An odd, non-medical question for equine vets

[Caol Ila]

Just working out the logistics of life as a vet for my book; I know some of you are, and I haven't seen my vet recently (I don't want to!....knocks on all the wood).

I'm aware answers may vary from practice to practice.

Does the vet van/truck live at your practice's office or main site, and you take your own car to work (or whatever means of transport you use) and then drive the vet truck from there? Or does the vet truck come home with you?

How does out-of-hours cover work? Do you spend the night in the office, hoping you don't get the 2am colic call, or do you stay home with a mobile phone? Would the truck be with you, or would you have to fetch it at 2am if you got that call?

As a horse owner, vets appear when you need them as if by magic, but as a writer, I would like to have the logistics in-hand.

Cheers!!

 

[Gamebird]

1) Our vets do both, depending on tax. You get heavily taxed (or not so heavily if it is a commercial vehicle) on using a work vehicle for personal use, and your commute to/from work would be considered personal use. I have always taken my work car home, and in fact only bought my own car for the first time in my life last year. In the past almost everyone used their work vehicle for everything, home and away, but more of the younger vets now leave their work vehicle at work. so either!

2) OOH - unless you're an intern and actually living on-site at a hospital, then you go home when work finishes and do your on-call from there. Vets who do the OOH overnight will also be working as normal the day before/after, so you need to be able to go home/sleep/change/shower/feed/do animals. So you are on call from home (or from riding your horse, going to the supermarket, or walking your dog etc. etc.). If you are on call then the truck would be with you wherever you are. It's kind of a fudge which the HMRC would not be thrilled about because of the personal use thing, unless you are super-anal about splitting your mileage out, but it's more important to have it immediately available.

 

[meleeka]

I can answer for my vets I think. They take their cars home with them. They are company cars though.

They don’t cover out of hours anymore but subcontract it out to another company who covers all the practices in the area. That’s all they do. The area is huge, but I was seen quickly when I had to call them a few months ago. When the vets did do on call, they had the phone at home

 

[TheMule]

Car comes home, on call will be based at home or within the local area….. it's fine to go food shopping etc, just need to be easily contactable at all times with the car fueled up, all drugs/ equipment in and ready to go!

 

[Meoldmucka]

My sister is an equine vet. She uses her own car and gets a car allowance, all the medicines and kit etc is in the boot. When she's on call she finishes work and goes home as normal with her pager then inevitably gets called out. She would only sleep at work if there was an inpatient case to monitor. She's in work as normal the following morning.

 

[fidleyspromise]

My vets take their cars home.
Ooh works by them being at home and coming in or out to a call if necessary. Even the partners at mine end up on call at times (I got the big boss last year at the holiday weekend).

 

[Christmascinnamoncookie]

My vet takes the car home, along with the on call phone.

 

[Birker2020]

Strange question I know but I've always been curious. Does the vet car have to have a special licence to carry such items or does the pistol/captive bolt have to be locked in a special container in the car?
And somulose? Obviously with a drug strong enough to bring down a big horse, how do you ensure that the drugs kept safe if the vehicle is kept at home in the back of a car?
And when you see vets with open car boots at the yard with the vet no where in site how do you ensure items aren't stolen from the car boot?

 

[Caol Ila]

Strange question I know but I've always been curious. Does the vet car have to have a special licence to carry such items or does the pistol/captive bolt have to be locked in a special container in the car?
And somulose? Obviously with a drug strong enough to bring down a big horse, how do you ensure that the drugs kept safe if the vehicle is kept at home in the back of a car?
And when you see vets with open car boots at the yard with the vet no where in site how do you ensure items aren't stolen from the car boot?

I had the same thought, actually, especially since my vet (character vet; not my actual vet) lives in the middle of Glasgow. Do you leave your vehicle parked in a city (if that is where you live) with all those fun drugs in the back? Is there a procedure for ensuring their security?

 

[criso]

Thinking about it my vet must take the company branded vehicle home. A few months ago, had a colic case at the weekend. On call vet was somewhere else with an emergency case as was the back up. She must have called my vet who is the manager asking what to do. He lives round the corner from the yard and was at home painting so offered to pop out so must have had the car parked outside.

 

[Caol Ila]

Thinking about it my vet must take the company branded vehicle home. A few months ago, had a colic case at the weekend. On call vet was somewhere else with an emergency case as was the back up. She must have called my vet who is the manager asking what to do. He lives round the corner from the yard and was at home painting so offered to pop out so must have had the car parked outside.

Which sort of advertises it as a truck or van filled with fun drugs!

