BVRA 2023 with Hannah R

This year, myself, Julie & clinic manager, Fiona attended the British Veterinary Receptionist Association Congress in Solihull.

The congress started off with current president Jaime Kiem welcoming everyone and also introducing the talks as they were about to come on. We started off with Paul Reynolds who took us through his talk “Wildlife in Practice”, covering what we should do when someone calls up about wildlife in the area and then who we should go to. He spoke about the importance of getting as much information from the person bringing in the wildlife so that if the animal needs to be released back into the wild, they know where it came from and who to contact should more information be required from the sanctuary.

The next talk which I think a lot of people were looking forward to was titled“Positive Psychology for Vet Receptionists” with Tamsin Durston, in which she talked about “mind traps” and developing “mind skills” while still caring for yourself. She spoke about important ways and how to deal with moments without absolutely exhausting yourself - both physically and mentally. She talked about physical, behavioural and psychological symptoms, as well as burnout in the workplace and how to avoid these or at least be able to prevent them in future.

“Digestive Decisions: Why Food Matters When the Poop Hits the Fan”, brought to us by Royal Canin and Clare Hemmings and she took us through why certain foods are the best and in some situations what would work the best for those pets. She spoke about the impact on pets and their owners when their pets are feeling under the weather and how important gut health is to our furry companions.

The talk that I personally was most excited for was “Top tips for making your clinic cat friendly” with Sarah Collins from International Care Care, and it seemed to fit in really well with the CPD that we had done earlier in the week and gave me more ideas for us opening up the cat clinic and what I can do to help make cats happier when coming in to see us.

Then it was lunch time and a chance to walk around all the exhibitors (and get all those free pens), but also to interact and meet people and have a chat. 

There was meant to be a talk from Chloe Hannigan from Vet Yogi about how to handle stressful situations in the workplace and take some self care moments to yourself, but unfortunately she had called in sick - which was a shame because I feel like everyone in the room was really looking forward to it - but thankfully Petplan stepped up and in with a presentation about insurance and the most commonly asked questions and what we’re allowed to say to clients when talking about insurance. A fun fact from this talk was that Petplan pays out £805 every minute for claims put in, which I thought was very impressive!

“The importance of joint health management” Lucy Sharpe from Virbac was good to update our own knowledge on the diets that they already offer but also learn about the new products that they’re working on that we can also offer clients. “Bereavement” from Harper Adams University, with speakers Kendal Lambert and Kat Hart,was something unexpected as they took us through a survey they had done on some veterinary professionals and their views about how much we do in the workplace and they took us through these results so we could see the overall feedback. Next up was “Good Veterinary Workplaces” from Malcolm Morley who works with the BVA, which was nice to hear about from one of the people behind it as we’ve just gotten our award in this scheme.

“The difference a dog friendly receptionist can make” was our final talk of the day, and it was brought to us by Dogs Trust with speakers Kate Main and Tamsin Durston. It was a nice highlight to end the talks on because it was just talking and showing you how you can make the whole vet experience a lot smoother for dogs, especially the ones that might not be as sure coming in.

After a busy day, we all took off to our rooms for a bit of quiet and recovery before coming down to the Friday night dinner, where we all enjoyed a wonderful 3 course meal and then the 2023 Receptionist of the Year award was presented. It was a wonderful night and the perfect way to end a really wonderful day - it was then off to bed before the long drive home.