The British Veterinary Association and British Cattle Veterinary Association have welcomed the launch of the Defra consultation on tackling bovine Tuberculosis (bTB) in England, which includes recommendations for badger control in areas where bTB persists at high levels, despite attempts at control using other measures.

The two associations have long argued that bTB cannot be controlled without measures to control the disease in both cattle and wildlife.

In particular the BVA and BCVA have welcomed:

• the recognition that the farming industry, veterinary profession and Government need to work in partnership;
• the understanding that there is no single solution to tackling bTB and that we need to use 'every tool in the toolbox';
• the commitment to a balanced package of measures linked to the understanding that we cannot succeed in eradicating bTB in cattle without addressing the reservoir of disease in wildlife; and
• the commitment to monitor the effectiveness, humaneness and impact of badger control measures.

The Associations have noted the expectation that the farming industry will pick up the costs of vaccinating and culling badgers and will consider in detail the Government's proposals for licensing criteria and culling methods.

The BVA and BCVA will be providing a detailed response to the consultation following discussion with members of both Associations.

Professor Bill Reilly, President of the BVA, said: "We are extremely pleased that the Coalition Government has made tackling bovine TB such a priority. Both the BVA and BCVA have made the case that this devastating disease will not be eradicated without measures that tackle TB both in cattle and in wildlife.

"We will be looking in detail to ensure that the proposals are as effective and, importantly, as humane as possible.

"Our initial reaction is that the proposals announced by Defra are based on scientific evidence and expert veterinary advice and we strongly support the direction the Government is taking."

Keith Cutler, President of BCVA, added: "It is important that the Government has recognised that there is no single solution to tackling bovine TB.

"Controlling the disease in badgers through vaccination and culling has a role to play, but will only be effective if properly targeted and used alongside all other available control measures.

"The BVA and BCVA are therefore very pleased to see proposals that deliver a package of measures."

The British Equine Veterinary Association has expressed its outrage that veterinary surgeons are regularly being asked to break the law by inseminating imported equine semen that doesn’t have an accompanying health certificate.

Thousands of shipments of equine germinal product (semen, ova or embryos) are imported into the UK every year. It is a legal requirement for all imported equine semen to be accompanied to the place of destination (usually to the side of the mare) by an original, valid health certificate (ITAHC), issued in the country of origin.

The BEVA says that recently, consignments of equine semen have been imported without the appropriate health certificates meaning that there is no guarantee that the semen is free from the stated diseases or even that it is from the chosen stallion.

According to the Association, some well-known importing agents have been advising mare owners that these certificates are unnecessary and openly criticising veterinary surgeons who refuse to inseminate mares with uncertified imported semen. 

The use of uncertified semen risks recipient mares being infected with diseases such as CEM or EVA, the potentially rapid spread of disease in breeding stock and eventual restrictions being placed on breeding premises. Recent outbreaks of Equine Infectious Anaemia (EIA) in Europe have increased the threat to the UK herd.

The personal and professional reputation of any veterinary surgeon involved with using uncertified semen is also in danger, with the RCVS likely to take a stringent line with any vets who disregard animal health laws and the high health status of British horses. 

Malcolm Morley, Partner at Stable Close Equine Practice was recently placed in a difficult position with a longstanding client when semen arrived without the requisite documentation. Following a discussion between the semen importer and his client, where the client was told that Malcolm was being pedantic and that the client should find someone else to inseminate the mare, Malcolm contacted the importer saying: "We have no intention of inseminating the mare without the correct health papers. Please will you ensure that when you speak to the mare’s owner that you make it clear that you do not expect us to inseminate the mare in these circumstances and that the health papers should have been shipped with the semen."

Another BEVA member who wishes to remain anonymous said: "I have one very big client I think I may be about to lose because of my refusal to inseminate his mare without papers … (the importing stud) did not feel it worth a three hour drive to get papers done. The semen importer has made it clear to my client that (they believe) I am just being awkward."

Mark Bowen Senior Vice president of BEVA said: "Import agencies have placed additional pressure on the vets to inseminate mares without the necessary paperwork. Not only is this action illegal but places recipient mares under a direct threat from a notifiable and incurable disease. This seems particularly cavalier given the recent outbreaks of EIA across Europe."

Tullis Matson, Founder and Managing Director of Stallion AI Services said: "No one should be inseminating mares with imported semen that isn’t accompanied by the original health certificate. If the UK wants to retain its high health status and continue to utilise the international market it needs the breeding industry and the veterinary profession to use the disease controls that are currently place until such a time as we can implement more efficient system."

