Pain point
Managing After-Hours Pet Emergencies and Owner Anxiety
The reality of running a veterinary clinic involves managing late-night health concerns—vomiting, injuries, unusual behaviour, or post-surgery complications that arise outside operating hours.
For this veterinary clinic group, the volume of after-hours enquiries has led to:
- Staff fatigue from late-night calls
- Missed or delayed responses
- Inconsistent handling of urgent vs non-urgent cases
To support the clinic’s after-hours operations, Outpost implemented a first-response triage system across WhatsApp and phone channels.
Each call or message is assessed using a structured triage framework developed with the clinic’s veterinarians—allowing cases to be categorised into general reassurance, symptom monitoring, post-treatment concerns, or situations requiring escalation.
This ensures all interactions are documented and aligned with the clinic’s workflow, with every case logged, prioritised, and visible to the in-house team.
After-hours support setup for our client's vet clinic
Contact Centre managed by Isabelle, a nurse with 2 years experience working across different clinics.
Calls + WhatsApp conversations handled in October 2025
After-support Hours:
Mon-Fri: 530pm to 11pm
Saturdays: 2pm to 11pm
Sundays: 9am to 11pm
Inclusive of Public Holidays
Following implementation, the clinic achieved:
- 95–100% after-hours enquiry coverage across WhatsApp and phone
- First response times reduced to under 5 minutes on average
- 30–40% reduction in repeat follow-ups from pet owners
This reduced next-day backlog by an estimated 20–30% and minimised interruptions during clinic hours, allowing staff to focus on consultations and treatment.
At the same time, faster response times improved client satisfaction, while the triage system ensured consistent handling and documentation of all after-hours cases.
“When pet owners are worried, they look for immediate answers. Having after-hours support in place has improved how we respond to clients, while also reducing the pressure on our team the next day.”
“Everything is now logged and organised, so nothing is missed and our team no longer deals with a backlog the next day.”
