Scottish BVA Dinner Speech 2008
16 years ago
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Posted
13th June, 2008 00h00
Speech by BVA President Nick Blayney at the BVA Scottish Dinner (12 June 2008)
Honoured guests, ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the annual BVA Scottish Dinner. A particularly warm welcome to our host this evening John Scott, MSP and to the Chief Veterinary Officer, Charles Milne, for having so kindly agreed to address us this evening.
It has, I know, been a year of successes and frustrations for the veterinary profession in Scotland.
Last year saw the export of beef to the EU commence, slowly but surely, and many old contacts were renewed. Regrettably it was short lived with the arrival of Foot and Mouth Disease. While FMD was restricted to the south of England, Scotland suffered through movement restrictions and lack of trade with many thousands of lambs culled and destroyed rather than sold for human consumption. Thankfully the Scottish Government paid compensation. The number of ewes retained for future breeding also fell dramatically and there is no doubt that there are now areas of Scotland bereft of sheep.
We all await with interest the outcome of the Scudamore Report into how FMD was handled in Scotland, but colleagues on the ground report a significant improvement in communication this time, albeit that the waters were constantly muddied by Defra! In England we have already Dr Iain Anderson's review - as well as Sir Bill Callaghan's review that has seen responsibility for the regulation of animal pathogens being transferred to the Health and Safety Executive: and Sir John Beringer's review of the governance, funding and risk management of the Institute for Animal Health - and I have no doubt that here in Scotland you will have particularly welcomed that he highlighted the urgent importance of addressing devolution issues concerning animal health and concordats as well as funding arrangements.
Later in the year the Bluetongue Virus arrived, bringing further restrictions on the movement of livestock and it is all credit to the vets and officials within the Scottish Government that movements were gradually re-introduced later in 2007. The Scottish Government is to be congratulated in its response to Bluetongue and for introducing compulsory vaccination policies and legislation to ensure control and prevention of disease introduction. This is one disease that most likely will be bought in and it is to be hoped that some compromise can be found to allow early vaccination in the border areas to act as a firewall.
The Animal Health and Welfare Strategy saw the introduction, in 2006, of Animal Health Plans through Land Management Contracts, which were well received by farmers and crofters across Scotland. Unfortunately - and I stress that this was down to the Scottish Executive of the time - a failure in delivery of the Scottish Rural Development Plan meant that new entrants to the Land Management Contracts were curtailed and no new participants became involved. This situation has yet to be resolved and, needless to say, interest in health plans has waned. All credit, however, to your Ministers and Chief Veterinary Officer Charles Milne for continuing to discuss this matter with the EU. We all hope that a compromise will soon be found, allowing this flagship initiative to mature, so that the opportunities that a more progressive engagement with the profession can bring, can be realised.
The active engagement of the veterinary profession on-farm in animal health plans can address many areas of disease risk and animal welfare issues and thus contribute to significant improvements in efficiency. Despite this, one of the major problems within the veterinary profession in Scotland is its decreasing involvement with farm animals and the costs involved in servicing farm animal clients. There are practices each year withdrawing services from farms and concentrating on companion animal work and this trend is unlikely to be reversed if the worst fears of the possible impact of the current Meat Hygiene Service tendering exercise are realised. The GB Vets and Veterinary Services Working Group visited Inverness earlier this year and some members were given first hand experience of the problems by visiting farms and crofts. It is expected that around 10 practices will cease farm work this year and unless there are changes in the viability of the livestock industry there will be more to follow. Indeed it is projected that around 25 mixed practices will service farms in Scotland by 2015. One serious side effect of this is the inability to allow undergraduates the opportunity to see farm livestock diseases firsthand and, in future, students will increasingly rely on seeing diseases in the Universities or by virtual means. The expertise needed to become competent with farm animals will also take much longer to attain, especially when advising owners on health plans and disease control measures.
