Help us Help you
2022 is officially over. In a blink of an eye we are already half way through January and here at Gawler Animal Hospital we aren’t slowing down. For the last few months we are aware that it has been increasingly difficult to get appointments for your pets. We understand how frustrating this is, especially urgent issues that come up without warning. We want to assure you that the whole team here are working tirelessly to see as many pets as we can and make it easier for you when you are worried about your furbabies.
Firstly, the whole team would like to thank everyone who calls in and is so understanding of the current situation we are facing. This is not exclusive to our clinic, as the whole Veterinary Industry is being pushed to its limits at the moment. When you are understanding and flexible it makes our days that much easier and brighter.
Currently one of the biggest issues we are facing is missed appointments. If you can’t make it to your appointment it is imperative that you let us know as soon as you can. Your appointment never goes to waste IF you give us notice. We can get other patients in or the veterinary team can use this time to prescribe medications, follow up ongoing cases or assist in hospital. Even letting us know 10 minutes before your appointment is preferred than not showing up or not letting us know at all.
We do understand that there are cases where you miss an appointment for reasons out of your control and we have been working on a few tools to help with those situations. If you have had an appointment booked with us in the last few weeks you may have received an appointment confirmation text message. This gives you the opportunity to easily confirm or cancel your appointment 24 hours in advance without having to call or email us at all. We will also continue to send out are appointment reminder messages as usual.
Late arrivals cost our vets time that they simply do not have to spare. We understand that there are several factors that can cause you to be late so we do ask that you simply let us know if you are running late. The Customer Care Team have become very skilled at appointment manipulation and we constantly work at the schedule to make the day run as smooth as possible for not only the vets and nurses but for you and your pets. However, if you think you are going to be later than 10 minutes from your scheduled appointment time we may look at rescheduling you to our next available appointment as 50% of your consult time is gone. Here at Gawler Animal Hospital we are committed to providing the highest level of care for your pets and having to rush through an appointment means that we cannot do this and can cause unnecessary stress on the pet. If you are running late though, no matter how late please always call our Customer Care team it may be as easy as moving you to an appointment in the next 30 minutes if it is available.
Average wait times at Gawler Animal Hospital is currently around two weeks. Our Customer Care Team do our best to triage phone calls and enquiries which is why we have introduced a Cancellation List for the appointments that can’t wait for the two week period such as Grass Seeds, Eye issues, extreme allergies and skin conditions etc. This list routinely will have more than 10 pets waiting for a spot each day. This is why we are so passionate about appointment reminders and confirmation, and is something we can’t manage effectively without your help.
We are working every day to make your experience here the best it can be from the moment you call us to when you leave after your appointment. So once again we thank you for your constant support and understanding. Here at Gawler Animal Hospital we are truly blessed with the best clients and cutest pets
-Rob, Customer Care
