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To the Vets and Veterinary Services Steering Group Professor Philip Lowe DEF-LoweReport-Vets.indd 1 30/7/09 15:14:15 Contents Foreword 5 Executive summary 9 Chapter 1: Background and context 13 My remit 14 My approach 16 Chapter 2: The supply of veterinarians in the farming and food sectors 19 Overall demographics of veterinarians 19 Inflecting veterinary education 25 The ‘right’ applicants 26 The ‘right’ graduates 28 The ‘right’ professional experience 29 Problems in the localised supply of veterinarians 32 Easing the supply of rural veterinarians 32 Chapter 3: Demand for veterinary services 37 Elements of demand for veterinary services 37 Public demand 38 Private demand 40 Farmers’ access to local veterinary services 42 The price, value and uptake of veterinary services 43 Food sector orientation – a gap in skills and expertise? 48 Veterinary services supplied by non-veterinarians 49 Improving customer orientation 50 Chapter 4: Veterinary businesses 51 Different business models 51 Business orientation 54 Practice managers 54 1 DEF-LoweReport-Vets.indd 2 30/7/09 15:14:15 Contents Foreword 5 Executive summary 9 Chapter 1: Background and context 13 My remit 14 My approach 16 Chapter 2: The supply of veterinarians in the farming and food sectors 19 Overall demographics of veterinarians 19 Inflecting veterinary education 25 The ‘right’ applicants 26 The ‘right’ graduates 28 The ‘right’ professional experience 29 Problems in the localised supply of veterinarians 32 Easing the supply of rural veterinarians 32 Chapter 3: Demand for veterinary services 37 Elements of demand for veterinary services 37 Public demand 38 Private demand 40 Farmers’ access to local veterinary services 42 The price, value and uptake of veterinary services 43 Food sector orientation – a gap in skills and expertise? 48 Veterinary services supplied by non-veterinarians 49 Improving customer orientation 50 Chapter 4: Veterinary businesses 51 Different business models 51 Business orientation 54 Practice managers 54 1 DEF-LoweReport-Vets.indd 1 30/7/09 15:14:15 Developing and promoting business skills 55 Figure 2.9 ‘The spiral of disillusionment’ 30 Veterinary specialisation 56 Figure 3.1 Veterinarians working in government 39 The veterinary team 57 Figure 3.2 Numbers of livestock in Great Britain and % change 1995-2008 40 Figure 3.3 Changes in UK herd and flock sizes 1995-2005 41 Chapter 5: The public good functions of food animal veterinarians 61 Figure 3.4 Reasons for changing veterinary practice in the last three years 43 Animal welfare 61 Figure 3.5 Average total veterinary costs (including veterinary medicines) by farm Combating animal disease 64 enterprise type and as a proportion of total farm spend 2007/08 44 Surveillance 65 Figure 3.6 Reasons why farmers consult veterinarians, by farm type 45 Contingency planning 67 Figure 3.7 Frequency of use of veterinarians, by farm type 45 Public health and food assurance 68 Figure 3.8 Scottish farmers’ views on ways in which local vets add value 46 Figure 3.9 Farm health planning uptake by farm type in England 48 Chapter 6: Unlocking potential – models for change 71 Figure 3.10 Services provided to farmers by non-veterinarians 49 Renewing relationships with government and farmers 71 Figure 6.1 The changing profile of the veterinary profession in the UK 73 Responsibility and Cost Sharing 71 Veterinarians’ relationship with government 72 Veterinarians’ relationship with the farming and food sectors 75 A Veterinary Development Council 76 Animal health and development 77 Farm health planning 78 Veterinarians as agents of knowledge exchange 80 Annex 1 Schedule of working group meetings 83 Annex 2 Membership of the Vets and Vets Services Working Group 85 Annex 3 Personal visits and interviews 87 Figures Figure 2.1 Country of graduation of veterinarians in UK government departments and agencies 20 Figure 2.2 Proportion of time spent by veterinarians in private practice by species type 1998-2006 (with predicted values for 2011) 21 Figure 2.3 Age and gender profiles of companion and farm animal veterinarians 21 Figure 2.4 Gender ratio and proportion of time spent on farm animal work 22 Figure 2.5 Gender profile of veterinarians who graduated between 2000 and 2005 by practice type 23 Figure 2.6 Veterinarians’ ‘top 10’ self-declared areas of expertise by employment type 24 Figure 2.7 Key stages in the formation of vets: opportunities and initiatives for refocusing 26 Figure 2.8 Comparison of student employment preferences and graduate employment outcomes 28 2 3 DEF-LoweReport-Vets.indd 2 30/7/09 15:14:16 Developing and promoting business skills 55 Figure 2.9 ‘The spiral of disillusionment’ 