The profession continues to be bombarded with consultations, although it must be said that there have been fewer last year than previously. I am only too aware that many vets have become increasingly cynical, believing that all too often consultation is a tick box exercise and that decisions have already been taken by government before the consultation process begins.
The consultations of the Veterinary Medicines Directorate is an area of particular frustration since each review further erodes the ability of veterinary practices to remain viable without increasing professional fees to a level that clients simply cannot afford. There is still a wish in Scotland for vets to have a better and more specific definition of "animals under our care" since this would ensure the correct choice and safer use of medicines. We are greatly concerned that the more medicines which are distributed other than through the profession, the greater the probability that resistance to products will occur through over or mis-use. Licensing of veterinary practices, with regular audits, seems at some stage inevitable yet paradoxically the country is willing to accept less control of drugs that can impact on human health.
There is also ongoing concern that the Local Veterinary Inspector review remains unresolved with the fees paid still derisory. The loss of Brucellosis testing has made TB testing less viable and at two recent meetings in the north, one the very successful conference of the Highlands & Islands Veterinary Services Scheme (HIVSS) in Inverness in February, and the other a meeting in Huntly, there was an air of militancy.
Feelings are running so high that there is the threat of strike action.
From October 2008, many practices will declared that they will either cease TB testing or be very selective in which tests they are prepared to take. Some vets are making less that the minimum wage to undertake testing and this is not acceptable. If government determines that the profession should not subsidise services from the sale of drugs then it cannot expect vets to subsidise the routine testing of livestock for reasons of human health, from other services within their practices. A stalemate approaches unless there is vastly improved dialogue between Animal Health and the profession - not the best of starts for a new Chief Executive!
On a more positive note, the extra measures introduced by the Scottish Government to control the introduction of bovine TB and other diseases into Scottish herds were welcomed by vets and farmers. There is still an education exercise needed to convince some farmers that there is no need to source live animals from outside Scotland perhaps reinforced by an explanation of the dire consequences of introducing disease.
Thankfully the Highlands and Islands Veterinary Services Scheme remains in place and has ensured a veterinary service to those areas for crofters and others of similar economic status. However: the continued decline in livestock numbers in the Highlands and Islands has seen less visits to animals; and therefore the individual cost of each visit has risen, despite being partly subsidised by other practice functions.
The HIVSS conference in Inverness this year was, despite the disquiet referred to earlier, very successful, and the CPD on offer included the problems with diagnosis of a number of diseases including FMD and Bluetongue as well as photosensitisation. There was also a very useful talk on what happens at major traffic accidents involving livestock from the local Fire and Rescue Service. Sadly it did become apparent that, as livestock numbers fall, fewer vets will be involved. Indeed two practices have ceased services in the last year.
The BVA in Scotland has, I am delighted to say, continued to have excellent working relations with your Cabinet Secretary, your Chief Veterinary Officer and his staff, with the Scottish Government, SAC, NFU Scotland, the Moredun Research Institute, Quality Meat Scotland, the two University Vet Schools and others involved in animal health and welfare. These links are important when determining future strategy and actions in terms of veterinary disease control and for the continued efficiency of veterinary services throughout Scotland.
We particularly welcome the recent launch of the 'Emerging and Major Infectious Diseases of Livestock' project by the Scottish Government in conjunction with the EU, an initiative to rapidly investigate emerging major infectious diseases of animals that could impact on national economy or human health. This joint initiative involves most of the scientific institutes and undoubtedly offers an opportunity for Scotland to take a lead once again in ensuring joined-up research on animal health and welfare to the benefit of all.
You are, in Scotland, very fortunate in having a CVO and Cabinet Secretary both of whom are passionate about rural affairs and who wish to see farm practices prosper. The close contact between BVA and your CVO has been a real bonus over the past three years and we look forward to a continued productive working relationship.
And now may I ask my fellow BVA members to be upstanding.
I would like to propose a toast to our guests.
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