Building Blocks for Sustainable Growth: Practical Strategies for Veterinary Teams

Sustainable growth in practice isn’t about dramatic reinvention but about practical changes that make every day work smoother, more efficient and more fulfilling. This blog on building blocks for sustainable growth with practical strategies for veterinary teams to action straight away. With best practices for supporting excellent care, improving workflows and strengthening the wellbeing of both your clients and your colleagues.

About Pennard Vets

Pennard Vets was established in 1890 and now has eight locations across Kent. We remain proudly independent and became employee-owned in 2021, giving every colleague a stake and a voice in how we operate. We were also the first veterinary practice in Europe to achieve B Corp certification, reinforcing our commitment to social and environmental responsibility.

Valuing Independence

The ongoing CMA enquiry has raised concerns but also highlights strengths that many independent practices already offer, such as choice, empathy and community connection. Being independent gives us the freedom to innovate quickly and respond sensitively to both client and team needs. Now is the time for independent practices to lean into their strengths and demonstrate what sustainable, values-led care can look like in a changing landscape.

Common Challenges

Veterinary practices are all facing the same challenges – constant firefighting and diary chaos, recruitment and retention struggles, admin overload and rising costs.

The EVF (European Veterinary Federation) have recently released the results of a survey they conducted to investigate the growing administrative burden faced by veterinary practices across Europe, and every vet surveyed reported that their admin workload had increased in recent years, with 64% saying it had doubled. Most also noted that much of this work is unpaid and carried out in their own time. This burden affects morale, efficiency, and ultimately, the care we can provide, so finding ways to reduce friction without cutting corners on care is essential.

Streamlining Daily Operations

A helpful principle is to protect clinical quality first, then simplify everything else around it. At Pennard Vets we have expanded our use of templates for client communication, including pre- and post-op information, dental advice (whether for home-care or a recommended procedure), diet recommendations and medication monitoring reminders and explanations. These templates are editable to maintain the personal touch, but save our teams time and ensure consistency. They can be sent via PetsApp or emailed to owners.

We also use checklists, especially for surgical and dental procedures, as they save time and cognitive load, and reduce errors. We find it useful to involve the team in creating checklists as they know what is important and will be more likely to use them. We also audit their use, and amend if necessary.

Online appointment booking has also made a big impact. Our research showed that 46% of our online appointments are made outside working hours, showing how much our clients value convenience and flexibility. It also frees up our phone lines for urgent calls. With routine queries moving to asynchronous messaging via PetsApp, our teams and clients can communicate at their convenience, and it gives our teams time to put thought into their response.

Technology in Action

As well as reducing stress and saving time for our teams, sensible use of digital tools can help us to provide better customer service. The expectations of pet owners have changed, and convenience is now seen as an expectation not just a luxury. We were early adopters of PetsApp in 2020 and have continued to expand how we use it, with all team members involved. It allows us to keep chat, payments, reminders and forms all in one place, and is used by clients of all ages and abilities.

Continuous improvement is one of our core values, so we appreciate working with platforms that evolve. PetsApp’s AI CoPilot feature is a good example, helping generate clear, consistent and empathetic responses that the team can personalise. This blend of AI support and human judgement helps us to deliver excellent outcomes while saving valuable time.

Mapping the Client Journey

Mapping the full client journey, from first contact to follow up, reveals friction points where technology can quietly help. Automating routine steps, while keeping them personal, improves the experience for owners and reduces the strain on the team. Examples include:

• Automatically emailing welcome packs to newly registered owners
• Remote updates and photos during hospital stays to keep owners updated and reassured
• Payment links make processes smoother and prevent awkward debt conversations in reception.
• Asynchronous check ins with owners after procedures or consultations to demonstrate we care.
• Video consultations can help nervous patients, or clients facing mobility challenges or time constraints. Automation should never feel robotic. It’s there to support connection not replace it.

Building a Resilient Team

Resilience means thriving through change, not just surviving. Technology alone doesn’t create a healthy workplace, we need to consider the wellbeing of the people behind it. At Pennard Vets we have introduced initiatives such as the four-day week, mental health first aiders and mentoring schemes to support our colleagues. Involving the team in identifying friction points helps them to take ownership of implementing solutions. We want to use technology to make our lives easier, not more complicated! As well as reducing admin load, digital tools can also contribute to inclusivity in the workplace, offering more flexible working patterns and allowing remote work where appropriate, e.g. for team members with protected characteristics such as pregnancy or chronic health issues.

The Human Side of Technology

The aim is to develop a hybrid, blended way of working, combining the best of traditional veterinary care with digital tools and online offerings. This “bricks and clicks” approach brings together convenience and genuine warmth. It is essential to adopt a transparent, safe AI policy to manage risks like data breaches and compliance failures, maintain your brand reputation, and ensure your team are using AI ethically and consistently. This also reinforces our B Corp values. Technology should free up people to focus on meaningful, compassionate work.

Creating Foundations for Growth

At Pennard Vets, we view sustainable growth as resting on three pillars: our people, our systems and our clients (owners and animals). Our Pet Health Club was one of the first to include unlimited consultations, prioritising care over transactions. This reduces uncertainty for pet owners and supports preventive care, echoing findings from the CMA’s report on transparency and value. By focussing on relationships over transactions, we’re creating lasting trust and loyalty.

Turning Ideas into Action

Independent practices are well placed to make changes quickly. A practical challenge to begin with is to fix one friction point within the next seven days. Start by asking your team what slows them down, they usually already know the answer. Choose something simple to start with, to build confidence and get the team on board. Treat it as a joint experiment, be creative and try to delegate! If it doesn’t succeed, regroup, learn from your mistakes and try again – action always beats inaction! Change doesn’t need to be dramatic, small incremental changes all add up and can feel less scary.

Some examples include: move repeat prescription requests onto PetsApp to reduce phone pressure; encourage online appointment booking to free up phone lines; introduce editable discharge note templates in your PMS or shared drive.

Over the next 30 days:, standardise one process and test one small tech change. e.g. standardise online booking rules - define time slots for nurse clinics, vaccinations, new pet checks, etc so diaries flow better; trial digital payment requests via PetsApp to collect deposits or fees before arrival; test an AI writing assistant such as PetsApp CoPilot to speed up routine client communications.

And within the next 90 days, create a growth plan covering people, systems, and clients. e.g. use rota software data to review workload and plan sustainable staffing patterns; integrate your PMS with online booking, chat, and payment platforms to ensure smooth flow of information; review your top five admin burdens and explore automation options, e.g. automatic reminders, lab result imports, or AI-assisted documentation such as PetsApp Scribe; review or refine subscription services like your Pet Health Club with online sign-ups, digital contracts and automated renewals. Review your progress monthly as a team, and remember to celebrate the wins!

For a copy of your own downloadable Growth Plan, from Sarala and the Pennard Team click the link below 👇 https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdoVWGdBkUHJH07YjFoBkNIdME3ltqWilJqFPNGIkPJGHXdtA/viewform?usp=publish-editor