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All at Axiom hope you had a good Christmas and New Year.
With 2006 now upon us we have seen several developments in late 2005 that
are beginning to bring dividends to you our clients.
During December we moved our operational premises from Teignmouth to our
new purpose built laboratory facilities in Newton Abbott. With any move,
no matter how well planned and prepared, there are always a few teething
problems and we would like to thank you for your patience if you experienced
any problems over this period.
To confirm, our new phone number is: +44
(0)1626 355655 |
| And our new address is: |
The Manor House, Brunel Rd., Newton Abbot, TQ12 4PB
If you send samples to the old address do not
worry as we are still collecting from Teignmouth sorting office. |
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| "Susan Boyd
our New Clinical pathologist” |
 We are delighted to welcome
Susan Boyd as an additional clinical pathologist to help with the increasing
workload.
Susan Boyd BVSc, Cert SAM, MACVSc, Dipl ACVP, MRCVS
has joined us. Susan graduated from The University of Queensland in 1993
and spent time in small animal practice in Australia before coming to the
UK in 1996, where she spent a further 5 years in small animal practice.
Susan commenced a clinical training scholarship in Clinical Pathology at
the Royal Veterinary College in 2002, gaining postgraduate qualifications
in small animal medicine, and becoming a Diplomate of the American College
of Veterinary Pathologists (clin path) in 2005. |
| “Submission
Form Database” |
As part of our ongoing drive to help practices utilise
our service
as simply as possible, we have
developed a bespoke submission form database that can be used in practice. |
The database can be run on any Windows-based PC that has
either Microsoft Access 97 or 2000 installed.
With the ability to search previous records by owner /
animal name or by date range, this offers practices the ability to have
an electronic record of all submissions sent to us. |
The format of the submission form is identical to our hard copy forms, but
by having an electronic format there is no longer a requirement to store
or order submission forms.
If you should wish to order a copy of this database then please email: simonwootton@axiomvetlab.co.uk
or alternatively ring Simon on:
01626 357771.
From the 31st January 2006 the Endocrinology Submission forms will be withdrawn.
The initial introduction of the Endocrine Submission form was to enable
us to gain data for a study that led to the production of our Endocrine Fact Sheets. |
| These fact sheets are now available a hard copy can be
ordered by emailing admin@axiomvetlab.co.uk
or phoning 01626 355655. |
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| “NEW Telephone
System” |
Following our relocation we have installed a new telephone
system. This telephone system allows practices several options when all
our Diagnostic Support Officers are engaged. It allows practices to:
1. hold awaiting an available person.
2. the ability to leave a message (useful for extra tests etc).
or
3. the ability to request a ring back, somebody will return your call
ASAP.
Whilst we realise that some people find an automated system
unfriendly, we hope that by allowing you to hold or choose to leave a message
negates these issues.
Our priority remains as always to answer all calls without
the need to go into the automated system, but because there are times of
high demand then we believe this is a better option than previously where
the phone would keep ringing or return an engaged tone at your end. |
| “Extended
Office Hours from 8.30 am - 6.45pm” |
 Following a market research initiative
in 2005 we have increased the hours in which you can contact our Diagnostic
Support Officers. They are available from 8:30 am till 6.45 pm (Mon-Fri)
on our main phone number : 01626 355655
We believe these extended hours match more closely the
hours worked within the practice environment and this development will benefit
all of our clients and underlines our commitment to remain "The Quality Clinical Pathology Service". |
| “Discounts” |
 It has come to our attention over the
last few months that there is a movement within the clin-path sector to
offer fantastical introductory offers! Therefore we have undertaken a little
exercise of cost comparisons to find out "what is a discount and what
does it mean in real terms?" We found our service is up to 19% more
cost effective that other laboratory services. The simple arithmetic of
the situation is as follows: |
| Whilst a high discount can look attractive on a high gross
cost, the net cost can be significantly more than a lower discount on a
lower cost price. If you also add on our FREE Vet Supplies, FREE P650 Compliant
Packaging then the discount needed to compete with Axiom's cost-effectiveness
also needs to rise. |
| “Award Winner David Godfrey - DUNKIN AWARD” |
David Godfrey B.Vet.Med, Cert.SAD, Cert.SAM, Dip.ABVP,
(feline practice) CBiol MIBiol, MRCVS.Clinical Pathologist (Feline
Medicine /Dermatology) has just been awarded the Dunkin Award.