30 Veterinary specialisation 56 Figure 3.1 Veterinarians working in government 39 The veterinary team 57 Figure 3.2 Numbers of livestock in Great Britain and % change 1995-2008 40 Figure 3.3 Changes in UK herd and flock sizes 1995-2005 41 Chapter 5: The public good functions of food animal veterinarians 61 Figure 3.4 Reasons for changing veterinary practice in the last three years 43 Animal welfare 61 Figure 3.5 Average total veterinary costs (including veterinary medicines) by farm Combating animal disease 64 enterprise type and as a proportion of total farm spend 2007/08 44 Surveillance 65 Figure 3.6 Reasons why farmers consult veterinarians, by farm type 45 Contingency planning 67 Figure 3.7 Frequency of use of veterinarians, by farm type 45 Public health and food assurance 68 Figure 3.8 Scottish farmers’ views on ways in which local vets add value 46 Figure 3.9 Farm health planning uptake by farm type in England 48 Chapter 6: Unlocking potential – models for change 71 Figure 3.10 Services provided to farmers by non-veterinarians 49 Renewing relationships with government and farmers 71 Figure 6.1 The changing profile of the veterinary profession in the UK 73 Responsibility and Cost Sharing 71 Veterinarians’ relationship with government 72 Veterinarians’ relationship with the farming and food sectors 75 A Veterinary Development Council 76 Animal health and development 77 Farm health planning 78 Veterinarians as agents of knowledge exchange 80 Annex 1 Schedule of working group meetings 83 Annex 2 Membership of the Vets and Vets Services Working Group 85 Annex 3 Personal visits and interviews 87 Figures Figure 2.1 Country of graduation of veterinarians in UK government departments and agencies 20 Figure 2.2 Proportion of time spent by veterinarians in private practice by species type 1998-2006 (with predicted values for 2011) 21 Figure 2.3 Age and gender profiles of companion and farm animal veterinarians 21 Figure 2.4 Gender ratio and proportion of time spent on farm animal work 22 Figure 2.5 Gender profile of veterinarians who graduated between 2000 and 2005 by practice type 23 Figure 2.6 Veterinarians’ ‘top 10’ self-declared areas of expertise by employment type 24 Figure 2.7 Key stages in the formation of vets: opportunities and initiatives for refocusing 26 Figure 2.8 Comparison of student employment preferences and graduate employment outcomes 28 2 3 DEF-LoweReport-Vets.indd 3 30/7/09 15:14:16 Professor Phillip Lowe Foreword Philip Lowe is Director of the Rural Economy and Land Use (RELU) Programme of the UK Research Councils. He has been a leading figure in the development of interdisciplinary rural studies in the UK. In 1992, he founded the Centre for Rural Economy The function of veterinarians is to provide expert advice and services in the care and treatment at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne, where he holds the Duke of of animals. In terms of the number of animals they look after and the public significance of Northumberland Chair of Rural Economy. their work, no group of veterinarians is more important than those involved in farming and food He has played an active role in rural policy development at the national production. Food animal veterinarians are central to the promotion of animal health and welfare, 1 and European levels and in the North of England. For his contribution to as well as to the safeguarding of public health from zoonotic diseases. the rural economy he was appointed OBE in 2003. All veterinarians look after the animals in their care on behalf of their clients, but food animal This report was prepared while he was Chairman of the Vets and veterinarians are caught up in a more extended web of relationships. In deploying their expertise Veterinary Services Working Group (2007-9). in the care and treatment of animals they serve as key intermediaries, not only between animals and their keepers, but also between government and farmers, between agriculture and the food industry and between the livestock sector and consumers. Food animal veterinarians are thus required to reconcile very divergent interests. The centrality of their role subjects them to complex and shifting demands including, recently, novel disease challenges such as Bluetongue and highly pathogenic strains of Avian Flu, pressures to improve animal welfare standards cost effectively and campaigns to clear up such public threats as E. Coli, Campylobacter, BSE and other food and waterborne zoonoses. The past dozen years have seen multiple outbreaks of exotic diseases: Newcastle Disease (1997, 2005), Classical Swine Fever (2000, 2001), Foot and Mouth (2001, 2007), Avian Flu (2006, 2007, 2008), and Bluetongue (2007, 2008).