Drove Veterinary Hospital Scoops National Veterinary Award

Drove Veterinary Hospital in Swindon won the large practice award at the festival.

Three winners of the 2018 Vet Wellbeing Awards were announced at the VMG/SPVS Congress at Celtic Manor. They were for small, medium and large practices.

Lynne Gaskarth one of the directors at Drove Veterinary Hospital said: "We are absolutely over the moon with this award as our commitment to improving staff wellbeing through initiatives, management systems and other forms of staff engagement has been recognised by the National Veterinary Community.

"To say we are Proud just doesn’t come close to how we feel about winning this award!"

The Vet Wellbeing Awards, now entering their fourth year, are run by the Society of Practising Veterinary Surgeons (SPVS) and the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons (RCVS) Mind Matters Initiative and were created to recognise those practices who understand the importance of motivating and engaging their teams and who can demonstrate their commitment to being a better place to work. 

Winners of the Vet Wellbeing Awards 2018

• Small Practice:  Westpoint Farm Vets Chelmsford
• Medium Practice: Beaumont Sainsbury Veterinary Hospital, Royal Veterinary College
• Large Practice: Drove Veterinary Hospital, Swindon

Nick Stuart, speaking on behalf of SPVS, said he was delighted that awareness of the awards and engagement with them seemed to be rising year on year:

“It is good to see so many practices making wellbeing a priority.  Involving their teams in planning rotas, encouraging support through buddying and mentoring, and encouraging better communication through social events, charity involvement and effective meetings, are just some examples of how our winners stood out.”

Lizzie Lockett, RCVS Chief Executive, said she was delighted that the awards appeared to show increasing attention to wellbeing in practice: “This year, it was harder than ever to choose our top three in each category as innovative wellbeing practices become more and more widespread.  There are so many practices now doing great things to value and support their staff, which is fantastic to see.”

The awards were presented at the opening ceremony of the SPVS/Veterinary Management Group (VMG) Congress on Friday 25^th January at Celtic Manor.  The winners then joined a panel chaired by Emma Mamo, Head of Workplace Wellbeing at the mental health charity Mind, to share their innovative approaches to wellbeing in practice. The full results, together with details of the winning practices and highly commended entries, will be published on the Vet Wellbeing Awards website, www.vetwellbeingawards.org.uk.