Orange Vet Hospital is a large and modern mixed practice veterinary hospital based in Orange, NSW. It offers a comprehensive range of veterinary services for companion, performance, and production animals.
The main hospital is situated in Orange, with two branch clinics in Parkes and Molong, which extend the practice’s reach and service across the surrounding region. The clinic has a substantial team of veterinarians and skilled support staff, making it a significant operation in the regional veterinary landscape.
Rosie, the Practice Manager, has been with Orange Vet Hospital for nearly 12 years. Her first role was as a vet nurse and receptionist, before she transitioned into her current leadership role three years ago.
Her extensive experience within the practice, including around eight years managing the veterinary hospital’s inventory and ordering, provides valuable insights into Orange Vet Hospital’s operational needs and supplier relationships.
Orange Vet Hospital choose Provet for veterinary products and business solutions
Orange Vet Hospital’s relationship with veterinary distributor, Provet, predates Rosie’s time as Practice Manager. Provet has consistently been the practice’s primary supplier, which is a testament to its reliability and comprehensive offerings.
“I did the ordering for seven or eight years before I changed roles, and it hasn’t been a question of ever using anyone else,” she explains.
Rosie highlights two key reasons for Orange Vet Hospital’s ongoing preference for Provet for their animal health products and services:
- Size and capability: Provet’s substantial scale and capabilities lets them offer a wide range of products to their veterinary customers. This includes Covetrus-branded and exclusive options, as well as a wide range of other leading brands.
“Provet’s always been our main supplier, mainly because of its size, capability, and extensive options.” Provet’s extensive catalogue helps Orange Vet Hospital procure almost all the products they need from a single source.
- Continuity: Rosie appreciates the continuity and consistency of communication when working with Provet. She values knowing who she’s speaking to, such as their Business Account Manager (BAM) and customer service team.
“It’s nice to always know who you’re talking to,” Rosie says. “I feel like there’s always continuity, whether we’re going directly to the rep that visits us, or our business development manager. In the 11 years I’ve been here, there’s only ever been two of them. With internal sales enquiries, too, there’s a maximum of two people we speak to, which is always nice.”
“I can always go straight to someone I know who can get the answers for me if I am changing products or checking something. It’s always nice to have the same person to talk to each time,” she explains.
Excellent service from Provet Customer Service
Orange Vet Hospital consistently experiences excellent service from the Provet customer service team. “We are always able to get answers, whether they [the Provet team members] need to phone us back or go into the warehouse to find out about something. The experience is always great. They always follow up on our enquiries and get back to us,” she adds.
Orange Vet Hospital’s operations are always dynamic, with a main hospital, two branch clinics, and mobile vets who carry stock. This can present challenges for inventory control. However, Provet’s business account manager provides valuable support.
“We have had a few conversations about things we could change,” she says. “We’ve streamlined some of our inventory control, and we used to get the barcodes emailed or posted out to us. Now, we can print them out and update things ourselves, which is great. Having the barcode scanner helps streamline our inventory management as well.”
Use of Provet Connect with scanners streamlines re-ordering
Rosie and her team use Provet Connect as their main way to order veterinary supplies, supported by the use of scanners. They simply scan the barcodes of products that need to be replenished.
Rosie says, “We simply scan the barcodes of the products we need, then we tidy things up and look for alternatives on the desktop computer and send our order.”
She adds that she and her team can also order on their phones if they don’t have access to a computer. “We just use the app on our phone to quickly search for a product, add something to an order, or send the order remotely if we have to,” she explains.
“It helps to have all those options, no matter where you are, what you’ve got to do, or if you’re getting close to a deadline. You can quickly send it on your phone if you’re out of the clinic.”
Rosie adds that Orange Vet Hospital actively uses Provet PLUS points, a loyalty programme offered by Provet.
The accumulated Provet PLUS points are used mainly by the four partners who own the practice. These are typically redeemed against various expenses, including clinic-related invoices or professional development (CPD) activities.
Reliable delivery service with Provet
Rosie says the delivery service from Provet is great. If there are any issues, she says that Provet is always proactive about resolving this when it happens.
“We call Provet direct, and their team follows it up with the courier and arranges for it to be tracked down and delivered – or at least give us an ETA. We know we can ring Provet direct, and they’ll make that enquiry for us.”
Cost-effective, quality options with Covetrus Essentials
Orange Vet Hospital has successfully integrated Covetrus Essentials into their inventory and have transitioned many consumables to this cost-effective option. Rosie highlights the convenience of being able to obtain generic versions of high-volume products directly from Provet, which eliminates the need to engage with additional suppliers.
“It’s nice to be able to get affordable generic versions of products that we go through a large volume of,” she says. This streamlines their ordering process and lets them top up these items twice a week as needed, without needing to hold excessive backup stock.
Importantly, Rosie notes that the Covetrus Essentials products consistently maintain the same quality as other brands: “We changed a lot of our consumables over to the Covetrus brand and haven’t experienced any issues. Typically, they’re just as good quality as the other brands.”
Quality CPD with Crampton Consulting Group (CCG)
Orange Vet Hospital has a strong and positive relationship with Crampton Consulting Group (CCG) for continuing professional development (CPD), a service facilitated through Provet. Rosie is enthusiastic about CCG’s services, saying, “Yep, I love Crampton’s.”
The hospital previously had a clinic subscription with CCG, which was highly valued by the team for its diverse CPD elements. Rosie says, “Everyone really enjoyed the different choices of what you could do for CPD with the clinic subscription.”
Rosie has personally benefited from CCG’s offerings by attending their practice management school, participating in conferences, and completing an inventory control course.
She highly recommends Crampton Consulting Group’s service offerings. “They’re fantastic. They are always easy to deal with and definitely know their stuff.” Being able to use Provet PLUS points for such valuable professional development strengthens the overall benefit of Orange Vet Hospital’s partnership with Provet.
Rosie highly recommends Provet
Rosie strongly recommends Provet to other veterinary clinics and her industry peers. Her recommendation comes from Orange Vet Hospital’s experience as a large-scale practice with complex operational needs, including multiple locations and a high volume of transactions.
She is particularly positive about Provet’s strong communication, especially if a product is out of stock. “If they don’t have a product in stock, they will look into an alternative or figure out the ETA and communicate this when we’re placing orders,” she says.
Provet demonstrates a proactive approach by consistently adapting their systems. As Rosie puts it, “Provet’s proactive with changing their systems, like the backorder option on Provet Connect. This means we don’t have to call every time we need to check – we can just come up with some alternatives and decide on one through Provet Connect.”
She concludes, “We love using Provet. It’s so easy. The systems are all streamlined, and customer service is always easy to deal with. They’ll find solutions to our problems.”
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