You’ve been called out to see an injured house cat at 3am, with a suspected fracture of the femur. The history is vague and changes depending on who’s answering the questions. The cat has reportedly fallen down the stairs, and your clinical instinct makes you think there’s something not right. Cats don’t tend to fall down the stairs and break their legs, and, well, you’ve just got a bad feeling about this.
But you and the vet are on your own, and there’s no one else to ask for advice – until one of you remembers the QR code your receptionist stuck on the DD cupboard for the Non-Accidental Injury Support Helpline, having attended a Links Group presentation at a recent BVRA Congress.
You scan the code, answer a few quick questions and asking for urgent help. Shortly afterwards, you get a calm and experienced voice on the other end of the phone, listening to your concerns and guiding you through the next steps. Whlst the situation is still there, you now feel better equipped to manage it and help the kitten in front of you.
Support during difficult clinical scenarios such as this can make a huge difference in animal welfare cases, and few are more aware of this than of David Martin, Links Group trustee and Group Head of Animal Welfare at IVC Evidensia.
At The Links Group veterinary team training events, we raise awareness of the NAI QR Code & Helpline, created by Dave, with the support of IVC Evidensia. It’s available to any member of the veterinary team in any veterinary practice anywhere in Europe.
We’re pleased to be able to let you know that there is a new QR code and you can find it on the Guidance Documents section of our Resources menu at The Links Group website.
Scanning the new QR code will direct your team to a form with a few brief questions for you to fill in. This will immediately email the NAI Helpline Support team, who aim to get back to you within 3 hours during the workday. There is also a phone number for more urgent cases.
To ensure that all clinical teams have continued and uninterrupted access to the Helpline, we’d be grateful if you could share this news and the code within your networks, as the old QR code and helpline are no longer functional.
There should be more on this in the wider veterinary press soon, with further information about managing animal welfare concerns arising in practice, but please do help us to spread the word and thank you in advance for that.
With thanks to IVC Evidensia for their continued support of this invaluable resource helping us all in the goal of Protecting Animals, Protecting People.
Remember: NAI Helpline & QR Code – any member, any veterinary practice, any time.
