Apologies in advance for the reflective and slightly self-indulgent nature of this article, but April this year marks the tenth anniversary of when Annelise and I officially took ownership of Hawthorn Vets and naturally it makes one consider what has changed in that time on both a personal and a professional level.
In April 2012, we had just moved back to Sussex with two young dogs, three young / middle aged cats, a snake and a three month old baby named Elliott. For me, the landscape was a blur of practice work, weekend DIY on our house and trying to perfect the art of pretending to be asleep when young Elliott turned up the volume in the middle of the night – something which most of us Dads have to secretly admit to! As the old “proverb” goes – “if a baby cries and the Dad is looking after it – does it make a noise?” Fast forward 10 years and we now have ten and eight year old boys, one young and one old dog, two old cats and the snake is still going aged 20… Life is a mixture of clinical work and management with less DIY, but still using the pretend sleep skills to dodge bad dreams, blocked noses and growing pains!
A timely parallel between 2012 and today is that in 2012, we unveiled a shiny brass plaque on the front door of our then main branch in Partridge Green and who better to do the unveiling than the most important member of the family at the time – Elliott. I can remember the little fellow yanking the ribbon with his fist and cramming as much as possible into his mouth. In January, we completed the refurbishment of the reception area at Partridge Green, so it was only fitting for both Elliott and Owen to be the official ribbon cutters – it was quite a poignant moment to see how much things have advanced. I am pleased to say that neither child felt the need to eat the ribbon or injure a client with the scissors, so they have progressed somewhat!
On a professional level, the backdrop has changed quite dramatically
within the veterinary industry as a whole. When we took over most
practices were still privately owned, but during the past ten years we
have seen more and more sold to corporate ownership which now represents
the majority of veterinary practices in the UK. There are now only a
handful of us locally who still proudly wave the independent flag! There
have also been significant advances in the technology available to
veterinary practices – in contrast to 2012, we now have two digital
X-ray machines, two portable ultrasound scanners and laparoscopy –
equipment which it is hard to imagine being without now.
We have become a
training practice for veterinary nurses, we are affiliated with Surrey
University to train their final year veterinary students and have
welcomed Fabian and Dani Kaelin on board as Assistant Directors within
our fantastic team of vets, nurses and receptionists. Add in the
relocation of our Henfield branch in 2019 and it’s been a busy 10 years…
On the pet side of things, there are certainly a lot more puppies and kittens around than there used to be! However, the puppies and kittens that I can remember seeing when I first took over are still visiting the practice; but now, like me, they are a little greyer, a little fatter, a little deafer, a little less mobile, with less hair and a bit more stubbornness, but (mostly!) they are still wagging their tails and happy to see us. Obviously all their owners haven’t aged a bit!
Having said all that, what hasn’t changed are the positive interactions and relationships that we have with our clients, their pets and the whole local community. The Hawthorn team couldn’t ask for a better environment or more understanding pet owners. While things will undoubtedly continue to evolve and change in the years to come, these are constants that we look forward to sustaining.
