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Most practices have a written risk assessment for cytotoxic drugs, radiation and manual handling, and nothing at all for workload. Work related stress is a health and safety risk like any other, and assessing it is a duty rather than a gesture.
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The HSE’s Management Standards cover demands, control, support, relationships, role and change. They were not written for veterinary practices, and they fit one almost exactly. Demands is the consult list. Control is whether a vet can lengthen an appointment for a difficult case. Support is whether anybody debriefs after a euthanasia run. Relationships is how client abuse gets handled. Role is whether a nurse is being asked to work beyond Schedule 3. Change is what happened after the practice was acquired.
The work combines emotional load, client conflict, clinical responsibility carried young, unsocial hours and ready access to means. That combination is not present in most workplaces, and it is the reason a poster in the staff room is not an adequate response.
If somebody needs support now. Vetlife Helpline is free and confidential, open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, to everyone in the veterinary community, on 0303 040 2551. Callers do not have to give their real name and there is an anonymous email service. Put that number somewhere people can read it without having to ask anybody for it.
A risk assessment that produces no actions has not been done. The practices that improve pick a small number of things and finish them: a lunch break that is actually protected, a debrief after every euthanasia list, one more person on Saturday morning. Six vague intentions change nothing, and the team notices which one you did.
Anything you write down in the conversation guide or the return to work plan that records a health condition is special category data under UK GDPR. Restrict who can see it, state how long you keep it, and say so in your staff privacy notice.
Read it alongside our guides to managing burnout, the staff privacy notice and the health and safety pack.
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A stress risk assessment built on the six HSE Management Standards and written for a practice, a ten question team survey, a conversation guide for the manager who has noticed something, a return to work plan after a mental health absence, and a support directory for the staff room.
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