This award is presented by Schering-Plough for the most valuable article
published in the Journal of Small Animal Practice by a small animal practitioner
during the 12 months ending on 31st October prior to the Annual General
Meeting of the Association. David's paper was on Osteoarthritis in Cats
and was in JSAP
Sept 2005 Vol.46.
David can be contacted by email david.godfrey@axiomvetlab.co.uk
or on our usual telephone number: 01626 355655 |
| “Out & About” |
Axiom recently sponsored the BSAVA CPD Course entitled
“Hands on cytology for practitioners” in Kettering.
In the coming months we will also be at “Diagnostic dilemmas
and therapeutic solutions in internal medicine” on the 5th
- 6th March in Oxford and “Which bag do I choose? Fluid therapy
and transfusion medicine” on 11th May in Warrington. If you
are attending then please come along and say hello.
We will also be at this years' BSAVA Congress and
look forward to seeing you all there. More details will follow in our next
edition. |
| “London Laboratory” |
| The Axiom South Eastern service, based out of
our facility in Vauxhall, continues to go from strength to strength. During
2006 we are planning to increase this service further out from the M25
corridor. We are particularly interested, though not singularly, in practices
based in Kent, Sussex, Surrey and Berkshire that may be concerned
about developments locally with their current established clin-path service.
If you are interested in how the South Eastern service can benefit your
practice then please contact us on 01626 355655 or email simonwootton@axiomvetlab.com |
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| “Ireland Service” |
The Irish service continues to develop apace; we are now
in the position to highlight 2 further developments.
First, following a trial of An Post's Swiftpost service
we now feel that this is an option we should give to practices. In order
to offer prepaid Swiftpost labels we will have to split the costing between
Axiom and you. The Swiftpost labels are available in packs of 15 or 30 at
a cost of €3 per label.
The second development is the introduction of specific
Irish packaging. The prepaid cardboard outers bring the Irish service into
line with our UK operation. The outers have been specifically designed for
ease of progress through An Post's systems. You will also notice that we
have changed the return postal address. Previously you will have sent samples
to Loughlinstown, Co Dublin whereas the new boxes have a PO Box number.
This has been designed to improve the speed with which samples reach us
because the PO Box is located within the main Dublin sorting office, as
opposed to Loughlinstown which is outside the centre of Dublin and subject
to some peculiar postal arrangements.
If you wish to discuss either developments please contact
Simon on our low-call number:
1850 946912 or email: simonwootton@axiomvetlab.co.uk |
| “St. Helens
Laboratory” |
| With the expansion of the St Helens service we are now in
the position to turn around biochemistry and haematology results within
2 hours. The emergency service will return a validated report to you within
2 hours of the sample being received and thanks to our North Western courier
service we can also arrange collection for you. If you wish to discuss how
you can benefit from the only emergency clin-path service in the North West,
then please contact us on 01626 355655 or email admin@axiomvetlab.co.uk. |
| “Clinical
Pathology Developments” |
| Axiom have one of the widest ranges of testing options within
the clin-path sector and we realise that it can be difficult for practicing
vets to keep abreast of developments. We have shortened, laminated price
lists available that illustrate in a clear and concise form the range of
tests we offer. To reinforce our aim to be an educational and information
source to veterinary surgeon and vet nurses we also have a wide range of
information contained upon this website: |
| www.axiomvetlab.com |
| There is another extremely good resource at your disposal
and that is our team of 11 clinical pathologists who can offer advice
on which tests may be suitable and generally discuss those more difficult
internal medicine cases. To speak with one of our pathologists then please
contact us on 01626 355655 or email admin@axiomvetlab.co.uk.
This service is free and allows you to access up to date knowledge of developments
within the clinical pathology sector. |
| “Free T4d” |
This is nightmare test. There is currently a WORLD shortage
of reagents, some manufacturing catastrophe is the excuse. As a result
this test has not been available for the last month. Unfortunately there
is only one manufacturer of this test and there is no validated alternative.
This test has been available intermittently during 2005
and we are working at clearing the backlog as kits become available. Please
contact our Diagnostic Support team on +44 (0)1626 355655 for further
details. |
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