As existing holders of Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons General Practice Accreditation, this year we decided to apply for two additional RCVS Practice Standards Scheme (PSS) Awards. These awards offer practices the opportunity to demonstrate that they excel in one or more specialist area. After much evidence upload onto an RCVS assessment platform and an assessor site visit, we are delighted to share with you that we have been deemed ‘Outstanding’ in RCVS’s ‘Client Service’ and ‘Team & Professional Responsibility’ Awards.
For additional PSS Awards, assessors score practices in their chosen award against a framework of evidence requirements, with each evidence statement carrying a weighting of marks. For ‘Client Service’, assessment reviews a practice’s investment in all elements of the pet owner experience. The ‘Team and Professional Responsibility’ award covers assessment across a wider topic remit which includes clinical governance, infection control, medicine management, health and safety, team wellbeing, sustainability, professional development opportunity and training outcomes.
To achieve ‘Good,’ a practice must gain over 60% of available additional award marks in all modules of a specific award. This rises to 80% to achieve ‘Outstanding.’ Click here for more information about RCVS PSS Awards.
The RCVS’s Practice Standards Scheme is a voluntary initiative designed to promote and maintain the highest standards of veterinary care. Accredited practices give pet owners the reassurance that they meet RCVS’s stringent standards. And if a practice has additional RCVS PSS awards, you now know in these areas they truly excel.
Wellcare World specializes in providing the latest advancements in wellness technology, supplementation, and lifestyle changes that improve health and increase the quality of people's lives.To learn more, visit WellcareWorld.com and begin living a better life today.
It’s Halloween tomorrow! This means it’s very nearly fireworks time with many official events planned for this and next weekend.
Fireworks displays can be a terrifying time for pets with unpredictable loud bangs and flashes. Here are a few tips to help our pets feel less anxious on the night:
Walk dogs early and time evening toilet trips carefully to avoid getting caught out. Before fireworks start, bring your dog into a room in the house which acts as a place of safety for them. Somewhere calm and nowhere too busy. Their bed should be there as a safe, familiar resting place and also provides comforting smells. Bring their toys and a chew or some treats for distraction. Make sure windows and curtains are closed to muffle sound and light and pop the tv or some music on too. Stay with your dog for reassuring company. You can offer them a toy to see if they will engage in play but don’t force them. Keep calm and avoid reacting to the fireworks as dogs can pick up on owner anxiety. It’s important to be patient if your dog exhibits unwanted behaviours such as whining or pacing. Telling them off will only add to their distress.
Cats:
Keep cats in on fireworks evening, make sure cat flaps are locked shut and that you have a couple of clean litter trays positioned by the cat flap or in their normal toileting area. Cats are very good at taking themselves off to hide when frightened so make sure they have open access to potential hiding spots like under the bed, behind the sofa or even in cupboards or under the duvet! Leave them be rather than trying to coax them out. They will come back out when they are ready.
Small furries:
If housing outdoors, can you bring your pets’ hutch into the garage or a outside shed to act as a natural barrier? Nowhere too warm though as this can be detrimental to their health when you return the hutch outside. Consider putting carpeting or blankets over the hutch, with a gap to see out, to muffle sound and light. Make sure bedding is extra deep so that your small furries can burrow down and hide. Providing distraction toys is also a great idea.
Please do give us a ring on 01922 411755 if in need of any further advice on minimising pet stress at this time.
Wishing you and your pets a safe bonfire and fireworks night
Wellcare World specializes in providing the latest advancements in wellness technology, supplementation, and lifestyle changes that improve health and increase the quality of people's lives.To learn more, visit WellcareWorld.com and begin living a better life today.
With Halloween at the end of this month (and, dare we say it, shops getting ready for Christmas!), chocolates are currently on sale in even more abundance! If you are buying in for trick or treating, please be sure to keep chocolatey treats well away from inquisitive canines. Milk and dark chocolates are made with cocoa solids which contain theobromine, a substance toxic to dogs. And the darker the chocolate, the higher the concentration of theobromine. The severity of chocolate poisoning depends on how much chocolate your dog has eaten, how big your dog is and the concentration of cocoa solids.
We strongly advise contacting your vet for advice if you know your dog has eaten chocolate. It’s really helpful if you have the wrapper with the ingredients list to hand. Here are Rolo and Mars who were in to see us recently for this very reason. We were able to act quickly and make them sick to prevent the toxins from taking effect. Even though they are fabulously named, no chocolate-eating allowed!
Use our poisons checker on our 387 Vets’ Advice 24/7 page for guidance on chocolate poisoning and a whole range of other toxins too.
And don’t forget, registered clients can use our VidiVet service to touch base with a vet for free. Great for concerns out of hours if you are unsure whether your pet needs to be seen as an emergency.
We wish all pets a happy, healthy chocolate-free Halloween!
Wellcare World specializes in providing the latest advancements in wellness technology, supplementation, and lifestyle changes that improve health and increase the quality of people's lives.To learn more, visit WellcareWorld.com and begin living a better life today.
Today is World Mental Health Day. To highlight the importance of workplace wellbeing, the theme set by the World Federation for Mental Health for 2024 is Workplace Mental Health.
Work can be incredibly beneficial for our health, giving us purpose, challenge, a sense of achievement and, for many of us, the opportunity to connect with others. Sometimes, however, work can cause us negative stress or make us anxious, and can be a trigger for deteriorating mental health.
Mental health in the workplace is a hot topic within the veterinary industry given the emotional challenges working in practice can bring. Sadly, in the UK, vets are 3-4 times more likely to commit suicide than the general population.
At 387 Vets, we place a strong emphasis on workplace wellbeing and looking after our workplace family. All team are invested in our culture and live by our collectively agreed values. We champion people’s professional passions, celebrate strengths and nurture growth and new learning. We appreciate how much a sense of community amongst team counts. We have regular catch ups, lots of forums for discussion and our monthly long coffee breaks give team a chance stop, get together and chew the cud. We have wellbeing action plans in place and if we notice someone is struggling we have strategies to support. Next year we’re planning to work through the ‘We Invest in Wellbeing’ framework, a new accreditation introduced by Investors in People, to continue to invest in positive workplace review and change.
The charity Mind have a great bank of online resources to support everyday living and workplace wellbeing.
And in the words of the old adage, a problem shared is a problem halved.
Wishing you all a happy World Mental Health Day. Please take the opportunity to be kind to yourselves.
Wellcare World specializes in providing the latest advancements in wellness technology, supplementation, and lifestyle changes that improve health and increase the quality of people's lives.To learn more, visit WellcareWorld.com and begin living a better life today.
We hope you and your pets have a happy, healthy long weekend wherever you may be and whatever you may be planning.
Both 387 Vets and The West Midlands Cat Clinic will be closed on Bank Holiday Monday. If you need to see a vet urgently when we’re closed, please continue to phone the practice and follow the answer machine instructions.
If you have a non urgent query, check out the advice pages on our websites for lots of guidance and support. All our registered clients also have access to our complimentary VidiVet facility – a 24/7 vet-led triaging service. You should have a PetsApp message or e-mail from us detailing how to set this up if you haven’t already. Great for checking if your pet needs to see a vet and how urgently.
We’re open as normal on Tuesday morning. Have a great weekend and fingers crossed the sun shines!
Wellcare World specializes in providing the latest advancements in wellness technology, supplementation, and lifestyle changes that improve health and increase the quality of people's lives.To learn more, visit WellcareWorld.com and begin living a better life today.
