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Quality
The Veterinary Surgeons and Vet Nurses Act of 1966, dictates that only veterinary surgeons may practice veterinary surgery.
This includes;
- Diagnosis of disease and injury
- Giving of advice based on such diagnosis
Although we cannot conduct by telephone or e-mail a physical examination, it is normal practice for vets to assess a pets condition over the telephone first, especially out of hours, to see whether the symptoms warrant that the pet should be seen.
All of our veterinary consultants have a minimum of four years recent work experience in small animal general practice, however all consultants also have equine experience. We actively try and recruit vets with a good clear telephone manner, who are currently working in general practice part-time and who can work for Vetline Direct part-time. We issue our staff with a procedures and protocols manual that sets out the standards of service we expect both in terms of the operational requirement and the medical protocols. All staff are trained to use our computer and telephone system, and are offered a CPD quota in line with general practice.
The Veterinary Services Director regularly listens to calls taken by our vets to ensure standards are maintained.
95% of telephone calls answered within 20 seconds.
All caller details and consultations are recorded.
Automatic caller number recognition and screen pop.
Dedicated business lines with dedicated voice greetings.
E-mail 'Ask the vet' is secure with all e-mails being stored.
Vetline Direct has the following insurance cover;
Public liability insurance with an aggregate limit of not less than £2,000,000.
Professional indemnity insurance with the Veterinary Defence Society for all of our vets.
Employers' liability with a limit of not less than £5,000,000 Sterling in respect
of any one occurrence.
In the unlikely event that a complaint should occur, the following procedure is followed.
A Complaint will first be dealt with by the veterinary surgeon to whom it is made by telephone, and the Veterinary Services Director is notified. If the complaint has not been resolved, the Veterinary Services Director will try and resolve the concern by telephone. If this is not sufficient then the client will be asked to write to the Managing Director in person.
Security
Vetline Direct take very seriously the issue of data security and client confidentiality and we have systems and procedures in place to demonstrate this.
We check that all our vets are registered with the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons (RCVS) to practice veterinary medicine.
The RCVS have been made aware of Vetline Direct's business and we adhere to the RCVS guide to professional conduct.
We use secure virtual private networks for transporting voice and data. Our server
is based at Telehouse in London.
All our vets have secure access to the Vetline Direct computer system. This
access is overseen by the management team, who have sole administrator access
to the system. Our phone system is new and there is a maintenance contract in
place.
All our vets must work to our procedures and protocols manual, which includes requirements for the working environment.
It is normal practice for us to sign and respect confidentiality agreements with
businesses.
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