Vets4Pets, part of the Pets at Home Group, has partnered with VetLed to launch civility training for all colleagues and Partners.The bespoke training programme, which is believed to be the first to be rolled out by a major veterinary employer, follows the results of Vets4Pets’ inaugural Project Listen report.
The report surveyed more than 700 vets, nurses and support teams across the industry to better understand the key challenges facing the profession. About 61 percent cited the need for more support in dealing with challenging client behaviours, identifying it as one of the most important factors in achieving good health and wellbeing. This echoed a poll conducted by VetLed, which revealed that 97 percent of respondents have been on the receiving end of incivility in practice.
The civility training programme will give Vets4Pets colleagues the tools, knowledge and confidence to identify instances of incivility, to understand its impact in the workplace and to find ways of reducing it. Through a series of bitesize webinars, it will be available to all Vets4Pets colleagues and has been designed to guide them on how to manage incivility from clients and co-workers and how to establish a culture that is conducive for team wellbeing and patient safety.
Dr Samantha Butler-Davies, BVSc, MRCVS, veterinary clinical services manager at Vets4Pets, said: “Our objective for Project Listen was to gain a true understanding of the pressures veterinary teams are under so we could act and drive positive change. This civility training is just one part of that, but it is so important as being on the receiving end of challenging behaviours doesn’t just have a negative impact on the health and wellbeing of our colleagues, but on team cohesion, team culture and job satisfaction too.
“Incivility takes many forms, from disrespectful and impolite behaviours to deliberately aggressive body language, and we don’t want anyone to be a victim of this, as everyone has the right to work in a safe and secure environment. With their evidence-based approach, we’re confident the civility programme developed by VetLed will equip our colleagues with practical tips that they can roll out in the workplace and have made sure that the training we offer is both flexible and available to everyone, regardless of their role.”
The training has been developed by VetLed in collaboration with Civility Saves Lives and is delivered by Helen Silver-MacMahon, research and development director at VetLed. Helen has worked in general practice and referral hospitals for more than 21 years and is passionate about supporting the wellbeing of veterinary teams. She has completed an MSc in Patient Safety and Clinical Human Factors at the University of Edinburgh and is currently working towards a PhD at the University of Lincoln that explores non-technical skills in the veterinary profession.
Commenting on the partnership, Helen added: “When we launched our Civility Saves Lives campaign, we weren’t just looking to raise awareness of the issue of incivility. We wanted the profession to go one step further and build practice cultures that reduce it. This civility training provides a framework for people to use if they come across instances of incivility and teaches them how to deescalate a situation and recognise the external stressors that could be causing such behaviour in the first place.
“We know incivility is linked to burnout and job satisfaction, so by giving people practical strategies to manage it in real time we can have a positive impact on the working lives of veterinary professionals. To ensure the entire industry can benefit we need major employers to lead the way, and Vets4Pets has taken the baton and is running with it. Through Project Listen they have asked, listened and offered solutions to help improve the health and wellbeing of their colleagues and Partners. That’s exactly what we need right now, and it provides a sense of hope for everyone within the industry.”
The civility training with VetLed is just one of several new commitments that Vets4Pets has announced to further support its colleagues and Partners.
This includes a commitment to better support practices with operational demands through clearly defined options for flexible working; the development of a new and innovative practice model to optimise the client experience, increase the proportion of time that vets can dedicate to clinical work, and improve the overall work/life balance within practices; a commitment to provide a trained Mental Health First Aider in every practice and aligning working behaviours and values to that of the BVA’s Good Veterinary Workplaces Code.
For more information about Project Listen and Vets4Pets’ commitments, please visit the website.
