Member Article

Vets thank hard-working staff with Florida trip

THREE members of staff from the North East’s largest veterinary group have returned from a trip of a lifetime to the 2016 North American Veterinary Community Conference.

As part of its 40th anniversary celebrations, Westway Veterinary Group sent three members of staff on an all-expenses-paid trip to the five-day conference in Orlando, Florida.

Westway bosses wanted to reward the hard work of staff during 2015 so put all their employees’ names into a hat – and vet Abbey Taylor, qualified veterinary nurse Anna Soulsby and receptionist Karla Edgar were able to attend the annual conference, which attracts members of the veterinary profession from all over the world. They were joined by Westway director Jason Atherton.

NAVC is a non-profit organisation that provides world-class professional development and support services for the global veterinary healthcare community. Their work aims to educate and connect the global veterinary community.

Anna said: “It was a fantastic opportunity and I learned so much when I was out there. There was a huge variety of lectures on hundreds of different topics. I attended talks on animal behaviour, nursing care for critically ill patients, and also separation anxiety in pets.

“We all gained so much out of it and it was a great way to expand your knowledge and skills as part of our Continual Professional Development.”

The chance for staff to win an all-expenses-paid trip was part of Westway’s milestone anniversary celebrations last year, as it was established on Newcastle’s West Road in 1975.

Westway, which also owns the Easyvets and Value Vets chains, has 23 surgeries and employs 35 vets right across the North East, from Newcastle to Darlington, making it region’s largest veterinary business.

Director Nick Myerscough said: “We wanted to reward staff for all their hard work during the year as well as celebrate our milestone anniversary.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Holly Corbett .