VBJ First Opinions Podcast

PetsApp is a digital platform that has already helped hundreds of practices increase client engagement and generate extra revenue.

An app-based total telemedicine solution offering video consults, payment processing capabilities, role-based text chat and much more, PetsApp is truly transformative tech.

Record numbers of UK practices are turning to telemedicine* due to ongoing coronavirus restrictions and innovative but intuitive tools such as PetsApp have been the key for many in making it happen.

Listen to PetsApp CEO Thom Jenkins explain how this adaptable platform can provide a secure base for any practice to weather the current economic storm and build for a brighter future…

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Thom Jenkins is a qualified vet and co-founder and CEO of PetsApp, a mobile-first veterinary telemedicine platform enabling veterinary clinics to offer text chat and video consultations to pet owners.

He is chair of VetForum, an international series of B2B veterinary sector events and serves as an advisor to YLD – one of London’s fastest growing software engi­neering and design consultancies.

* Wave 4 COVID-19 Veterinary Industry Tracker CM Research.

In the second episode of VBJ’s Lockdown Lowdown, Vet Dynamics director Alan Robinson offers tips for people trying to “instil order into the chaos” that coronavirus has cast our lives and businesses.

Talking with VBJ editor James Westgate, Alan discusses what the results of various professional surveys say about the impact COVID-19 is having across the veterinary sector, how to ensure your practice remains healthy, and how to approach bringing staff back from furlough.

In the first of a new series, VBJ editor James Westgate talks to Onswitch founder Alison Lambert to discover how the coronavirus pandemic is affecting the veterinary profession – and what practice owners can do in the short, medium and long term to ensure their businesses weather the storm.

VBJ’s Lockdown Lowdown is primarily a video interview series, conducted via Zoom and posted to our Facebook and YouTube channels. Watch it at:

https://youtu.be/vhCA3CKLK38 (YouTube)

https://www.facebook.com/VBJMagazine/videos/225924025363279/ (Facebook)

Today we’re going to be talking sleep... or, rather, lack of it.

Now, it’s a fact – and numerous surveys have backed this up – that most of us, with our busy modern lives, simply aren’t getting enough shut-eye. So we’re delighted to be joined by sleep expert, Dr Mike Farquhar.

Dr Mike is a consultant in children’s sleep medicine at the Evelina London Children's Hospital, and he's here to talk about the problem of lack of sleep and, perhaps more importantly, what you can do about it.

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Dr Mike Farquhar trained in general paediatrics, respiratory paediatrics and sleep medicine in Glasgow, Nottingham, Sydney and London, and took up his current post in 2012.

He can be found on Twitter @DrMikeFarquhar, where he regularly tweets about sleep-related issues affecting children and young people, as well as the importance of acknowledging the impact of workplace fatigue, and more general sleep issues.

VBJ editor James Westgate caught up with BVA president Daniella Dos Santos at the recent 2020 SPVS Congress to talk about diversity, workforce retention, stronger regulation of pet travel and bovine TB, as well as her aims for her presidential year.

In 2017, StreetVet began as nothing more than an idea. Three years later, that idea has grown into what can only be described as a phenomenon.

Now a registered charity, StreetVet operates out of 16 cities across the UK and has more than 600 volunteers who have provided vital veterinary care for the pets of homeless people in desperate need.

Listen to founder Jade Statt describe how StreetVet has had a profound effect on the lives of everyone involved...

Gathering in the Vet Times podcast booth during London Vet Show 2019, VBJ editor James Westgate catches up with Ebony Escalona – founder of Vets: Stay, Go, Diversify – and popular veterinary journalist and broadcaster “Pete the Vet”.

The group discusses online veterinary communities, the breaking of “social contracts”, the concept of offering staff unlimited paid holidays, and the importance of achieving a suitable work-life balance.

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Ebony Escalona is a GP vet, vet-med educator, speaker and mentor. She is also founder of Vets: Stay, Go, Diversify (V:GSD), a global online support platform providing a free, independent and safe exchange of information between veterinary professionals, with the mission to support peer-to-peer career inspiration. Visit www.vsgd.co for further information on V:GSD and its work.

Pete Wedderburn is a practising small animal vet and well-known journalist, writing and broadcasting about animal welfare and behaviour and pet health. Visit www.petethevet.com to read Pete's extensive series of 800+ blogs and articles, or to check out his regular radio podcast.

James Westgate is joined in the First Opinions studio by Alan Robinson, a qualified vet and, for many, the godfather of veterinary business.

For the past two decades Alan’s consultancy, Vet Dynamics, has helped more than 1,000 independent practices become happier, healthier and more profitable places to work.

Alan cares passionately about independent practice and believes it is these practices that are crucial for the health of the UK’s entire veterinary sector.

Here Alan shares his rich catalogue of stories and explains why independent practice owners must stick together to thrive in an uncertain future…

James Westgate is joined in the First Opinions studio by James Andrews – a qualified veterinary surgeon and CEO of wearable pet tech firm, Felcana.

James discusses developments in the world of wearable pet tech and the potential impact of telemedicine on the profession, before asking: where does the vet fit in..? 

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James Andrews is a qualified vet who worked in small animal practice before working as a management consultant across various sectors; including mining, financial services and shipping.

In 2015 James founded pioneering pet tech start-up Felcana [https://felcana.com], which helps owners listen to their pet while empowering vets with data, analysis and tools to treat disease more effectively.

In the first monthly VBJ podcast, editor James Westgate speaks to Liz Barton, creator of the Vetsnet resource hub and co-founder of the WellVet Weekend.

A qualified vet with experience in mixed, referral and small animal practice, Liz speaks candidly about juggling work with a young family, diversifying her career and the need for more female leaders.

It’s a fascinating story of one woman’s search for personal and professional fulfilment.