BVA welcomes announcement on Scotland’s laboratories

In response to the announcement from the Scottish Rural College (SRUC) that confirms a post-mortem laboratory will be retained at Inverness, the British Veterinary Association (BVA) issued a statement welcoming the retention of this facility.

SRUC announced that the Drummondhill site will be placed on the market and consulting staff are in the process of moving to An Lòchran, a state of the art facility on the Inverness Campus. Veterinary staff are expected to move to the new post mortem facility by the middle of 2017.

In Ayr, the SRUC are significantly investing in the renovation and upgrading of the Nellies Gate facility on the Auchincruive Estate in order to relocate veterinary and consulting staff.

The announcement means that the threat of Scotland being without any disease surveillance has been prevented and offers laboratory staff more certainty about the future.

Grace Webster, BVA Scottish Branch President, said:
“It’s vital that Scotland continues to have an effective disease surveillance structure in place. BVA called for the retention of post-mortem facilities in our recent election manifesto and we are pleased that the concerns of veterinary surgeons have been heard.

"Maintaining good access to diagnostic services and feasible carcase collection as well as a coordinated network of disease control and surveillance is of immense importance to veterinary surgeons and farmers, particularly those working in remote areas, in order to safeguard animal health and promote animal welfare.”