The Full Story
Testimonials
This is your page. It contains your stories of issues you've faced as a vet, straight from real submissions on the 'Over To You' site page.
Many of these might feel familiar, because most of us will have heard or experienced similar already. The problem so far is that there's no real documentation of what is happening across the industry. Issues raised within clinics stay private for obvious reasons, but it means that no one is monitoring exactly what the problems are, and how they are affecting us.
To anonymously submit your story, please go to the Over To You page.
I used to work at a clinic where a vet commuted in from a long distance and negotiated not to be on the after-hours roster for overnights...We found out that their pay was the same as the rest of us at the same level of experience, because the boss didn’t have any idea of what proportion of the salary was for after-hours duty. When we raised this, we were told that the call-out fee that we got should be enough. But we felt that we really needed an on-duty fee, a retainer... Being on call, even if you aren’t called in, is work - you can’t go to the movies, you can’t have a drink with dinner, you don’t sleep well as you’re constantly on edge that the phone is going to ring. It felt like we were going through that for free, and it didn’t seem fair.
As a new grad, we worked in a culture that working hard and skipping breaks was heroic. We would brag about it. I now see that I was doing myself, my colleagues and my clients a serious disservice, and probably a disservice to my employer as well. Skipping breaks, taking short lunches, staying late - that didn’t make me a better worker; it made me an inefficient worker. I now encourage new vets and nurses to always take their breaks, unless an animal is needing urgent care. This shouldn't vary by the culture of the clinic, it should be expected across the industry.
I used to work at a clinic where, as soon as their shift ended, the nurses were told to leave, regardless of what work was left to be done, because they would have to be paid overtime, and the vets were made to work late getting the rest of the work done, because we were on a salary and extra hours didn’t mean extra pay.
Vets should be paid a wage, and given overtime if we have to stay late. If there's work to be done and nurses can stay to do it, they should be allowed to earn that extra money.
One clinic would not replace vets that left. We went from 3 to 1 in a couple of months - and then sporadically had locums that would appear when I kicked up more of a fuss than usual about how the workload was unmanageable. They were never vetted to see if they were of an adequate standard. And when they weren't, I was blamed for not ensuring they could do the job in front of them. Obviously, I didn't have the time to constantly check in, and assumed my bosses would not hire people without checking their competency.