CMA response will impact client relationships, vets told

The veterinary profession’s response to the outcome of the Competition and Markets Authority’s (CMA) investigation could significantly impact client relationships, London Vet Show delegates were told.

Speaking in the session “Is the vet-client-patient relationship broken?”, RVN and University of Lancashire lecturer in clinical communication skills Hamish Morrin said: “How we are seen to respond to things like the CMA is going to either reinforce that trust in our profession or erode it.”

Mr Morrin highlighted external factors as a “big problem” impacting client opinions, expectations and “cognitive bias” around veterinary care.

He said: “If you are going in there with an idea some vets are just in it for the money and then you see something that reinforces that belief, you’re going to take that on more strongly.”

Counter point

To counter that, he suggested: “If we can be very human, willing to make connections, honest and willing to admit fault, then that keeps some degree of disconnect between what they might think about veterinary care as a whole and how they might treat us [as individuals].”

Speaking alongside him, RCVS Knowledge quality improvement clinical lead Julie Gibson suggested the CMA investigation “had to have happened to shed some light on things” and highlighted client desire for transparency.

On the notion clients feel they are being marketed to, she said: “It feels like an impossible task at the moment… hopefully some of the changes that we’re going to see will help that too.”

Mrs Gibson said pressure to offer additional services can cause “moral stress” but advised “you still have to give your trusted opinion as a professional” and urged clinicians to “publicise the fact that there are different ways of providing care and that these are bolted-on extras rather than core care”.

Social media

The Royal Kennel Club’s veterinary and research advisor, Alison Skipper, suggested current problems have always been an issue, just “reshaped” over time.

She said: “We’re in a very particular context now where we’ve got the influence of the echo chambers of social media and the immediate publicity and inaccuracies that circulate so quickly, but that doesn’t mean the past was rosy, because it absolutely wasn’t.”

She added the idea of a “utopian past where vets were universally respected by clients” is “rubbish” and highlighted contextualised care as “absolutely crucial” to a successful relationship.

Improve communication

The panel also suggested vet teams improve their communication skills; Mr Morrin described it as a “clinical skill” and called for “a toolkit of communication” to help teams adapt to different clients and challenges.

Amanda Oates, managing director of Cultivating Restorative Cultures, highlighted the importance of swift conflict resolution before the client leaves.

She said: “If staff are skilled up in the moment to repair quickly through using restorative techniques in how they communicate, then they’re absolutely more enabled to reduce the amount of complaints.”