Give aftercare a responsible person across every handover.

Separate preparation, clinical review and follow-up

Name the roles that prepare the plan, approve it, support the owner, inspect incoming information and record the clinical decision. A person can hold more than one role, but the authority for each step must be clear. Reception may help with access or arrange a contact without being asked to make a clinical assessment. Assign a substitute for absence and agree review windows the team can staff. Keep the usual urgent route visible. The PIMS remains the clinical record; Vetomo adds a coordinated care workflow around it, with the actual handoff method agreed during setup.

A handover record the next shift can use

• Patient and episode: identify the correct case and the active approved plan. Avoid a list containing only pet names or disconnected message snippets.
• Current position: state the last completed review and what remains open. Distinguish an update awaiting review from a decision awaiting an administrative action.
• Next action: name the responsible role or person, the agreed time and the route to use. A general note saying ‘follow up’ is not enough for a reliable transfer.
• Uncertainty or exception: record missing information, failed access or an owner using the alternative contact route. Do not treat absence of an app update as confirmation of the patient’s condition.
• Acceptance and closure: confirm the receiving team has the task and define what completes it. Clinical decisions must be entered in the PIMS through the agreed process.

Worked example: the usual reviewer is off tomorrow

At the end of a shift, one update has not been reviewed and a second case needs a call after a professional has already recorded a decision. Put these in separate categories. Allocate the first to the authorized covering reviewer and the second to the person responsible for arranging the agreed contact. Include the relevant timing, original context and where the decision is recorded. Test the handover with a colleague who did not attend the original consultation: can they identify their task without guessing? During the free one-month pilot, which includes all currently available features, sample handovers across normal and absence-cover days. Measure unassigned items and duplicated work alongside staff time. Use the findings to adjust the routine, not to infer a clinical outcome from an administrative completion count.