Most of the vets I see at the yard (quite a few different ones come) drive branded vehicles. That seems to be the norm.

 

[criso]

Which sort of advertises it as a truck or van filled with fun drugs!

Most of the vets I see at the yard (quite a few different ones come) drive branded vehicles. That seems to be the norm.

Indeed but head vet has a nice big house in posh bit of Herts so out of sight.

In a similar vein I had a parcel go missing from royal mail that clearly said pet drugs on the box. Probably disappointed when they only found Bute.

 

[Gamebird]

Somulose can be kept in a locked car but does not need to be within a locked compartment within it. Ketamine has to be kept in a locked compartment in a locked car. It's a few years since I have had a firearms licence, but when I did the gun (we used a free bullet rather than captive bolt) had to be kept in a regulation firearms cabinet at work (same as for keeping eg a rifle at home, and regularly inspected by police), and when used transported in a locked compartment in the car.

 

[Gamebird]

I had the same thought, actually, especially since my vet (character vet; not my actual vet) lives in the middle of Glasgow. Do you leave your vehicle parked in a city (if that is where you live) with all those fun drugs in the back? Is there a procedure for ensuring their security?

The simple answer for me is that I've not known any large animal/equine vets live in the middle of a city - it would (in general) just be too far from their clients in an emergency. They do of course often live in towns (or to use Glasgow as an example in areas such as Bearsden or Milngavie which are closer to their clients), and if there is only on street parking available then they would have to use it. In that circumstance I'd probably take the controlled drugs into the house at night (would then need a proper drugs cabinet in the house...), but obviously it still doesn't stop people breaking into the car on the offchance. It certainly happens from time to time.

 

[druid]

Back when I did equine practice -

Drove a company provided vet truck 90% of the time, did have my own vehicle. If I was off for a day/weekend I took my own car home, otherwise I drove the truck all the time. On call was on call from where ever. We had a 30min call radius, 15mins if you were the anaesthesia or dystocia cover.

Drugs are in a locked box inside a locked car. One practice who did some outreach/ youth project work had a list of yards/barns where you had to lock the car if you stepped away from it. If parking the truck in the city our branding was magnetic, just removed them and chucked them inside the vehicle.

 

[Maesfen]

I had the same thought, actually, especially since my vet (character vet; not my actual vet) lives in the middle of Glasgow. Do you leave your vehicle parked in a city (if that is where you live) with all those fun drugs in the back? Is there a procedure for ensuring their security?

I think they are obliged to return anything dangerous back to the surgery before they finish; it's just bad luck if they need them for a call-out, would have to go back for them. You wouldn't dare leave it in either Manchester or Liverpool. Don't get me wrong, I love both places and their people but if it's not nailed down, it's likely to go missing.
Case in point - a friend did the hedge laying beside Beecher's Brook on the National course (it's the only fence with a hedge beside it) and it took him several weeks. He had his van parked beside it, where he was alone working; he happened to look up and his chain saw was legging it across the course! he chased the lad but had no chance of catching him, walked back to his van only to see another two lads legging it the other way with more of his tools! He hadn't seen them at all and it's in the middle of nowhere, hadn't a clue where they had come from. After that, until he was finished he had to have a security man with him simply to keep an eye open for them again.

 

[Gamebird]

I think they are obliged to return anything dangerous back to the surgery before they finish; it's just bad luck if they need them for a call-out, would have to go back for them. You wouldn't dare leave it in either Manchester or Liverpool. Don't get me wrong, I love both places and their people but if it's not nailed down, it's likely to go missing.
Case in point - a friend did the hedge laying beside Beecher's Brook on the National course (it's the only fence with a hedge beside it) and it took him several weeks. He had his van parked beside it, where he was alone working; he happened to look up and his chain saw was legging it across the course! he chased the lad but had no chance of catching him, walked back to his van only to see another two lads legging it the other way with more of his tools! He hadn't seen them at all and it's in the middle of nowhere, hadn't a clue where they had come from. After that, until he was finished he had to have a security man with him simply to keep an eye open for them again.

We're not in any way obliged to return stuff to the surgery - see my reply above. I would never consider being on call without Somulose in my vehicle - it would not be acceptable if a horse got hit by a car (or similar) for me to say 'this horse needs immediate euthanasia. Just give me an hour to go back to the surgery first to get some somulose'. However there are (considerable!) laws about storage and recording of dangerous drugs. I have a controlled drugs register for my car in which an entry of every millilitre added to stock or used is kept, plus I have to carry out a written reconciliation on a weekly basis.

