ONE of Europe’s leading lights in evidence-based veterinary medicine (EBVM) has been promoted to VetPartners’ senior management team (SMT).
Dr Rachel Dean, who has been Director of Clinical Research and Excellence in Practice at VetPartners since June 2018, joins CEO Jo Malone and Director of Regulatory and Professional Affairs Tim Shearman as one of three vets on our SMT.
Dr Dean also co-chairs the VetPartners Clinical Board, which works to ensure continual improvement of the standards of clinical care across the group, which has practices across the UK and Italy and is preparing for further European expansion.
With her passion for establishing practical ways of implementing EBVM, the key focus of her new role will be ensuring VetPartners’ work is patient focused and our veterinary teams receive the clinical support they need.
Dr Dean said: “Our ethos at VetPartners is that care needs to be centred around achieving the best possible outcomes for each patient, practice and team because that will make us a success.
“We have a professional and corporate responsibility to ensure we do a good job. Supporting our people to deliver the most appropriate care for our patients and clients is at the centre of that. My role on the SMT is to make sure decisions at the highest level are focused on this crucial part of veterinary practice.
“My job is practice-focused, helping the people and helping the animals, and it is refreshing that a corporate group wants someone like me working at the highest, most influential level.
“I want to make evidence-based veterinary medicine a reality for practices and for patients. It enables you to encompass clinical skills, client’s thoughts and values and known science and do what’s right for the patient in front of you. By bringing key activities relating to clinical culture, quality improvement and clinical research to life in our practices we will make huge strides in animal health and welfare.”
Before joining VetPartners, Dr Dean founded and directed the Centre for Evidence-based Veterinary Medicine (CEVM) and was Clinical Associate Professor in Feline Medicine at the University of Nottingham’s School of Veterinary Medicine and Science.
As well as developing a clinical strategy at VetPartners, she supports practice teams to deliver the best possible care and treatment. She also supports the group’s Learning and Development Programme.
VetPartners CEO Jo Malone believes Dr Dean will help to enhance VetPartners’ ethos of caring for people, animals and patients and our profession.
She said: “Rachel lives and breathes our culture and everything we stand for at VetPartners. Having her input from a clinical standpoint will help to ensure we always keep in mind we are here to treat animals and look after our clients.
“Rachel will now look at bolstering her team, looking at quality improvement and clinical research so we are furthering veterinary science.”
For media enquiries, please contact Amanda Little, VetPartners Senior PR and Communications Manager, on 07970 198 492 or email amanda.little@vetpartners.co.uk