The Yorkshire Vet: First day success, despite a teabag! - Julian Norton
I left Wetherby after a busy day, heading up north. But I wasn’t quite finished for the day, as I needed to call in at the practice in Thirsk, which had suffered a flood-related calamity. This had necessitated a partial closure and some serious cleaning.
So far, all I’d contributed to fixing the problem was sage advice and a view from the boundary, so to speak.
Admittedly, at the times I’d been there to lend a hand, the situation appeared to be almost totally under control.
But the clean-up operation coincided with one of my days working at Sandbeck and I wasn’t complaining too loudly.
On my way home, I called an old friend from university. Cath, with whom I had shared a house for a very happy three-years, was opening her own practice in the Scottish Borders.
Today was their first day. I hadn’t had chance to phone earlier in the day to offer best wishes, but now I was keen to hear how things had gone.
Cath is an amazing person, with conviction of purpose but mild mannered, self-aware and as dedicated to her clients as anyone I’ve known.
I’d encouraged her to take this big step over a year ago, when she became disillusioned by the corporate changes to the veterinary profession.
Today was the culmination of a lot of hard work and a huge step into the unknown.
Their new practice was practically perfect in terms of its position, size and layout and they’d already registered a huge number of clients – way more than anyone could have expected or anticipated.
From day one, they had more clients than most practices would hope to achieve in the first year, and I am certain they will have resounding success.
It all seemed to have gone well and when I spoke to Cath, she was busy mopping the floor. “We are saving money on cleaners at the moment,” she explained.
It was a wise move for a new start up, but I suspected it wouldn’t be too many weeks before they’d be recruiting more staff. What a boost for the local economy! Chapeau, Cath.
But it hadn’t been all plain sailing on the first day. Cath related a story of the inaugural cat in the practice, which needed a blood sample.
“I found a packet which looked like a sterile swab to wipe the skin before the sample. Well, it turned out not to be a sterile swab at all. It was actually a TEABAG, so I spilt tea leaves everywhere! Not a great start.”
If that was the worst thing that happened on day one then Cath had done quite well, although she couldn’t help but burst out laughing every time she recounted the tale.
I thought back to the two recent occasions when I have started work in a new clinic. Sandbeck was a nail biting experience, because we started with zero clients and a few too many staff.
On the first day, everyone sat around waiting for the phone to ring. At Thirsk, the day before we opened, Anne and I operated on a Bassett who was giving birth.
We couldn’t remember where we’d put all the syringes, so it was moderately chaotic. Liz, the Bassett’s owner, gave us a huge bunch of flowers – a beautiful first gift for the staff.
Up in the Scottish Borders, Cath recounted a similar scale of good wishes and gifts.
“We’ve enough chocolates to last us for a couple of months and also a bottle of champagne.”
And that’s after just one day! Meanwhile, I was arriving in Thirsk, about to set eyes on the waterlogged practice that others had spent the day cleaning up.
Far more consequential than spilt tealeaves, and a lot less amusing.