Practices honoured for commitment to wellbeing
Awards were presented at the opening ceremony of the SPVS/Veterinary Management Group Congress.
Three veterinary practices were recognised in the 2018 Vet Wellbeing Awards, recognising their commitment to motivating and engaging their teams, making their practices a better place to work.
Now in their fourth year, the awards are run by the Society of Practising Veterinary Surgeons (SPVS) and the RCVS Mind Matters Initiative.
The winners for the 2018 awards are:
- small practice: Westpoint Farm Vets Chelmsford
- medium practice: Beaumont Sainsbury Veterinary Hospital, RVC
- large practice: Drove Veterinary Hospital, Swindon.
Awards were presented at the opening ceremony of the SPVS/Veterinary Management Group Congress at Celtic Manor in Wales. The winners joined a panel chaired by Emma Mamo, head of workplace wellbeing at the mental health charity Mind, to share their approaches to wellbeing in practice.
Ami Sawran of Westpoint Farm Vets, which won the small practice award, said sharing ideas with other practices is what the awards are all about.
“I looked at case studies of past winners on the awards’ website and picked up new ideas, some of which were quick and easy to implement, others are still work in progress. Entering has been a very positive thing for the whole team as a great deal of collaborative reflection went into the process and we were pleasantly surprised by how much we were already doing; we just weren’t calling it ‘wellbeing’.”
Nick Stuart, speaking on behalf of SPVS, added: “It is good to see so many practices making wellbeing a priority. Involving their teams in planning rotas, encouraging support through buddying and mentoring, and encouraging better communication through social events, charity involvement and effective meetings, are just some examples of how our winners stood out.”
Veterinary practices are being urged to help owners safely dispose of any unused and expired pet medicines - not just antibiotics - during November's Animal Medicines Amnesty. 
