'Evidensia must close veterinary clinics due to staff exodus'

Dissatisfaction with commercial chain

1 hour ago · Modified: 1 hour ago

RTL

The largest investor in veterinary practices in the Netherlands, IVC Evidensia, has had to close 24 of its 300-plus veterinary clinics due to an exodus of staff. Hundreds of employees have left due to dissatisfaction with the commercial chain's policy.

This is evident from research by the NRC . The newspaper based its research on internal documents and conversations with more than twenty people involved.

More expensive medicines

The closure of the clinics is due to the shortage of people. The newspaper writes that veterinarians, their assistants and other employees often feel pressured by Evidensia to generate as much turnover as possible.

"For example, they were required to prescribe a more expensive version of certain medicines and charge much higher costs for writing a prescription," the NRC reports.

Emergency veterinary care considerably more expensive, owners often surprised by sky-high costs

Managers are also said to have urged veterinarians to perform X-rays more often and to refer clients to hospitals in their own chain.

This kind of substantive interference is contrary to the sector's ethical code.

Long term dissatisfaction

The newspaper's investigation shows that the dissatisfaction has been going on for a long time. "Not one vet is happy with the way things are going now," says veterinarian Paul Mandigers to the NRC.

IVC Evidensia responded by saying that the method offers 'room for improvement' and that it is now taking action. "Following feedback from our employees, we are implementing major changes in our operational structure and management, including greater involvement of veterinarians in management positions," a spokesperson wrote.

Research by the Dutch Ministry of Agriculture last month showed that veterinary costs have risen sharply in recent years .

In this video we made earlier, you can see that the costs are a reason for some owners to dump their pet:

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