Deadline extended for Vet Wellbeing Awards and nominate your Practice Stars

The deadline for submissions to the joint Mind Matters Initiative (MMI) and Society of Practising Veterinary Surgeons (SPVS) Vet Wellbeing Awards has been extended to allow for more submissions to be made.

The Wellbeing Awards were launched in late August to help find the happiest practices in the UK that are dedicated to demonstrating their commitment to improving staff wellbeing through initiatives, management systems and other forms of staff engagement.

The original deadline was Friday 23 November but this has now been extended to Wednesday 5 December to allow more submissions, particularly for the large practice category (51 or more staff or full-time equivalents).

Applications for the award are looking for evidence of dedication to wellbeing in six key areas of work that, if well-managed, can promote wellbeing and reduce the risk of work-related stress, and the Award judges will be looking for evidence of commitment to enhancing wellbeing for each of these.

These are:

• Work demands
• Workload and work scheduling
• Relationships at work
• Career development
• Communication at work
• Promoting physical and psychological health at work

More information about the awards and how to make a nomination can be found on the Vet Wellbeing Award's dedicated website.

Throughout the nomination period the Vet Wellbeing Awards has also been running its inaugural Wellbeing Practice Stars awards, which recognise individual members of staff in practices who go the extra mile to help make the practice a happy place to work.

Nominations for these run alongside the Wellbeing Awards and are open to all practices, even those that don’t enter the main awards. Nominations for Practice Star awards can be made up to Monday 31 December 2018.

Examples of recent Practice Star nominations have included Melissa Pearmain from Westpoint Farm Vets in Chelmsford who, in her nomination, was described as someone who “genuinely cares about everyone’s wellbeing…. She is always coming up with intuitive ways to make things easier for everyone, like more efficient labelling systems, and keeping records that are easy to follow. Melissa always reassures and comforts us in difficult times and is an absolute pleasure to see first thing in the morning.”

Zetland Veterinary Hospital in Bristol nominated its practice manager Jo Prosser as its Practice Star. Her nomination said: “Jo always greets everyone with a smile. Her door is always open and she writes a different inspirational message on our white board every day. The practice love these quotes and her attempts at trying to get them to eat more fruit. In addition, she has helped pioneer our new mental health practices and has made sure there are Vetlife stickers around the practice.”

Practice Star nominations can also be made via the Vet Wellbeing Awards website. Unlike with the main Wellbeing Awards there is no formal judging process but practices only need to submit the individual’s name, job title and contact details with a short paragraph explaining why they have been nominated.

Nominations must be approved on behalf of the practice by a partner, director, clinical director or practice manager. Nominees will then be sent a congratulatory certificate.