BVA Annual Welsh Dinner - Dr Freda Scott-Park's Presidential Speech
Cardiff Castle, 4th May 2006
My Lords, ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the BVA Welsh Dinner. It is a great pleasure to find myself once again in this beautiful setting, sitting under the names of my ancestors – my mother and father were from different parts of the MacDonald clan.
Were there the time, I would tonight have liked to address a variety of issues including the new Animal Welfare Bill, not least the Government’s decision not to ban outright the docking of puppies’ tails; the BVA’s work in helping our members to address clients’ concerns relating to canine ‘flu, pets’ diets, MRSA and vaccinations; and last, but by no means least, avian influenza and bovine tuberculosis.
But time is limited, and the issues I am going to concentrate on are those that have dominated my year from the start. They are themes common not only to Great Britain and Northern Ireland, but to the worldwide veterinary community. I refer to the challenges that face rural veterinary practice and the likely effect that a decline in the number of veterinary surgeons prepared to work with farm animals in rural areas will have on disease surveillance and biosecurity. I noted with interest that on the Welsh Assembly Government’s website that farming seemed to fall within the Department of Environment, Planning and Countryside: not even the little ‘f’ that Defra devotes to ‘farming’. However as I read more I was better reassured and I think that you have a Minister who recognises the challenges and is committed to doing something about them.
Animal health and welfare is being discussed at all levels – even the EU launched an action plan on improving animal welfare in January 2006. Health or welfare: which is the veterinary surgeon’s responsibility? There is no question about it: the veterinary surgeon has the expertise and knowledge to look after both health and welfare in animals and indeed often contributes to the well being of the clients that we serve. But the challenges to the profession are macro-economic and lie outside the veterinary surgeons expertise.
I refer to the dilemmas and challenges of the farming industry. The challenges of the sheep industry alone are quite startling and welfare can easily become compromised. Vets on farms must be the answer but as veterinary surgeons we have to prove our worth to the industry – an industry that cannot in many cases afford to pay for our services. There is a decline in the number of large animal veterinary surgeons demonstrated by the vicious circles that commence with the problem that farmers have little income.
Add to this the worrying trend of huge student debt (illustrated graphically by the BVA/AVS Student Survey 2005) with 72% of students considering that their debt will affect their choice of job. Can we seriously believe that new graduates carrying debt will consider a job in large animal practices teetering on the edge of viability? This is a matter of deep concern in Scotland, so much of which is rural like Wales. Many practices are single-handed with no partners or assistants to take over when the dedicated individuals, whose average age is increasing alarmingly, retire.
There is an additional challenge to the profession: you will be aware that many veterinary surgeons work in Government; in the State Veterinary Service; the Veterinary Medicines Directorate; the Veterinary Laboratories Agency; the Meat Hygiene Service and the Food Standards Agency. Last year, the MHS and the FSA underwent a pay and grading review – the result is that many are now facing pay freezes of up to 10 years. The VLA underwent a similar process 5 years ago. There is now significant pay divergence between the agencies that have undergone a Job Evaluation and Grading exercise and those that have not. If the trend is to continue to undervalue veterinary surgeons who are at the forefront of disease control and food safety, then I doubt that many new graduates (carrying those debts) will ever consider entering service in Government.
This undervaluation of the role of veterinary surgeons extends into the external arm of the Government’s representatives in practice: the Local Veterinary Inspectors (LVIs). The BVA and its members have been unhappy that the remuneration to LVIs does not reflect the true cost of inflation associated with the work regularly undertaken by the private practitioner as a designated office holder or Local Veterinary Inspector and also fails to take account of the result of the Competition Commission Inquiry into the sale and supply of POM medicines by the veterinary profession. This inquiry, the results of which were immediately accepted by the Government, urged the profession to reduce the income derived from medicine sales and increase the professional fees charged. The BVA is currently engaged with the recently formed Executive Agency, the State Veterinary Service in considering modern terms, conditions and payment structures appropriate for contractual work carried out by private veterinary practices for the SVS as required by DEFRA. In addition to this there are Temporary Veterinary Inspectors (TVIs) attached to Animal Health offices who are on temporary contracts that neither recognise their status as employee nor recompense them appropriately for the work that they perform. The BVA has been working hard to represent the profession; talking to Government, ensuring that our Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons is fully informed and making sure that legislation from Europe is anticipated and influenced.
There are bright spots on the horizon: the new Animal Welfare Bill is welcome. You have a dynamic and motivated Chef Veterinary Officer, who works tirelessly to improve the health and welfare of all animals in Wales. There is acknowledgement of the lack of rural veterinary surgeons and the BVA will continue to work closely with the Vets and Veterinary Services team at Defra.
In closing, I make no apology for highlighting the innovative actions of Scotland in including animal health and welfare as part of the land management contracts under the Rural Development Plan. This has been well received by Scottish farmers and the animal health and welfare contract is the scheme with the second largest uptake in their wide range of options.
However I think that Wales too has a Minister committed to protecting a precious part of rural life in Wales demonstrated by these quotes from the Government’s strategic framework for a sustainable farming industry:
“If we are to keep a vibrant economy, beef & sheep industries in Wales are paramount.”
“We need that money passing down the food chain to the primary producer to keep sustainability in the countryside.”
“The Group (Stakeholder Group to inform the Welsh Assembly Government) will take account of upland and lowland farming and the needs of the environment, rural communities and the public as it works to produce a model for sustainable farming and land management for 2020”
We need to be innovative and forward thinking and I direct that comment not only to Government but also to the industries that we serve and to veterinary surgeons. In spite of all the difficulties I know that we have the intellect, inventiveness and desire to make our industry more competitive and sustainable. I challenge us all to take the risks necessary to make it so.
For further information please contact the BVA Press Office on 020 7636 6541 or e-mail chrissien@bva.co.uk or helenac@bva.co.uk.
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