Dealing with complaints in a practice
The Board is aware that some practices are escalating client complaints to management directly without consulting the relevant veterinary practitioners involved in the animal’s care.
We understand this approach may be aimed at supporting vets, enabling them to focus on delivering veterinary services; as well as managing any perceived legal liability. However, it may have the unintended consequence of escalating complaints where clients are already emotionally vulnerable:
- Clients may think the vet has something to hide: the vet knows and has the relationship with the client and the animal. Preventing clients from speaking with the vet may reduce the chances of resolving the complaint. Animal owners want to be listened to and treated with respect when they have a problem, and they may perceive exclusive escalation to management to be defensive.
- Misinterpretation or miscommunication: if a complaint is managed by a third party who was not present during the relevant events, important information may be missed or misinterpreted. This may confuse and/or frustrate clients.
- Missed opportunity to provide further explanation: where a veterinary practitioner handles a complaint directly in the first instance, they may be able to explain things again and more clearly to the animal’s owner - including what may have gone wrong and why. It is possible that the last time the client and practitioner spoke, the client may not have been in a state to understand what was said.
- Missed opportunity to learn and develop: it is natural to view complaints as criticism (and therefore a bad thing). However, a complaint can be viewed as an opportunity to receive feedback, provide further explanation (as above), as well as learn and develop crucial insights. Complaints also provide vets with opportunities to strengthen complaint handling competencies - core skills including empathy, patience, resilience, problem solving, the ability to remain impartial, and the ability to communicate and work with distressed and vulnerable clients.
As outlined above, excluding practitioners from the complaints process may mean that early resolution opportunities are lost and a complaint ultimately escalates to the Board.
It is not suggested that complaints must be resolved alone. Rather, the whole veterinary team and management can be involved in the process and provide support to vets as required, especially where there may be concerns about the time being taken and the emotional toll of the complaint on the practitioner.
The Board also acknowledges that certainly there will be times when escalating a complaint to a person with dedicated complaint handling skills may be appropriate and necessary. This person may have other skills in addition to the core complaint handling skills listed above, including skills in investigation and dealing with unreasonable conduct, plus a broader knowledge of the business’s people and work, and access to expert advice.
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