UK Leaders’ Forum and Clinical Congress bring inspiring vet care to life

Last week, inspiring vet care marked a significant milestone in launching their new brand at two of their largest events to date.

Held at the Hilton Birmingham Metropole, the events welcomed almost 2,000 colleagues across the UK Leaders’ Forum and their first-ever Clinical Congress. 

Delegates were also joined by industry partners including MSD, Zoetis and IDEXX, and support centre teams via an expo which ran throughout the events.

Inspiring change at Leaders’ Forum 

The Leaders’ Forum kicked off with George Dymond, Chief Executive UK & Ireland, giving practice leaders a warm welcome to the inspiring vet care family. George then hosted a panel session with colleagues from the Group team including Simon Smith, Group CEO, before introducing members of the UK leadership team to share exciting plans for the year ahead. 

Delegates also heard from keynote speaker, Matthew Syed, former British tennis table champion, author and journalist. He explored “black box thinking”, a growth mindset that uses failures to inform continuous improvement.

Following Day One, clinical leaders joined the Clinical Congress event while non-clinical practice leaders enjoyed a second day of Leaders’ Forum. This event focused on how inspiring vet care will bring the brand to life locally over the coming months. 

Showcasing the future for inspiring vet care at Clinical Congress 

Clinical Congress marked a first-of-its-kind event for the UK network, gathering the largest number of clinical colleagues in person for dedicated CPD while sharing the next steps for inspiring vet care. 

The two days kicked off with Richard Cristofoli, Chief Customer & Marketing Officer, who shared how far the business has come since rolling out inspiring vet care. He then introduced the brand story and new customer value proposition, before discussing the significance of upcoming marketing campaigns.

Richard Hooker, Country Medical Officer, followed to share how the clinical strategy is at the heart of the new brand. Paul Horwood, UK Head of Farm, and Katie Stallard, UK Head of Equine, later reinforced how clinical teams across farm and equine can showcase their position as trusted experts. 

Finally, delegates heard from Stuart Garde, UK Head of Clinical Development, on the relaunch of the Academy, including a new core learning programme that will be open to all inspiring vet care colleagues. 

Supporting trusted expertise through clinical CPD 

Clinical colleagues attended a range of joint and dedicated CPD sessions across small animal, equine, farm, nursing and referrals. This included lectures on Cardiology and Dermatology and panel session on Preventative Health and Dentistry.

For those who didn’t attend, inspiring vet care will be hosting clinical legacy events online across June and July. This is an opportunity for more colleagues to take part in learning and collaborate with their clinical teams.  

Honouring the Brilliant People winners 

The annual Brilliant People Awards also took place during a gala dinner on Monday evening, allowing teams to celebrate their exceptional colleagues. See the full list of winners here. 

During the dinner, attendees were invited to take part in a raffle in support of charity partner, Vetlife, with inspiring vet care pledging to match the funds raised. Throughout the events, £3743 was raised from raffle tickets, with a total of £7486 donated to fund health, crisis and financial support for the veterinary community.