Veterinary practice data: what to review beyond revenue

A veterinary PIMS records far more than revenue. Vaccinations, prescriptions, follow-up appointments, cancellations and preventive care schedules all leave structured data behind, alongside the clinical notes.

Used well, those records can reveal patterns that are hard to see case by case. Which patients have drifted out of preventive care. Whether recommended rechecks happen. How prescribing varies across the team.

This article covers what to look at, and how to check the data is reliable before you act on it.

What can practice records show?

Researchers already use routine practice records at scale. The Small Animal Veterinary Surveillance Network (SAVSNET) at the University of Liverpool collects anonymised health records from volunteer UK practices. One recent study used the records of 712,266 dogs and 306,888 cats from 201 practices to track vaccination uptake between 2016 and 2022.

Your own records serve a different purpose. They can show patterns among your own patients, by species, age, clinician and month.

Can your data answer the question?

Every report depends on what was entered in the first place. Three checks are worth making before you act on any number.

Completeness. Was the action recorded at all, and in a field the system can count? A recommendation written only in free-text notes exists, but it is hard to count.

Consistency. Did different vets record the same thing in the same way? The SAVSNET study found 2,127 different vaccine codes across participating practices. In 47% of dog vaccination records and 65% of cat records, the vaccine itself could not be identified, because the entry said something like “dog booster”.

Denominator. Are you comparing against the right population? A vaccination rate looks very different measured against every registered animal, against animals seen in the last year, or against animals still alive and still registered with you.

In practice, this means:

• Agree a short list of codes for vaccines and common procedures, and retire the vague ones
• Mark deceased and moved-away patients promptly, so lists only include animals you can still help
• Record follow-up recommendations in a structured way, such as a recall or a booked appointment, as well as in the notes

Data quality depends on how the team records things day to day, as much as on the reporting software. The RCVS Code already requires clear, accurate and detailed clinical records.

How many of your patients are overdue for vaccination?

On the SAVSNET study’s one-year measure, the proportion of dogs with a recorded vaccination fell from 76.6% in 2016 to 69.0% in 2022. For cats, it fell from 69.5% to 66.1%.

Over a three-year window the picture was steadier. In dogs it stayed between about 81% and 84%, and in cats it rose from 73.9% to 77.9%.

That distinction matters because not every vaccine follows the same schedule. BSAVA guidance notes that for most UK-authorized dog vaccines, distemper, parvovirus and hepatitis boosters are given at least every three years, while leptospirosis and kennel cough vaccines need annual boosters.

For your own practice, the cleanest measure uses the due dates already in the system:

• How many active patients have a recorded vaccination due date that has passed?
• How does that vary by species and age?
• How many of those patients attended for another reason in the same period?

Patients in that third group give the practice an existing opportunity to check vaccination status, because they already have contact booked.

Our guide to improving appointment compliance covers what to do once you know who has lapsed, and automated client communications covers how reminders can reach them.

Are recommended follow-ups happening?

Vets recommend things every day that need a second appointment. A dental under anesthetic. A recheck in two weeks. Repeat bloods in three months.

Measuring follow-through starts with the denominator. If your practice records recommendations in a structured way, you can compare recommendations made with later bookings and attendance.

If your system has no field for a clinical recommendation, you are working with proxies: estimates created, recalls set, follow-up appointments booked. These are useful, but they are not the same thing. An estimate may be declined for good reasons, and a recall may be set for a routine check that was never a specific recommendation. Interpret proxy figures with that in mind.

If recommendations only live in free-text notes, the first finding may be about recording rather than care. Consistent follow-up becomes harder to measure. It may also depend on things the report cannot see, such as reception task lists or manual recalls.

What does your prescribing data show?

If your team dispenses medicines through the PIMS, those records can support clinical review.

A randomised trial published in 2021 shows what that can achieve. It used SAVSNET prescribing data from practices in one large UK group. Before the trial, the share of cat consultations involving a highest priority critically important antimicrobial (HPCIA) ranged from 0% to 13.9% across the group’s practices.

Practices with above-average HPCIA prescribing were told where they stood. The most intensive arm also got detailed benchmarking reports, training material and the offer of meetings with a senior clinical lead. Compared with the control group, that arm saw relative reductions of 39.0% in cat consultations and 23.5% in dog consultations involving an HPCIA.

The authors also saw a shift in which antimicrobials were chosen in cats, including more potentiated amoxicillin. This was a descriptive finding, and the individual class comparisons were not statistically significant. A lower HPCIA percentage does not, on its own, tell you whether overall antimicrobial use has improved.

A concrete question for your own practice: what share of cat consultations last quarter involved cefovecin, and how does that vary between vets? Any difference needs reading against case mix, the reason for treatment, testing and the notes. Clinician-level data is best used for reflective discussion, the way the trial used it, not as a league table.

Where does the diary lose time?

Start with three diary measures, broken down by appointment type: cancellation rate, no-show rate, and scheduled against actual duration. They answer different questions. A high late-cancellation rate is a prompt to review booking lead time, reminder rules, appointment type and cancellation policy. Consistent overruns on one appointment type are a reason to check whether the slot is long enough for what that appointment involves.

A single utilization figure can hide the reason behind lost or overrun capacity. Our articles on reducing no-shows and choosing scheduling software cover what to do with each.

How do you turn findings into clinical governance?

You do not need a data team. A simple starting cycle might be: pick one question, review the same report regularly, agree one change at a clinical meeting, and set a date to measure again.

That cycle can form part of clinical governance. RCVS Code 1.7 requires veterinary surgeons to ensure clinical governance forms part of their professional activities. The supporting guidance lists regular clinical discussion meetings, auditing the results of clinical procedures, and monitoring changes to check they are effective. Practice Standards Scheme Core Standard 2.1.1 mirrors the Code requirement, and at General Practice level, standard 2.2.1 adds a system for regularly monitoring and discussing clinical cases. Our guide to RCVS practice standards in 2026 covers how that fits with the wider standards.

A reliable list can support appropriate clinical follow-up. If the same data is used for marketing, check the lawful route separately. RCVS guidance treats emailed vaccination reminders as marketing, unlike appointment reminders. It also explains when consent is needed and when the soft opt-in may apply to existing clients.

A practical first audit

Where vaccination due dates are recorded consistently, compliance makes a practical first audit, because the dates are easy to check against individual records. Run the overdue list by species and age, compare it with patients seen for other reasons, and look at how vaccines are coded along the way. The same exercise tests whether your recording is reliable enough for the next audit.

To see how Lupa reports on vaccination compliance, appointments and other clinical indicators alongside practice performance, book a demo.