President's North of Ireland Dinner Speech
23 October 2003
This year it is especially important because of the many challenges currently facing the veterinary profession; these include in particular the maintenance and satisfaction of our client base. This clientele not only includes farmers and other producers and processors within the food industry, but also, very importantly, Government. Government is one of the largest clients for many of our members and particularly here in Northern Ireland, through the TB Control Scheme.
We believe that Government holds the financial key to maintaining viable agricultural veterinary practice, which is absolutely essential to the provision of a veterinary service in rural communities.
Government can have a major effect on the veterinary profession, particularly in the creation of new legislation.
Firstly, we should consider the recent Defra consultation document on a possible new Veterinary Surgeons Act. This is fundamental to our ability to practise the art and science we proudly consider to form the basis of our profession. It is clear that Government intends to consult very widely on possible amendments to the Act. However, we hope that they will attach appropriate weight to opinions from within the profession and not treat us like just another stakeholder.
As a self-regulating profession we are aware of the privileges and responsibilities that such a position entails. We also recognise that our primary responsibility is to the welfare of animals; and we acknowledge the duty of care, which our uniquely qualified profession must observe at all times.
Veterinary surgeons are the scientifically trained professionals who are not only responsible for the medical care and welfare of animals but also for public protection from food borne pathogens and zoonotic diseases.
We must ensure that Government does not throw the baby out with the bathwater in the interests of short-term economic expediency or in a misguided attempt to create political advantage.
The Competition Commission's review of the dispensing of prescription only veterinary medicines represents one of the greatest challenges to veterinary surgeons within living memory. The Commission found the profession to be guilty of operating a complex monopoly against the public interest. This opinion has not yet been tested in Parliament nor by any form of appeals procedure. Clearly this was narrow economic theory applied ruthlessly, with complete disregard for the role of the profession in the community. That is in the preservation of the health and welfare of animals and the equally important role of the protection of public health. Whilst many of the recommendations will have some benefit, for clients, patients and veterinary surgeons alike, other recommendations may have a potentially disastrous effect on rural veterinary practice.
However there may be a glimmer of light on this issue in that the DTI appears to be having some difficulty in framing the legislation and is keen on further discussion. The irony is, that the consequences of possible DTI legislation potentially fly in the face of the policies of another Government department … Defra whose Animal Health and Welfare, and Disease Surveillance Strategies are built around rural veterinary services.
I suppose that is what can be described as "joined up Government thinking!"
The recent Defra consultation on compulsory equine passports highlights the difficulties of enforcing EU law when it relates to a philosophy significantly different from that held by the vast majority of citizens of the UK. Although the legislation created in Brussels concerns the food safety of equine meat, in the UK we can only come to terms with this bureaucratic law on the grounds of preserving our dwindling medicine availability for the treatment of horses and ponies. The practicalities of its implementation have been poorly thought out. Defra's licensing of myriads of passport issuing organisations, and the fact that these passports will rely entirely upon a silhouette, in many cases not created by a veterinary surgeon, nor corroborated by a microchip, quite understandably produced a comment at the recent British Equine Veterinary Association Congress, from no less a person than the Princess Royal, that the situation was "quite absurd".
We are also in consultation and negotiation with Government on the LVI contract in Great Britain. I understand from colleagues here, both in the North of Ireland Veterinary Association and in the Association of Veterinary Surgeons Practising in Northern Ireland that you also have problems in your contractual relationship with Government.
Many of these problems appear to result from a breakdown in the lines of communication. We are inundated with consultation papers from a variety of Government sources, but these frequently appear to be little more than political wallpaper. There is a real danger that genuine communication, in terms of getting the informed message directly to the heart of Government, is often overlooked.
A cynical view might hold that Government does not really care whether rural veterinary practice survives or not. However I believe that the veterinary profession has realised that society is changing and that the rural environment and the role of food production has altered significantly in recent years. We also accept that Government focus has altered to support a market which is allied to good farming practice, and animal and land stewardship. Attendance at this year's BVA Congress in Edinburgh would have afforded the opportunity to hear the truly inspirational words of David Black, a partner in the Paragon Veterinary Group in Cumbria. Despite having lost over 90% of their farm livestock during Foot and Mouth, this innovative veterinary practice has rebounded with renewed vigour. They have created a large animal veterinary practice which looks forward into the twenty-first century rather than back to the cosy world of James Herriot.
The Mid-Term Review of the Common Agricultural Policy is one of the major drivers for change. This offers the farming community and its veterinary care providers an opportunity to embrace the changes which will inevitably follow such a fundamental philosophical pendulum swing. That Government in Great Britain has already accepted this was never more clearly illustrated than by the mutation of MAFF to Defra … livestock production has become environmental stewardship.
In Northern Ireland this is most clearly evident in the Independent Review of the Veterinary Service in DARD. Our sister organisations in Northern Ireland have fed into this review and look forward to seeing the outcome in late October. Whilst we believe that fundamentally the Veterinary Service in Northern Ireland is good, they are too inward looking and intent upon providing services from within. With a little more imagination, synergisms and resources could be identified out-with their organisation and in particular by looking to rural veterinary practices, to the benefit of the wider industry and the rural community. The veterinary profession in the Six Counties are keen to be involved not only in TB Control but also in the implementation of the Northern Ireland Animal Health and Welfare Strategy, Veterinary Surveillance in Northern Ireland, and also in the implementation of the Vision Action plan. They have already been involved in the Vision Action plan in developing the biosecurity code but they have considerably more to offer.
Following the Foot and Mouth outbreak of 2001, the veterinary profession has also recognised different priorities. We believe that veterinary practitioners not only possess clinical skills, but also make excellent communicators. They are custodians not only of veterinary knowledge, but also local knowledge of farmers, their animals, and their animal health issues. In short, veterinary surgeons are an invaluable resource not only to our farming clients in managing changes to their business, but also to Government, who dismiss our input at their peril. As my predecessor Peter Jinman said in Edinburgh the veterinary profession is uniquely equipped with the knowledge, skills, integrity and commitment needed to deliver all the above strategies.
Let us ensure that the coming year sees the veterinary profession in a renewed position of strength, consulted as the first port of call by Government and prepared to do battle on behalf of the animals we care for, their owners and keepers and the general public, who I confidently believe still hold the profession in the highest regard.
On a lighter note I must tell you that BVA is delighted to have Bob McCracken as its President-elect. His undoubted political skills are being put to very good use already. Not only that, but his election will also cement an even closer bond between veterinary surgeons in Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK, and at a time when unity in the profession must be the watchword for our survival, and indeed to ensure that the profession continues to prosper in the New Millennium.
Notes for Editors:
- For further information please contact Chrissie Nicholls or Helena Cotton in the BVA Press Office on 020 7636 6541; chrissien@bva.co.uk; helenac@bva.co.uk