A veterinary practice in Tonbridge is celebrating its first anniversary of becoming employee-owned a year ago this month.
Priory Lodge Vets was founded over 70 years ago and has a loyal client base of more than 4,500 pets, with a 20-strong team. Last year it chose to become part of Kent based Pennard Vets, which was the largest practice in the world to be transferred into employee ownership in 2021. Priory Lodge Vets has recently appointed a new vet and two new members of the expanding client care team.
Practice principal at Priory Lodge Vets, Dr Abby Pye said: “Since joining Pennard Vets last year, and with our newfound employee-owned status, there have been numerous benefits for our clients. With access to a bigger team who have a wider range of skills in-house, as well as more specialist services including hydrotherapy, physiotherapy, cardiology and exotics, the feedback from our clients has been hugely positive.
“We have also relaunched our Pet Health Club, which now includes unlimited vet and nurse consultations, so owners can come in to see an expert whenever they want as part of the membership. The introduction of a new client communication app, PetsApp, has also been warmly welcomed, as clients can now message the practice at any time, and when their pet is with us for a procedure for example, they get texts and picture updates via the app. Clients can also reorder medication at any time via the popular app.
“It also means our out of hours and emergency vets have full and immediate access to the patient’s clinical history which helps deliver a joined-up care programme. Using the group’s 24-hour emergency hospital – Sevenoaks Emergency Vets – for all out of hours cases and overnight hospitalisations makes transfers seamless.”
Every member of our team are owners of the practice. Priory Lodge also benefits from the group’s B-Corp status and taps into a host of initiatives including innovative recycling schemes. Abby added: “We have always focused on being socially and environmentally friendly, but to have the B-Corp rubber stamp endorses what we already do and helps us to continually improve.”
Dr Dirk Brink, from Priory Lodge Vets, added: “It’s been a busy 12-months treating a wide range of cases, ranging from dogs and cats who have consumed weird and wonderful foreign objects to dogs presenting with cannabis poisoning, alongside all the routine treatments and services we offer. We are managing a whole host of complicated medical cases every week and continue to offer chemotherapy treatments to our cancer patients. I specialise in orthopaedic surgery, and we’ve had numerous orthopaedic cases referred to us from other branches of Pennard Vets – we are now accommodating up to two major orthopaedic procedures a week.
“Despite becoming part of a bigger group, the day-to-day running of our practice is very much the same as it’s always been, which is exactly as it should be. We’re getting fantastic support behind the scenes, while the team continues to focus on providing excellent client care. Our team have so much to offer in terms of skills and experience and there are so many opportunities for us all to share knowledge and help one another. Providing continuity of care, from the same familiar faces, is central to the service we provide to our clients.”
