Ellie Prior: starting out in practice

10


Ellie Prior


starting out in practice






Introduction


Ellie Prior graduated from the Royal Veterinary College, University of London, last summer, aged 23. As she always had a love of animals and a particular interest in animal welfare, her choice to study veterinary medicine was made before she was 10 years old. However, during school she had very little support from teachers. She was told in no uncertain terms by a careers teacher that she might be ‘better off lowering her sights to a less competitive and demanding career’. This drove Ellie on to succeed, and her ability to set targets and reach her goals subsequently carried her through five demanding years at the college.


After she bid farewell to her friends at the close of the graduation ceremony, where she was awarded a pass with merit, she drove the two hours home with her proud parents, reflecting on her career ambitions. Her decision had been made some time ago after a pivotal cycle of rotations. Ellie’s heart was set on first-opinion small-animal medicine. Making the transition from student to professional was something she had given considerable thought to; being a vet ‘for real’ is what she had dreamed of and aspired to, but her excitement was tempered with a twinge of doubt. Was she really ready to start out in practice?



Entering the workforce


With her significant student debt weighing heavily on her mind, and her parents’ less than subtle reminders of the importance of securing a job, Ellie began to search the veterinary trade press and apply for jobs just one week after the completion of her final exams. After some initial setbacks and useful feedback from a kindly vet during a rejection telephone call, Ellie’s luck began to improve.


Ellie remembered feeling strangely relaxed as she sat on the train flicking through the notes she had prepared for the interview. The interview was surprisingly informal, consisting of a forty-minute chat with the partners, a tour of the facilities and lunch at a local pub with a couple of members of the clinical team. Later that evening she took a deep breath as her phone rang and the practice’s number popped up on the display. She had instinctively felt that the practice was an ideal place to commence her career. The call was good news.



Woodall Veterinary Partnership


The busy small-animal practice in which Ellie had secured her first job was located in Woodall, a commuter town of approximately 16 000 people, a ten-minute tram ride from the centre of Birmingham. Having enjoyed life in London while at college, Ellie was keen to move close to another large and vibrant city.


Woodall Vets was a five-vet (including Ellie), four-nurse practice, with one nurse acting as practice manager. There was also a full-time receptionist. It had two branches collectively referred to as the Woodall Veterinary Partnership (WVP). The main branch was in Woodall High Street close to the train station, an off-licence and a growing number of charity shops and estate agents. A smaller satellite branch in Brickall, a small town with approximately 1500 households in a fairly affluent area, helped to widen the caseload. The smaller branch was run by one of the vets, and the nurses rotated to ensure one worked there daily. Routine operations could be performed at Brickall, but any diagnostics and more complicated procedures were sent across to Woodall. WVP had contracted its out-of-hours service to a large nationwide provider of night-time and weekend emergency clinics.


Both sites had been purposely designed, not adapted from existing buildings. The two practices had a light, airy and clean feel to them. A recent improvement project had seen the waiting rooms of both practices redecorated and split into cat- and dog-specific seating areas. Over the years, WVP had developed a strong reputation for delivering high-quality veterinary care.


The practice was founded by Francis Rothwell and Leslie Higgs 34 years ago. Rothwell and Higgs had been friends for almost 40 years, having first met in the student bar when they were undergraduates in Glasgow. They were both straight-talking individuals and excellent vets. They were ‘immensely proud’ that many of their customers had been loyal to them for 30 years or more. The founding partners had seen the business grow since opening, with the turnover in the last financial year exceeding £750 000 and more than 12 000 patient visits. Julie Butters bought into the practice 5 years ago, having worked for them for 4 years previously. This had allowed the practice to develop with the opening of the Brickall branch, and expansion of the main surgery in Woodall (see Box 10.1).



Box 10.1   SWOT analysis for Woodall Veterinary Partnership (prepared by Julie Butters during an external practice management workshop)



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Both founding partners felt they now wanted more time to enjoy life, having achieved their main professional ambitions. A recent alumni gathering back in Scotland had caused them to think about their futures. A surprising number of their peers had sold their practices to corporate chains and were enjoying the fruits of their retirement. But as Rothwell often put it to their long-standing clients, they ‘weren’t quite ready to hang up their scalpels’. Instead it was decided that a new vet should be taken on, in the form of Ellie, to allow the older partners to work part-time. Rothwell and Higgs appeared to value the fresh and enthusiastic approach of new graduates, not to mention the lower salary paid to newly qualified members of the profession!


However, Julie, who was still a relatively new partner, was disconcerted that the other partners – who had been energetic and shrewd veterinary entrepreneurs when she first joined the practice almost a decade ago – now seemed happy to take things easy and live off the practice income. Julie’s suggestions at the monthly partners’ meetings to consider the business case for an extended hours evening surgery one day a week were met with collective dismissive remarks from the founding partners. Her proposal to work with a consultancy that provided feedback on the practice through mystery shoppers was quietly ignored. After long tiring days, Julie often commented to her husband that she was doing ‘far more than her fair share’. She craved a better work–life balance. Julie was also growing increasingly frustrated with Rothwell and Higgs’ almost daily trips to the off-licence to buy a ‘nice Rioja’ to accompany their early and extended lunch breaks where they chatted about ‘the good old days’ in the upstairs office. She had begun to think about starting a family in the near future before it was ‘too late’, but could not see how this would fit in with the clinical and commercial demands of the practice.


Having previously had limited competition from neighbouring practices, WVP had developed a healthy income stream. However, the national chain ‘Pet SuperSaver’ had recently applied to the local council for planning permission to open a large outlet on a retail estate less than a 5-minute drive from Woodall. The planning application stated that a veterinary practice franchise would be included in the store. The new store would certainly encroach on WVP’s catchment area. Ellie had worked in a Pet SuperSaver practice two summers ago during a hastily arranged fortnight of extramural study. She recalled early-morning meetings with the area manager who reviewed the branch’s performance. There was much talk of ‘performance metrics’: number of appointments and follow-ups booked, average consult times, target transaction value for each vet as well as price benchmarks against local practices, percentage of clients buying flea treatments and wormers. One vet she shadowed was keen to tell her that his sporty new car was bought with last year’s performance bonus. The workplace culture of the Pet SuperSaver practice was something Ellie had not experienced before. She had mixed feelings. The clients certainly seemed to value the competitively priced service, Sunday opening and ample free parking. However, she felt a little uneasy and surprised when the vets spent an afternoon on sales training. Ellie wondered what effect the new store would have on her future at WVP. Julie and Ellie had already overheard some of their customers enthusiastically talking about the possibility of getting vaccinations at the new store for ‘less than half the price’ charged by the WVP practices.


Ellie felt the Woodall practice was a good fit for her first job; she was grateful for the support of Julie, who gave her plenty of responsibility, and allowed her to follow through her own cases and make her own decisions. Julie was always available for friendly guidance and a helping hand, although Ellie was concerned that she was a drain on Julie’s time. Julie had told Ellie she had the potential to be a great vet, but had a lot to learn. The nurses had generally made her transition much smoother, often giving Ellie the impression they were coaxing her in the right direction! Last week a couple of regular clients had even specifically asked to see ‘that nice new vet, Ellie’, which gave a boost to her confidence.

Related posts:

  1. Introduction
  2. De’Ath, Slaughter, Davis & Jones, MsRCVS: time for a rebrand?
  3. Applying marketing theory to veterinary practice
  4. Clinical leadership and professionalism in veterinary practice

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Oct 9, 2016 | Posted by in GENERAL | Comments Off on Ellie Prior: starting out in practice

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