Mobile vets

RE: Mobile vets

Bob Russell — Tue, 26 Jul 2016 13:48:38 GMT

Less annoying than the 'nationwide' community vets that offer only 24 hours of cover after a vaccination for emergencies by phoning a national 03 number.

RE: Mobile vets

Hannah Wynne Richards — Tue, 26 Jul 2016 11:46:36 GMT

Martin I think you and I would resent a mobile only veterinary surgeon...............because we're both perfectly happy doing house calls as well as seeing cases in the surgery. Some prctices/veterinary surgeons do all they can to avoid house calls (why?) I think some of these would probably welcome being let off the hook by saying " I'll give you the phone number of the mobile practice"

Wynne

RE: Mobile vets

grumpyoldman — Tue, 26 Jul 2016 10:24:47 GMT

or more commonly a body bag because the yo-yo treatment happens when spare cash is available at the same time as the smelly bum.

RE: Mobile vets

grumpyoldman — Tue, 26 Jul 2016 10:22:31 GMT

Good point : if they are terribly scarred and fistulated with anal sac tracts you need the knife out. If the sphincters are involved and shot there is no point in trying to manage that , so its rectal pull out complete debridement and reattachment , with an outside kennel. Those are the yo-yo therapy cases that practice hop hoping for a magic wand .

RE: Mobile vets

Martin Atkinson — Tue, 26 Jul 2016 09:53:18 GMT

[quote user="grumpyoldman"]

[quote user="Martin Atkinson"]You are as likely to see this in a conventional practice, and equally likely to see surgeons trying to manage medical cases with a knife - like anal furunculosis.[/quote]

Not seen that for a while now , I think most people are on the pred and atopica bandwagon with those. Still see perineal hernias being "managed" with lactulose when the referral door is closed rather than trying to fix it, not one to try on a kitchen table.

[/quote]You've attributed the quote incorrectly to me Mr Grumpy. But I would like to know how you deal with them when they're refractory to Atopica, steroids and antibiotics, and they're in so much pain that even Tramadol and amantadine is not controlling it and NSAIDs cause GI upset - we have one now. They used to do quite well back in the day with a combo or cryo/electro and sharp surgery albeit it was a horrible procedure to perform. Maybe we should make this a tangent.

RE: Mobile vets

grumpyoldman — Tue, 26 Jul 2016 09:39:16 GMT

I have been contacted OOH several times by the clients of mobile vets ,who's surgery practice uses a provider 20+miles away from the client, who, has not got a clue who's problem they are , after all if you do not have a waiting room you cannot put a sign up directing them appropriately.

The people doing this often quote child care issues etc but i think they would be better doing part-time or locums, if they cannot get that kind of work you would be thinking............. why?.

RE: Mobile vets

Martin Atkinson — Tue, 26 Jul 2016 09:26:26 GMT

[quote user="Stephen Courtney"]

[quote user="grumpyoldman"]

[quote user="Martin Atkinson"]they cherry pick the easy profitable stuff then send what they can't deal with to a traditional practice to pick up the pieces which can be resented. [/quote]

Agreed ! .........there is a tendency to try and manage surgical problems medically

[/quote]

You are as likely to see this in a conventional practice, and equally likely to see surgeons trying to manage medical cases with a knife - like anal furunculosis.

We are all subject to our own particular biases.....

[/quote]True but the issue with mobile vets is that they set out to cherry pick and have limited overheads which gives them an edge over conventional practices. They have no choice but to refer surgical cases in most cases although the odd one may be able to perform minor surgery on the kitchen table or the back of the van.

It could be a symbiotic relationship as the OP proposes but mostly it is parasitic to the advantage of the mobile. The same could be said about vaccine and neuter only clinics, the only difference being one is mobile the other static. They may spout noble sentiments about making routine treatment affordable/accessible but the truth usually is that they have found a back door to make some easy bucks with little consideration for those whose blood they are sucking.

I for one would not be happy about being lumbered with someone's time consuming surgical case when I've not had the benefit of making a profit from the easy stuff.

RE: Mobile vets

Stephen Courtney — Mon, 25 Jul 2016 23:01:24 GMT

[quote user="grumpyoldman"]

[quote user="Martin Atkinson"]they cherry pick the easy profitable stuff then send what they can't deal with to a traditional practice to pick up the pieces which can be resented. [/quote]

Agreed ! .........there is a tendency to try and manage surgical problems medically

[/quote]

You are as likely to see this in a conventional practice, and equally likely to see surgeons trying to manage medical cases with a knife - like anal furunculosis.

We are all subject to our own particular biases.....

RE: Mobile vets

grumpyoldman — Mon, 25 Jul 2016 18:32:23 GMT

[quote user="Martin Atkinson"]they cherry pick the easy profitable stuff then send what they can't deal with to a traditional practice to pick up the pieces which can be resented. [/quote]

Agreed ! .........there is a tendency to try and manage surgical problems medically

RE: Mobile vets

mariette asselbergs — Mon, 25 Jul 2016 16:26:54 GMT

As in so much in life: its all down to good personal relationships and making sure that they stay good.

Mariette

RE: Mobile vets

Martin Atkinson — Mon, 25 Jul 2016 14:57:37 GMT

There are a couple of mobile vets who come on here from time to time. The boot is usually on the other foot: rather cynically I see it as they cherry pick the easy profitable stuff then send what they can't deal with to a traditional practice to pick up the pieces which can be resented. If you're actually delegating that stuff out then its a different scenario but the issue of succession surely still comes into play: who's client are they? Its not the same as putting the phones through to a dedicated OOH provider at night which is a one off for an emergency.

RE: Mobile vets

mariette asselbergs — Sun, 24 Jul 2016 14:18:28 GMT

We do. In the OOH emergency practice I work in we take on the OOH patients for the local mobile vet. But then, during weekends she can be called out to do those necessary house visits which we cannot do, ranging from people who really prefer to have their pet put to sleep at home to situations of pets caught up in a car engine or something like that. A nice collaboration.

In my former practice we did use a local mobile vet to go out at night to requested PTS visits, and there is now a mobile vet dedicated to do PTS or other palliative vet care at home and it is nice to be able to refer people to her. It takes the pressure out of a busy practice which cannot afford to do these sort of visits.

Mariette

RE: Mobile vets

Dagmar Steele — Sun, 24 Jul 2016 10:30:18 GMT

I do, but I'm based in Germany so I can't comment on any legal issues. For us this works very well, I hate house visits and the vet in question also works part time for me, so she naturally refers her patients to us. For me it's a win win situation and as we work together we can keep the communication up quite easily which helps as well.