Yass Valley Vets – Best in Business Agility
Juggling new restrictive procedures while simultaneously meeting higher demand for veterinary services was the unexpected business challenge facing Yass Valley Veterinary during COVID-19.
“We had to act quickly to separate our entire staff into two distinct, fully functional teams. We had to ensure the teams never crossed paths to minimise the risk to our ability to treat our patients, serve our clients and protect our staff. I think the changes were tough on all our staff, but especially for our vets. But our senior vets Stuart and Fiona had to adapt to individually managing their teams and continue to support all our junior vets. The changes also meant some of our clients had to travel to a different hospital than they normally would to use their vet of choice, but our clients were amazing. They understood and didn’t complain at all,” explained administrative assistant Cynthia Crisp.
Dr Fiona McPhail
To achieve contactless drop-off and pick-up of pets, Yass Valley Veterinary quickly put in place procedures which included under-cover cages outside the hospitals. Vets consulted in the hospital car park, via mobile phone or through the window of the consultation rooms with the animal’s owner, to learn the symptoms and discuss treatment options. Office staff handled cashless transactions through a service window.
The hospitals in Murrumbateman and Yass were also busier than anything experienced previously.
“Normally our busiest time of year is spring and summer when there is a spike in snake bites, grass seeds and skin allergy concerns. During COVID everyone was at home or working from home and spent more time with their pets. People picked up on problems with their pet’s health and had the time to do something about it. We were so busy I had to schedule another vet fulltime at Murrumbateman. Yass was also the busiest we have been. I had to schedule time specifically for emergency cases so our vets could respond. I am so proud of the Yass Valley Veterinary team. Everyone went above and beyond, and our clients were so understanding,” said Cynthia.
Dr Patrick Doepel, outside the Murrumbateman Hospital
Principal of Yass Valley Veterinary, Dr Stuart Williams said there were some positive aspects that the practice learnt out of their COVID experience. The staff were fantastic, so flexible, resilient and committed to keeping the Hospitals open & staffed and safe for the clients as well as ourselves. Our clients were also very understanding and patient with the new protocols. We understandably found we had better patient continuity and client communications were improved, when we were in our distinct COVID teams, as our teams were fixed and did not rotate between the two Hospitals. This is something we have already built into our new staff rosters going forward.
Principal Dr Stuart Williams
Yass Valley Veterinary employs a team of thirty-five, which includes nine vets, eleven nurses, four kennel-hands/groomer and eleven office and administrative support staff. Dr Williams became principal in 2011 and now oversees two hospitals in Yass and Murrumbateman.
