By Joanne Rodgers, Bruce Peninsula Press
Local pet owners recently received notification that on-call after-hour emergency care for pets would no longer be available in Grey Bruce. They were dismayed to learn that if their pet required emergency care after-hours, they would no longer be able to receive attention at a veterinarian clinic in Grey Bruce.
Pet owners in the Northern Bruce Peninsula will now have to drive approximately three hours or more to London, Barrie, Guelph or to the GTA if their pets need in-person medical care.
Citing staffing issues and veterinarian burnout as the leading factors for the closure of the on-call after-hour emergency care, eight local vet clinics say they did not make this decision lightly. The on-call service ended November 15, 2023.
Previous to this closure eight participating veterinary clinics in Grey-Bruce rotated the on-call emergency care service. The participating clinics were the Grey Bruce Pet Hospital, North Heritage Animal Hospital, Owen Sound Veterinary Clinic, Sunset Strip Veterinary Clinic, Port Elgin Veterinary Clinic, Sauble Beach Pet Hospital, Wiarton Animal Hospital and Southampton Pet Hospital.
The clinics say they were the last in the area to end the on-call service, Thornbury and Collingwood have all previously gone this route. Markdale is open until 9 pm, daily for their clients while using the telemedicine service SmartVet from 9 p.m. to 8 a.m.
An email from Sauble Beach Pet Hospital to their clients lays out the steps to accessing emergency care for your pet after hours:
After regular operating hours, pet owners will be directed to the telehealth service Smart.Vet to speak with an Ontario Registered Veterinary Technician (RVT) who will assess the situation. They will determine if your pet’s situation can be resolved virtually through a telemedicine consult, or if an in-person emergency visit is needed.
If the animal requires in-person care, the RVT will arrange a transfer to the facility most suitable to your pet”s expected level of care, for diagnostics and treatment, however it will be necessary to travel outside of the Grey-Bruce area,
If the RVT feels your pet’s condition may be able to be resolved without an in-person emergency visit, they will assist you in setting up a virtual appointment with an Ontario based veterinarian. This means that the RVT does not feel your pet is currently suffering from a life-threatening condition. The RVT will aid you in setting up an account that meets the legal requirements for the provision of veterinary medicine in Ontario. Payment is accepted in the form of Credit Card, Debit Card or e-transfer. This payment is required to proceed further through the triage process.
Then you and your pet will now be in the scheduled queue for your virtual consultation. During your virtual consultation, the veterinarian will further assess your pet. This may mean requesting a video or photos to aid in the process. This veterinarian may be able to prescribe certain medications for your pet which would allow you to avoid the unnecessary cost and travel time for an in-person visit. Their records and treatment will be sent to your Vet Clinic the next business day so that they can proceed with any follow up for further treatment required.
The clinic also advises pet owners to familiarize themselves with the contact information and the location of the out-of-county ER Vet Clinics.
Unofficial sources say it is difficult to recruit vets to the area since they are not interested in doing on-call duty, preferring a better work-life balance. As a whole the vet industry is having a hard time replacing vets and vet techs. Also, some of the current vets in the eight local clinics are approaching retirement age. Nationally, the increase in demand for vet services during COVID, high vet burnout levels, attrition and retirement have all contributed to pushing the already fragile delivery service over the edge. Sources say there are many parallels to the on-going issues with long-term care.
The clinics state that the vast majority of after hours calls are non-life threatening and feel that managing these calls via a telehealth system would allow them to continue to operate in the area. Sources indicate the tough decision to cancel on-call emergency care was made solely by the persons involved in offering on-call assistance. Three of the clinics are privately owned/operated, while the others are managed by three different corporate entities, and the decision was based on the ability to offer service to their clients.
It is hoped that with on-call service off the table, more vets and vet techs might be interested in practicing in the area. This in turn will build capacity and maybe in the future allow for some arrangement to offer 24 hour emergency assistance again. But with the current situation at its tipping point, it is not feasible to continue to offer on-call services at this time.
Many Northern Bruce Peninsula pet owners are understandably very upset; they describe the decision as “unfathomable” and “can not understand why some alternative could not be worked out”. Some have reached out to their vet clinic asking them to please reconsider the decision.Pet owners in North Bruce were already traveling some distance to get assistance for their pets, with no vet clinic north of Wiarton. For clients of the Grey Bruce Pet Hospital in Owen Sound, the clinic has responded to the pleas from their clients and will be offering some on-call assistance, those clients would have received an email advising them of the updated service.