There aren't very many large animal/equine vets living in cities (because that's not where the patients are). However if I went for a night out using my work car I would definitely leave the dangerous drugs at the practice, or at home (if I had a drug safe at home), but then I would not be on call in that circumstance. And in the unlikely circumstance that I lived in a dodgy area of a city, had no secure parking, and did large/equine on-call work then I would have a safe in my house.

 

[Birker2020]

We're not in any way obliged to return stuff to the surgery - see my reply above. I would never consider being on call without Somulose in my vehicle - it would not be acceptable if a horse got hit by a car (or similar) for me to say 'this horse needs immediate euthanasia. Just give me an hour to go back to the surgery first to get some somulose'. However there are (considerable!) laws about storage and recording of dangerous drugs. I have a controlled drugs register for my car in which an entry of every millilitre added to stock or used is kept, plus I have to carry out a written reconciliation on a weekly basis.

There aren't very many large animal/equine vets living in cities (because that's not where the patients are). However if I went for a night out using my work car I would definitely leave the dangerous drugs at the practice, or at home (if I had a drug safe at home), but then I would not be on call in that circumstance. And in the unlikely circumstance that I lived in a dodgy area of a city, had no secure parking, and did large/equine on-call work then I would have a safe in my house.

I said to my Dad when he was dying from bone cancer secondary to prostate cancer that if I were a vet I would have put him out of his misery. It might sound awful to contemplate but when you see someone a former shadow of themselves and in so much pain and despair it isn't that hard to imagine you could do such a thing, especially when they are telling you they wish they could die. But it seems that if that were the case you wouldn't be able to fudge the figures on the drugs register, especially as you would probably need to use much more for a person than an animal.

But I wouldn't be that surprised to find that this has happened to someone, somewhere in the annals of veterinary practice.

 

[druid]

We've gone a step further and weigh the bottles for logging as well as mls to account for overage and hubloss. I don't think people realise how tightly controlled they are

 

[splashgirl45]

Birker 2020, if you agree with assisted dying there is a petition going around, I do agree with it and as I am 77 I hope if I get diagnosed with something like MND or terminal cancer , I would have control of when I wish to go… with the petition there is a letter that you can send to your MP, which I have also done but as mine is on a tv program ,AGAIN, I doubt he will do much

 

[Gamebird]

We've gone a step further and weigh the bottles for logging as well as mls to account for overage and hubloss. I don't think people realise how tightly controlled they are

Our small animal department have to do that. Luckily for equine work I tend to deal in whole bottles, not 0.001ml!

 

[druid]

Our small animal department have to do that. Luckily for equine work I tend to deal in whole bottles, not 0.001ml!

I'm small animal now which is why I switched to weighing. Well...depends if the 92kg Wolf hound counts as small!!

 

[Tiddlypom]

Most of the equine vets at my practice now have branded smallish white vans for work. I know that because my regular vet prefers this as she likes to carry lots of equipment and meds with her just in case, and she can fit more in the van than in her former practice owned ancient Skoda Octavia Estate.

She has a small car of her own for private use. I’m presuming that she drives her work van home at the end of a shift and leaves it there til she’s next working, but I’ve never asked her .

 

[BronsonNutter]

I've done both - had a practice car which I used for personal use (gets taxed heavily), used my own car for work (get an allowance for this usually but absolutely trashed the car) and now use a work car for work only and have my tiny car for personal miles. If on call (or super late finishing) the work car comes home, if not he lives at the practice.

I've also lived above one branch practice, and next door to the equine office for another job - one highlight was finding a client in the practice flat! They'd missed the office door and mine was that dodgy that it didn't lock very well...!

 

[HorsesRule2009]

Are vets do a mixture of taking work cars/personal cars home. If on call always the work car. And the depending on where first/last call of the day is will take work car home. We cover a large area so to maximise time/ make things easier we sometimes try to start ot finish near home with some vets that are further from the clinic.
On days off or A/L ideally personal car so work one is in work.
As for drugs Somulose/ Ketamine/Diazepam should be I'm a safe within a locked car.
When at yards if telhe cat is out of sight/view should be locked.
If parked directly outside stable could possibly leave unlocked.

 

[Birker2020]

Birker 2020, if you agree with assisted dying there is a petition going around, I do agree with it and as I am 77 I hope if I get diagnosed with something like MND or terminal cancer , I would have control of when I wish to go… with the petition there is a letter that you can send to your MP, which I have also done but as mine is on a tv program ,AGAIN, I doubt he will do much

Ah I've already signed it but thank you for mentioning it SG. Strength in numbers and all that.