The future of large-animal, rural veterinary practice needs to be reviewed to address the difficulty in attracting and retaining vets, and to cater for female vets who are now making up approximately 43% of the workforce.
President of Veterinary Ireland, Conor Geraghty told Agriland that the veterinary representative body has sought a meeting with the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) – specifically with the chief veterinary officer, Martin Blake – to discuss this matter.
On paper, the veterinary profession has never looked so good. Information from the Veterinary Council of Ireland (VCI) shows that, as of July 30 this year, there are 3,091 veterinary practitioners, in total, on its register.
In March 2021, according to a VCI survey, it had registered: 885 mixed-animal vets; 332 large-animal vets; and 893 companion-animal vets; with the remaining practitioners in other areas such as research, local authorities, government agencies, universities, and so on.
As of July 30, the VCI also has 768 veterinary-practice premises registered, including: 352 mixed-animal practices; 135 large-animal practices; and 210 companion-animal practices.
Vet shortage concern
The topic of a shortage of large-animal vets was raised with the Veterinary Ireland president on the back of a concern recently expressed by the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine (JOCAFM).
As part of its work relating to the new veterinary medicines regulations, and an envisaged increased demand on vets as some medicines will become prescription-only, the JOCAFM questioned:
- If the number and location of vets across the country involved in livestock veterinary practices will be sufficient;
- If there will be an issue with farmers being able to receive prescriptions in a timely manner due to increased demand.
In addressing this, the Veterinary Ireland president said, firstly, every livestock farmer has a vet – and must have a vet – to get a herd number.
Writing additional prescriptions may add something to the workload of a vet but, there are bigger issues to address when it comes to that workload and the president conceded that such issues – the expected 24-7 availability, rotas, remuneration – are problematic in relation to finding and keeping large-animal vets currently.
VCI response
Regarding JOCAFM’s worry, the VCI said there is no express concern regarding the number and location of vets across the country but added: “However, anecdotally, we acknowledge increasing challenges in recruitment and retention in rural practices. The VCI will continue to monitor the registers of veterinary practitioners and veterinary nurses, and share data relating to this.”
More vets than ever?
When Conor qualified just over 20 years ago, there were 2,000 vets on the VCI register – that included department vets, retired vets, vets in industry – he said.
“The number of vets on the register has climbed to in excess of 3,000 now but to get one is nearly impossible. It is hard to know what is going on, it really is,” he said.
While he said he has been, generally, very lucky in getting and keeping staff in the past, the opposite has been true for other colleagues of his. And he has recently had a taste of this, having advertised for an ‘attractive’ position at his Galway-based practice and receiving just one application over a 10-day period.
By and large, the number involved in large-animal practice has been steady enough up to now, Conor said.
“And we know that from the Animal Health Computer System – that is our TB-testing system.
“We have about 950 vets registered to TB-test cattle and, generally, if you are in large-animal practice, you are registered to TB-test cattle. So, that has been steady enough.”
But today’s vets want a better balance between work and life, and they want to be better paid for the work they are doing – several surveys attest to that – and if that demand isn’t satisfied into the future, well, neither will the demand for large-animal vets.
Interestingly though, a survey conducted by Veterinary Ireland of its members and non-members found that whether they were satisfied or not with their jobs, they all had the same issues about the work: they didn’t have enough time off, and they weren’t receiving enough remuneration.
What vets want
The Veterinary Practice Survey Report 2020-2021, published by accounting and advisory firm HLB Sheehan Quinn in February 2021, found that achieving better work/life balance is the top aspiration of 60% of veterinary-practice owners and 85% of employees.
It is worth noting that, against a backdrop of Covid-19, many respondents reported that their workload increased during the pandemic.
The survey also found that 43% work more than 50 hours a week and 23% are putting in more than 60 hours a week, although those working the longest hours tend to be sole traders and practice owners.
And staffing issues are the top challenge facing veterinary practices with most
respondents (63%) planning to recruit additional vets or veterinary nurses in the
next 12 months.
But, the survey also found that job satisfaction levels continue to trend upwards with 71% of respondents indicating that they are satisfied with their career choice – up by 13% points on the previous year. However, around one in 10 vets are unsatisfied with their career, although it is not clear what portion of large-animal and companion-animal vets comprise this figure.
While the job satisfaction level is positive, it is clear that issues around working practices, working hours and pay – in large-animal practice – need to be addressed.
Between a rock…
“We know that it is not sustainable to work all night and then to have to get up in the morning and go to work. But we don’t have an alternative at the moment. We have conflicting laws here,” said Conor.
“For example, with our TB-testing contracts with the DAFM, if you test at 9am on Monday, you have to read that test by 9am on a Thursday (within 72 hours) or it is an illegal test.
“You can’t email the DAFM and tell them you were working all night and that you need an 11-hour break under the Working Time Directive and you won’t be able to test until 2pm,” Conor said.
If a vet fails to carry out a TB-test at the time and date designated by the DAFM, then “the DAFM will lock down the farm for 42 days, they will suspend you from testing for three months, and they will make you retrain” he said.
If a vet cannot TB-test at the designated time, they must email to inform the DAFM, but the nature of farming and unpredictability of callouts for vets sometimes makes that impossible.
“We have had situations where vets have been up all night and haven’t gotten to bed until 5am, but they still have to get up again in the morning and do their work because they are obliged to.”
Female workforce
According to Conor, the average length of a career for a female vet in Ireland is seven years, while in England it is six. Catering for the female veterinary workforce is urgently required, he said.
“When you consider that it takes five years to train, then that is incredibly short. We have to find a model of veterinary practice that allows female vets to have a career.”
Corporate ownership
All things considered, is there any room for corporate veterinary ownership in Ireland? While this is a controversial subject, could it provide a solution to some of these problems? To this, there is a very definite no.
“We believe that this [corporate ownership] would accelerate what we have been talking about here,” he said.
“What we have found, when it comes to corporate ownership and large-animal practices, is that more and more small animal vets are taken on, and while there are still two or three bullock-wrestlers like me around the place, they will leave us to it, but when we move off they tend not to replace us.”
These corporates have discovered through accounting, according to Conor, that large-animal practice is time and resource heavy.
“So they will cherry pick what they do want – drug sales and TB testing – and then they will price the rest out of the market so the vets won’t have to do it, similar to what happened in Donegal, when a call-out fee of €500 was quoted after change of ownership of a practice.
“What that is saying is ‘don’t call us after hours, get someone else to do it’. If we all charged that, nobody would ring us in the middle of the night either.”
“Corporate ownership might be a great way out for vets in their early 50s and 60s who want to sell their practice.
“But that will limit opportunities for younger vets and will reduce service to farmers, no doubt about it, we have seen it happen in every other jurisdiction.”