Honing communication skills in the workplace

LAST year, the Shuttleworth Veterinary Group, in Rawtenstall, Lancashire, ran a workshop in which some of the client communication issues that were identified by the practice team as causing particular difficulties were explored via a series of simulated scenarios. The workshop was led by Ray Sutton, who has previously worked with the Veterinary Defence Society and contributed to the University of Liverpool's communications skills programme. Here he discusses the day's experiences and describes how the problems of an overly talkative client, an angry client and a letter of complaint were approached, the issues that this process threw up, and some of the conclusions reached.