15 Jul 2020
VMG president Rich Casey said encouraging results from RCVS' latest survey backed anecdotal evidence he had gleaned of improving fortunes for practices.
Paul Imrie
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IMAGE: Foxy_/Pixabay.
Practices have been urged to embrace telemedicine and revise pricing structures after new data showed signs of economic recovery following the devastation caused by COVID-19.
Since the Government ordered much of the country to lockdown in March, practices have been hit hard – with many experiencing a fall in turnover in excess of 60%.
But after four months of restrictions and social distancing, the latest in a series of surveys by the RCVS has shown turnover is improving and caseload is close to normal for many practices. The survey also shows many vets and VNs are returning from furlough, and those in self-isolation because of the virus is declining.
VMG president Rich Casey said the encouraging results backed anecdotal evidence he had gleaned of improving fortunes for practices. He said: “Teams returning from furlough to routine preventive care now being offered – these all contribute and enable income generation.
“For the practices experiencing greater improvements in performance, I believe this is down to a ‘blended’ approach. For example, they have embraced telemedicine, and likely priced the service accordingly and in line with what’s been provided.
“They may have reviewed when and where they offer services, perhaps open later on weekdays or on weekends. Finally, and probably most importantly, it is those who have spoken and listened to their workforce and clients’ needs – and, where possible acted on them – that are going to be further along the re-emergence road.”
The RCVS has canvassed opinion from the practice coalface throughout the pandemic, conducting surveys in April, May and June – the latest data to be revealed.
The majority of participants – 58% – said they were still seeing a reduction in their caseload compared to pre‑COVID-19 levels, but this had improved markedly from the 69% reported in May. Of those questioned, 32% said they were now seeing a “near normal” caseload – a rise of 29 percentage points on May’s statistics. And 6% of practices said they were back to “business as usual”.
In April’s statistics, reflecting the early days of lockdown when most (97%) of practices limited themselves to emergency-only cover, more than 60% reported seeing their turnover either more than half or reduce by more than 75%. In June, only 11% were suffering the biggest hits in turnover, with 34% saying it had reduced by less than a quarter, and 45% reporting a decline between 26% and 50%. However, 7% said it had stayed the same and 5% had recorded an increase.
Mr Casey said practices were, by nature, “very resilient”, coping with a daily range of patient and business issues, but he cautioned anyone who expected “everything can revert back to how it’s always been done”.
He said: “It’s possible some of what we’ve been ‘forced’ to do because of COVID-19 needed to happen anyway (embracing tech, for example). How confident am I and the VMG that performance will return to how it was before? It depends how you look at it. We can absolutely get to the same level of output (revenue, etc) as pre-COVID times, but those who are successful in doing so won’t be the ones that approach it in the same way as previously.
“They’ll have tried new approaches, learned from them and embedded these into their new normal. In doing so, they’ve developed a leaner, resilient and more client-focused practice, fit for a post‑COVID-19 world.”
