30 Jul 2021
Independent practices and larger groups have all struggled to fill multiple vacancies covering all areas of the industry, with some even stooping to “unprofessional” headhunting practices to fill their rosters.
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New graduates have been described as being like “lambs to the slaughter” as veterinary practices across the UK struggle with the growing recruitment and retention crisis.
Since the start of the year increased reports have said practices are finding it harder than ever to acquire new staff as the pool of potential hires dries up as a result of stress, pay and well-being – all compounded by the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.
Independent practices and the larger groups have all struggled to fill multiple vacancies covering all areas of the industry, with some even stooping to “unprofessional” headhunting practices to fill their rosters.
One senior vet nurse at a Berkshire animal hospital has described how she feels the veterinary sector is “about to explode” due to the lack of available vets and veterinary nurses.
RVN Sandra Walker said: “You can’t hire vets for love nor money these days, or even locums.
“Nurses also are just disappearing at a rate of knots. Animal nursing assistants and student nurses are 10 to a penny, but fully qualified nurses – all gone.
“There are some practices that have had to shut down branches because they haven’t got enough staff and some animal hospitals are losing their status because they don’t have staff to be there overnight.
“The royal college, I don’t think they’ve noticed anything. But it’s gotten to a point that those working under these circumstances are exhausted because there’s not enough of us.”
Mrs Walker went on to say that demand for more vets and nurses is far outstripping supply, which, in turn, is putting extra pressure on young graduates new to the profession.
She added: “We are told every year that there are new grads coming along, but they are just lambs to the slaughter. They don’t stick around, and I don’t blame them.
“Clients want things; they know what they want and they want it now.”
As a result of the ongoing crisis, Alma Veterinary Hospital in Berkshire, where Mrs Walker works, has recently outsourced it’s out-of-hours emergency service over to emergency care provider Vets Now.
Mrs Walker added: “We just do not have the vets to cover the night. So it ended up being the same vets doing night after night after night, and they get burnt out and that’s how you lose them.
“We’ve all been looking at each other wondering how this is going to go. How are we going to sustain this? Everyone we have spoken to is in the same boat. The same ads come up again and again on the job boards.
“Practices are struggling because we just don’t have the staff anymore.”
Such is the scale of the problem, practices are starting to have members of their staff headhunted by other groups – in one case going as far as to send a personal greetings card and job offer to one vet in a bid to convince her to jump ship.
Speaking anonymously, a joint venture partner (JVP) at the Midlands practice where the approach was made said: “The card was hand delivered to our office and went into her tray, she opened it in front of the rest of us thinking it was a thank you card and it was a personalised card with a picture of the practice, her name and a big question mark.
“She has said that she feels really violated by this; that they invaded her safe space within the practice, tricking her almost.
“It’s something really underhanded; you don’t expect to open what you think is a thank you card to find an approach from another practice.
“All the vets here are quite shocked. It’s had the opposite effect in as much as none of them would now take a job at that practice.
“It’s very unprofessional. It’s not how neighbouring practices should be dealing with one another and it’s left me with a sour taste for the whole profession now.”
The JVP detailed how the practice still had been unable to fill one of its recent vacancies and had paused new client registration, in part due to the pandemic.
She added: “I think it becomes a vicious cycle – practices are understaffed, so they hire younger vets and nurses, but don’t have the experienced staff with time to mentor them.
“I’m a bit shocked that we’re going down this route.”
Board member for SPVS Leigh-Anne Brown detailed how the crippling lack of applicants to jobs is a new thing to the industry.
Dr Brown said: “We’re starting to see practices closing, or either restricting their hours or closing their lists to new patients. I’ve been around for 20 years and this is the first time I’ve seen this happening.
“We used to recruit a lot of vets from the EU, which we aren’t able to do as easily now. Practices have become really challenging with the pandemic, so a normal work week feels much more onerous.”
Commenting on the greetings card incident, Dr Brown added: “I think it speaks to just how challenging the marketplace is; that they would rob Peter to pay Paul. That might fix things for one practice, but it will make things worse for the other.
“You aren’t changing the total amount of vets – you are just moving them around. I don’t think I would be terribly pleased if someone tried to do that to my vets.”
Clinical Assist