‘More fool us’ if ‘under care’ opportunities missed, vet says

A vet and business leader has urged professionals to seize the opportunities he thinks are offered to them by reforms of the sector’s “under care” guidance.

The contentious measures topped the agenda of the inaugural Big 6 Live debate at SPVS Congress in Birmingham, only days after they were backed by RCVS councillors.

Opponents called for further consideration of the plans’ potential consequences before their expected implementation later this year.

‘Embrace the future’

But while he acknowledged the “ethical minefield” faced by vets working under the current guidelines, PetsApp co-founder Thom Jenkins told delegates the sector still needs to embrace the future.

He said: “Undoubtedly, there will be bad faith actors. There will be direct consumer digital disruptors looking to disintermediate veterinary clinics.

“But if we let them, more fool us, because I think there is no business better placed to embrace this than the physical veterinary practice.

“No one else can offer joined up online to offline curative pet care, so the message I would give to veterinary practices is to embrace that opportunity.”

Waiting

The new guidance, which is due to be implemented between 1 June and the end of this year, requires vets to have arrangements for the provision of both 24-hour physical examination and premises visits in place before they take an animal under their care.

RCVS president Melissa Donald expressed confidence in what she claimed were “forward-thinking, future proofing” measures whose implementation is subject to a final review when the college’s council next meets in March.

She said: “I think there are many people who are not saying anything because, actually, they’re just waiting to see how it works. The truth is, it’s an evolving thing. We’re not all, on the first of June, going to be out of a job.

“It’s for us, as a profession, to work to make this work for ourselves, and see if our own business models can benefit or mitigate the potential risks to it, just like anything that happens in a business.”

VMR review

But BVA president Malcolm Morley said there was more time to reflect on the issue because of the impending review of the Veterinary Medicines Regulations, which implementation of the new “under care” guidance remains subject to.

He said: “It goes to the heart of the sustainability of veterinary practice – particularly for things like large animal practice in remote areas – and if the sustainability of vet practice is impacted, that impacts on animal welfare.

“I would like to see us thinking further about unintended consequences in that time we have while these still remain proposals.”

He also argued the measures highlighted the need for regulation of veterinary practices, as well as individual professionals.

Further clarification

SPVS board member Ami Sawran warned of a risk of “consultancy without consequence” affecting the farm sector as she called for further clarification of how any issues under the guidance should be reported.

She said: “We just need some clarity and reassurance on specific scenarios, and how we are going to navigate them in an industry in which we’re all under strain, but I think we might agree that rural farm practices may struggle as a result of not fully understanding what this means for them.”

But, despite widespread agreement about the urgent need for reform of the current Veterinary Surgeons Act – which Dr Morley described as “woefully out of date” – XLVets chief executive Andrew Curwen said the current laws were still appropriate on “under care”.

He acknowledged his need to move on from a position of “incandescent sadness and disappointment” at the college’s actions, but likened the sector’s current position to that of drivers on a foggy motorway as he endorsed the calls for further reflection.

He said: “One or two cars are slowing down, but we’ve got cars piling in at 70 miles per hour. The matrix signs need to go on and say what are the unintended consequences of this.”

‘Glass ceiling’

BVNA president Charlotte Pace said RVNs can also play a role in the “under care” debate as part of a wider consideration of how their abilities are properly utilised in practice.

But she also cautioned that the sector faces a “glass ceiling” that it cannot break on its own, adding: “A lot of our role as RVNs can’t change until we have legislative change.”

The wide-ranging discussion also considered several other topics, including practice management and ownership models, payment plans, working patterns and the use of technology in practice.

The VBJ Big 6 Live debate will be released as an audio series soon.