Recent amendments to the veterinary medicines bill “could spell the end of 24h cover”, vet and past president of Veterinary Ireland, Conor Geraghty has said.
An amendment to the Veterinary Medicinal Products, Medicated Feed and Fertilisers Regulation Bill could “allow” for the prescribing outside of a Client-Patient-Practice Relationship (CPPR).
This would mean a “co-cop could hire a vet that doesn’t have any interaction with farmers and just signs prescriptions”, Geraghty, who said that the detail is yet to be determined, explained.
24h cover
He raised concerns that the amendment gives Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Charlie McConalogue “serious powers to allow distance prescribing”, with “unseen consequences”.
This could lead to a system where one group of vets will have to provide 24h cover, which is mandatory to have a CPPR and to prescribe, while other vets wouldn’t have to, he said.
If there was no mandatory requirement to provide the service, which he said could not be tolerated in any way, this “could spell the end of 24h cover” and lead to further shortages of vets.
Commenting that 24h cover is “very valuable” in veterinary and that it will be farmers that suffer if the service is no longer provided, the past president of Veterinary Ireland said:
“It is hard enough to get vets at the moment to work in large animal practice and that is because of 24h cover. If there is another option not to provide it, it is going to be impossible to get anyone.”
Prescribing carries the responsibility of follow up care and evaluation for any diagnosis, treatment or therapy prescribed, which is binding on all veterinary practitioners, the Veterinary Council of Ireland (VCI) said.
A spokesperson for the VCI told Agriland:
“The [VCI] Code of Professional Conduct confers a responsibility, aligned to the privilege of prescribing, for follow up veterinary care and 24-hour emergency cover to be available, by the veterinary practitioner/practice delivering the care.
“Accordingly, follow up veterinary care and 24-hour emergency cover cannot be threatened by any legislative provision, when such binding responsibilities are imposed by the VCI Code of Professional Conduct.”
“Veterinary practitioners in practice must make proper provision at all times for 24-hour emergency cover for the care of animals that during normal working hours could be considered as being under their care,” the VCI Code of Professional Conduct states.