A President’s reflection: My top 5 highlights as BVA Scottish Branch President

“All my bags are packed, I’m ready to go. I’m standing here outside your door. I hate to wake you up to say goodbye.” John Denver

Well, not quite, but my two years as President of BVA Scottish Branch is coming to an end in May and what a journey it has been. It’s really hard to highlight the best bits as each event I’ve had the fortune to be involved in has either been a top priority for the profession or it has offered a learning opportunity and been a special moment in its own right. After much thought, here are my top 5 highlights:

BVA at the Royal Highland Show

In June 2018, I attended the Royal Highland Show and, combining my involvement with the International Sheep Dog Society (ISDS) by helping out on their stand, I managed to speak to Emma Harper MSP (BVA Honorary Associate) and get the BVA voice heard as part of her livestock worrying campaign. It is important to be seen not just by the veterinary profession but farmers, small animal clients and stakeholders to be the voice of the profession and pragmatic animal welfare campaigners.

Supporting mental health in Scotland’s rural areas

Our continued collaboration with the NationalRural Mental Health Forum, ably led by another Honorary Associate Member, Jim Hume, has also been important to me. It is not just our profession that can suffer from mental health issues, but also our rural-based clients and colleagues. Being part of the National Rural Mental Health forum - a group that helps to signpost people to get support, be it via Farmwell Scotland or NHS networks - shows the importance of the veterinary profession collaborating with others with others to take a One Health approach.

Hitting the small screen

The media training that BVA provides has been invaluable. With an hour’s notice last summer, I was on the lunchtime news discussing blue-green algae due to the highly unusual but superb warm weather we had in Scotland. It was surprising how many people saw it. I had also been filmed, but ended up on the cutting room floor, for Countryfile discussing the importance of improved animal welfare during transport. Non-stun slaughter and shortage of vets especially in OV work were the topics for the SRUC taped interview which blended in nicely with similar themes for the BBC Scotland Radio outdoor program on a Saturday morning, and we continued with the Shortage Occupation List (SOL) plea on Landward in the first programme of the new series just at the start of April. The media team at BVA HQ are great at supporting us with all the information required and make these ‘out of comfort zone’ tasks much easier to deal with.

The B-word – dealing with Brexit

I think though, the biggest highlight was earlier this year when Fergus Ewing MSP (Cabinet Secretary for the Rural Economy and Connectivity) and Defra Secretary of State, Michael Gove, held a debate on post-Brexit agricultural subsidies in Edinburgh. I arrived early and was enjoying a sausage in a roll in the lobby when Fergus Ewing recognised me from our previous stakeholder meetings and came to talk to me. He asked about the current issues and I mentioned our campaign to have the profession reinstated on the Shortage Occupation List. We went into the debate a short while later and each minister had 3 minutes of opening remarks. Half of the time available to Mr Ewing was spent talking about the issues in recruitment in the veterinary profession. It now made sense: all the stakeholder meetings, which sometimes seem like a lot of talking without much action, led to his recognition of me which ultimately led to him airing our issues directly to the Secretary of State, Michael Gove.

Increasing our visibility

Time has been the USP of my presidency, in that I have been able to go to so many events, making BVA Scotland much more visible to stakeholders and the membership. I was delighted with the response we had for new Branch Council members, with many people stepping up and volunteering to represent their corners of the profession. Member benefits are the tangibles of your payment but our voice is so much stronger and influential when we say we represent such a large percentage of the profession, so thank you for being part of that voice.

It has been an honour representing Scottish Branch, thank you all. As I move into the role of Senior Vice President, I hand the reigns over to my successor, I have no doubt that under her leadership the voice of Scotland’s vets will continue to be heard.