18 Jun 2020
“Complaints are an opportunity to learn and develop how we work and communicate with one another” – Jennie Jones, Veterinary Client Mediation Service.
James Westgate
Job Title
The Veterinary Client Mediation Service (VCMS) has released its annual report showing the service successfully concluded 88% of complaints mediated in 2019.
Funded by the RCVS, the VCMS is an independent and free service for clients and vets that considers concerns that do not meet the college’s threshold of “serious professional misconduct”.
The voluntary service was launched in October 2016, and the VCMS has now handled more than 400 mediations and more than 5,000 referrals.
In 2019 the service also saw 27% more complaint referrals handled by the VCMS team – led by Jennie Jones of Nockolds Solicitors, the firm that runs the service.
Mrs Jones said: “Invaluable insight continues to be gathered from preliminary mediation when the VCMS is contacted at early stages of a complaint, and full mediation where local resolution has been exhausted.
“Handling complaints is not easy, and finding a way to use constructive communication and empathy helps everyone involved.”
Mrs Jones added: “Complaints are an opportunity to learn and develop how we work and communicate with one another.
“This combination of resolution and mediation insight has been analysed and now pulled together to share the learnings from the complaints to help both veterinary practices and their clients to minimise disputes in the future, and resolve concerns within the practice wherever possible.”
