“Highly Commended Runner Up” for the RCVS knowledge champion Award 2024!
The hard work of Leanne, one of our nurses, was recognised by the RCVS recently. She completed a “well conceived, organised quality improvement project which will benefit the practice and improve client care”.
Leanne used a process audit to assess our repeat prescription processes. This led to an improvement in pharmacy organisation and stock rotation, as well as a reduction in waste.
I’m pleased to write and share with you our very first monthly Farm & Equine blog, hopefully we will be able to share some interesting and informative cases, success stories and some fun too! I have been a qualified vet since June 2023 and really enjoy all mixed practice work.
The sun has made an appearance, and it’s starting to feel like summer, which makes driving round the countryside seeing the cows and calves, ewes and lambs and our equine friends a pleasure! 
The sporadic spells of sun hasn’t helped our laminitic four legged friends and this month has been busy taking x-rays of ponies feet. Luckily a lot of the ponies I have seen have either not yet had major changes to their pedal bone or have been corrected with remedial farriery. With the competition season in full swing, I went out to gastroscope a dressage horse to check for stomach ulcers to ensure top performance. This horse had a clear and healthy stomach so we could conclude the current feeding and training regime is working well for this horse.
Calving is still underway for some of our farm clients, and I was called out to a cow struggling to calve because her calf was upside down. This led to the cow requiring a Caesar and although she wasn’t too keen to see me when I first arrived, she settled well for the procedure. As the calvings continue, I have been busy with the occasional prolapse as well as some calves needing a bit of TLC to get them on their feet. Farmer’s are looking forward to their next calving season and I have been scanning cows to pregnancy diagnose them. This will hopefully lead to another busy period in our calendar in 6 months time!
Sheep sale season has started again with the first tup sales already underway. We have already had some of our pedigree breeders being very organised and have ordered up their synchronisation meds ready to get started with their AI and ET programmes.
We’ve all had a very busy month reviewing or creating new Herd Health Plans, these are a requirement for all QMS members for their annual inspections along with Health & Performance Reviews.
All in all July, albeit quiet, has provided some interesting cases, some emergencies but most importantly a lot of fun and I can’t wait to see what August has in store!
I look forward to writing another monthly round up soon,
Jess
Please see the attached poster for our upcoming Equine Client Evening on Gastric Ulcers.
Please contact Sarah on the number provided by the 23rd April to guarantee your place, as spaces are limited.
We are trialling a new system at our reception.
If you are arriving for an appointment or wish to make a payment please head to the right hand side of the desk.
For any other enquiries please head to the left hand side.
Please bare with us while we trial this new system and our reception team are always more than happy to assist.
COLLEAGUES at Donview Veterinary Centre have scaled new heights to lend support to a suicide prevention charity.
Vets and vet nurses from our practice in Inverurie have handed over £2,505 after their 30km hike in the Scottish Highlands received a final boost to hit their target.
Their two-day trek was in aid of The Canmore Trust, set up in memory of their friend Cameron Gibson, a 24-year-old farm vet at Clyde Vets in Lanark who took his own life in 2019.
Cameron’s family founded the charity to help prevent more suicides and support those affected when someone dies by suicide.
The hikers attracted sponsorship from clients, family and friends as well as a £430 donation from VetPartners, the large family of trusted veterinary practices, including Donview Vets in Inverurie. VetPartners’ employees can apply for part or match funding from its £120,000 charitable pot to boost their fundraising for worthy causes.
As well as raising money, the group set out to increase awareness of the mental health pressures for people in the profession and the support available to anyone affected.
Suicide rates are three to four times higher within the veterinary community than the general population, and the number of people struggling with issues like depression and anxiety is also disproportionately high.
The group walked across the high-level Jock’s Road to Braemar in Aberdeenshire and scaled two Munros – Mayar (928m) and Driesh (947m) – while carrying all their essentials, from tents to food.
Vets and vet nurses from our practice in Inverurie have handed over £2,505 after their 30km hike in the Scottish Highlands received a final boost to hit their target.
Their two-day trek was in aid of The Canmore Trust, set up in memory of their friend Cameron Gibson, a 24-year-old farm vet at Clyde Vets in Lanark who took his own life in 2019.
Cameron’s family founded the charity to help prevent more suicides and support those affected when someone dies by suicide.
The hikers attracted sponsorship from clients, family and friends as well as a £430 donation from VetPartners, the large family of trusted veterinary practices, including Donview Vets in Inverurie. VetPartners’ employees can apply for part or match funding from its £120,000 charitable pot to boost their fundraising for worthy causes.
As well as raising money, the group set out to increase awareness of the mental health pressures for people in the profession and the support available to anyone affected.
Suicide rates are three to four times higher within the veterinary community than the general population, and the number of people struggling with issues like depression and anxiety is also disproportionately high.
The group walked across the high-level Jock’s Road to Braemar in Aberdeenshire and scaled two Munros – Mayar (928m) and Driesh (947m) – while carrying all their essentials, from tents to food.
For media enquiries, please contact Nadia Jefferson-Brown, VetPartners PR and Communications Manager (North). Email nadia.jeffersonbrown@vetpartners.co.uk
The ISFM Cat Friendly Clinic accreditation is an internationally-recognised award. It means that we have met criteria to help minimise stress to your cat in our clinic.
A Cat Friendly Clinic gives you peace of mind and reassurance, letting you know that:
Keep and eye on our Facebook page or visit www.catfriendlyclinic.org for more information
This has been set up as part of our application to become a Gold accredited ICC cat friendly practice! Click to find out more
https://catfriendlyclinic.org/cat-owners/what-you-should-be-looking-for/
A cat waiting area is designed to reduce stress for your cat whilst they are waiting to see a vet or nurse.
We are pleased to announce we are the proud winners of a significant award by the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons; our governing body.
Each year the RCVS run their knowledge awards, which awards practices that have demonstrated a high level of clinical quality improvement. The RCVS Knowledge Awards for Quality Improvement showcase the implementation of Quality Improvement (QI) techniques which drive improvement in the profession.
Its important that practices work hard to improve their clinical standards; as a rapidly progressing industry with ever increasing standards of care, its an honour to be recognised for the significant changes we have made at Donview to fulfil our aim to offer the highest level of care for your pets that we can.
An improvement study undertaken at the practice, led by our head nurse Jennifer O’Connor who has worked at the practice for 16 years won the practice the RCVS quality improvement award. This had been undertaken alongside regular clinical improvement studies undertaken at the practice on an ongoing basis.
The judges commented that ‘Donview Veterinary Centre demonstrated a strong learning culture through an initiative aimed at improving post-op temperatures. Working together, the team performed an audit, and used the results to assess where they could improve. Suggestions from the team were successfully implemented across the practice, and investments in new equipment were made. The audit showed a robust dedication to improvement, with the whole team working together to identify gaps in care.’
Jennifer was invited to London to attend an award ceremony on behalf of the practice.
We are pleased to announce that we are now opening our Kintore Branch on a Thursday afternoon from 1pm – 3.30pm. This is in addition to 9am-12pm Monday-Friday.
