to consult five, which deals with all infectious cases, had a solitary occupant: a cat recovering from ringworm. Inside are six medium-sized cages and one walk-in kennel. All of the hospital s walkin kennels have underfloor heating. The dog ward is next door, with seven glassfronted, walk-in kennels and 15 small and medium-sized cages. Beside it is a prep room and laundry. A MRSA prevention cleaning schedule is evident and it is obvious the hospital maintains excellent hygiene standards. A large central prep area is the main engine room and all of the wards except the isolation ward 3 / 25

4 connect to it. The feline ward (12 cages) and small animal ward (two cages) are adjacent to rooms for x-ray, laboratory procedures, diagnostics and dental ops. A surgical supplies area equipped with autoclaves separates one major and one minor operating theatre. Glass cabinets open into both theatres so equipment can be passed through. Two central prep stations are equipped with anaesthetic equipment and gas. Mobile tables allow staff to wheel patients straight into theatre. High-value equipment includes a ZooMax integrated veterinary x-ray system with Fujifilm FCR Capsula XLII CR plate processor, veterinary ultrasound, an endoscope and ECG equipment. To minimise on oxygen costs, the practice also has its own generator housed outside in a plant room with the heating, rain water collector and solar panel controls. Creating the base for a solid, first opinion hospital has been only part of the charity s project in Sunderland. Client education and reinforcement of positive preventive health care messages are just as important. PDSA has always seen its responsibility as encouraging the right environment for an animal to be raised, says Deryck. If our vets spot an animal is not being looked after properly, not receiving preventive medicine or not being fed correctly, then they are attuned to that. It goes beyond just treating an animal for its immediate illness, it means looking after the whole animal and they talk to the clients about that. Regular weight clinics and a Pet Fit Club competition (for cats, dogs and rabbits) highlight pet obesity issues. Owners who enter receive a supervised diet and fitness regime for six months. They come for a monthly weigh-in at their local PDSA hospital and take part in publicity, says Deryck. The publicity helps with donations. Because PDSA has a national chain of clinics there are benefits from well-established protocols. Regular meetings are held between the regions, and management standards and clear lines of communication are in place. Buying is centralised to benefit from economies of scale; there are preferred suppliers, but there is flexibility in choosing drugs. We like to offer continuity, says Michael. If our client sees one vet regularly, when that person has a holiday another will be able to pick up exactly where they left off because of the protocols we have in place. There are 50 PetAid hospitals in the UK and around 350 PetAid affiliate practices to take PDSA clients. Sunderland is positioned to help provide pet health care in one of the country s least affluent areas. There is never really a boom time around here, says Michael. We see peaks and troughs with unemployment, but there is a steady stream of people who will always need our help. That impacts on how complex cases can be referred. A lot of clients have no insurance, and no financial back-up means PDSA might be the last stop for them, says Michael. It might be the difference between us fixing a broken bone, an amputation or euthanasia. 4 / 25

5 Chronic cases and cancers are dealt with compassionately, but practically. It depends on complexity. We cannot offer chemotherapy so those cases are referred, he says. There are drugs we can give to prolong a pet s life, but there comes a time when you ask if that is good for the animal or owner. Deryck sees the PDSA s remit as maximising its resources. We have a responsibility to use voluntary donations wisely. It is hard to justify spending thousands on a single animal if that money could be spent treating hundreds of others. We have a scope of service that define the types of things we do and don t offer. Michael knows the hospital is there for the long-term benefit of its clients and sums up his position and that of the clinic: If we don t have the funds to keep going there won t be a service at all. Even small amounts can help fund the place. I have to keep an eye on what is happening out there and see if there are any new incentives we can offer. We try to generate contributions at our hospitals so when someone comes in for treatment we ask if they can pay towards it. What we try to get is an appreciation for what we offer. PRACTICE PROFILE Sunderland PDSA PetAid Hospital, The Reay Hudson Centre, Hepworth Road, Sunderland SR5 3JT Staff: Total of 26, including six veterinary surgeons, nine veterinary nurses, two veterinary care assistants, two student veterinary care assistants, three animal care auxiliaries, five receptionists and a manager. Premises: 604 sq metres. Species treated (per cent): dogs (76), cats (19), rabbits (2), other (3). Average time allowed for consultations: nine minutes. Initial consultation fee: None, although contributions are welcomed. Average cost per treatment: 18. Average cost of providing free veterinary care: / 25

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7 Bright reception desk (above) and the friendly team. 7 / 25

8 Bright reception desk (above) and the friendly team. 8 / 25

9 Above (from left): Six consult rooms lead off from the waiting area 9 / 25

10 The impressive glass frontage 10 / 25

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12 A consult room 12 / 25

13 And the large thank you board helping clients appreciate the true cost to the hospital of treating their pets. 13 / 25

14 The preparation area (left) 14 / 25

15 And major operations theatre (above). 15 / 25

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18 Above (from left): minor operations theatre 18 / 25

19 sterilisation area 19 / 25

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21 And the dental theatre. 21 / 25

22 The dispensary (above); the reception desk viewed from the office (right); and the meeting/ training room (far right). 22 / 25

23 The dispensary (above); the reception desk viewed from the office (right); and the meeting/ training room (far right). 23 / 25

24 The dispensary (above); the reception desk viewed from the office (right); and the meeting/ training room (far right). 24 / 25

25 The large staff room is equipped with a kitchen. 25 / 25 Powered by TCPDF (

Clean machine: your guide to brilliant practice hygiene

Vet Times The website for the veterinary profession https://www.vettimes.co.uk Clean machine: your guide to brilliant practice hygiene Author : JENNY WRIGHT Categories : Business Date : December 1, 2012