The BEVA says it is taking the following action:

• Notifying owners that they must tell the agent that they will not accept semen without a valid health certificate, in order to protect the health of their own horses.
• Reassuring all vets performing stud duties that they are right to refuse to inseminate mares with semen that isn’t accompanied by a valid health certificate, in order to protect their professional status and safeguard the health status of the UK herd.
• Making sure owners and vets are fully aware that if they receive imported semen that isn’t accompanied by a valid health certificate they must report it immediately to their local animal health office and arrange for the semen to be destroyed.
• Reminding agents of the law and to make them aware that all BEVA members have been advised to report any indiscretions to their local animal health office.

Vetlife reports that its confidential helpline for vets, students, vet nurses and non-clinical staff, received a record 4,042 calls last year, a new record and a 15% increase on the year before.

In addition to its Helpline service, Vetlife continued to provide mental health care through its Health Support service.

In 2023, the service facilitated 198 referrals, connecting individuals with mental health care resources.

The charity also provided over £100,000 of financial support to members of the profession who were facing financial hardship. 

Trustee Danny Chambers said: "Within the veterinary community, there is a profound sense that Vetlife belongs to all of us.

"With over 4000 of our friends and colleagues reaching out for support within just 12 months, we urgently need your assistance to ensure this invaluable service continues.

"By becoming a 'Friend of Vetlife' with a monthly contribution from just £2.10—less than the cost of a cup of coffee—you provide us with a steady, predictable income, enabling us to plan and deliver long-term, consistent support to our veterinary community." 

https://www.vetlife.org.uk/become-a-vetlife-member 

Following a nationwide search to find the UK’s top veterinary professionals for 2009 and judged by an independent panel of experts, Petplan has announced the winners for the Veterinary Awards. 

The Petplan Veterinary Awards recognise and applaud staff and practices throughout the country that have delivered an exceptional level of care to the nation’s pets, and their owners.   

Simon Wheeler, Petplan’s Head of Marketing, explains: “Britain is known to be an animal-loving nation and with millions of households owning cats and dogs, pets play a central part in family life. The Petplan Veterinary Awards give us the opportunity to thank the veterinary profession for the outstanding level of care they provide to our animals.”

The winners of the 10th annual Petplan Veterinary Awards were:

VET OF THE YEAR
Ben Jones, Ben Jones Veterinary Surgery, Chester, Flintshire
Ben’s understanding and compassion for his clients’ pets impressed the judges.  Whilst being extremely knowledgeable, Ben can reassuringly explain the most complicated procedures to clients.  Ben continuously goes above and beyond the call of duty, such as establishing a home visit scheme for pensioners and visiting a nursing home when an owner was there as a day patient. 

VET NURSE OF THE YEAR
Karen McQuoid, The Old Golfhouse Veterinary Group, Watton, Norfolk
The judges believe Karen is an excellent role model for her team of nurses.  Karen was noted for her positive attitude and good humour even under extreme pressure of being head nurse of four different practices. 

VET RECEPTIONIST OF THE YEAR
Yasmin Morowa, Melton Veterinary Surgery, Woodbridge, Suffolk
Yasmin’s attention to detail made her stand out as the winner of Vet Receptionist of the Year.  Yasmin always checks to see how patients have progressed when she returns from holiday so she can help clients appropriately when they call or visit.  Her kind approach makes her highly appreciated by both clients and colleagues. 

VET PRACTICE OF THE YEAR
St Clair Veterinary Group, Kirkcaldy, Fife
St Clair Veterinary Group was described as having exceptional customer care and uses every opportunity to educate their clients.  The team stood out for their environmental consciousness.  

Novartis Animal Health has announced that it will begin marketing and distributing Adequan Equine in the UK from January 2011.

According to the company, Adequan Equine offers equine veterinarians a proven intramuscular treatment option for equine degenerative joint disease, also known as non-infectious arthritis or osteoarthritis. The product is licensed in the UK for the treatment of lameness in horses due to traumatic or degenerative aseptic joint disease and acute superficial digital flexor tendonitis. This is a critical treatment area since equine degenerative joint disease is estimated to cause up to one-third of all equine lameness cases1. It most commonly affects the hocks and coffin joints with the most severe effects on the high-motion knee and fetlock joints.

Esther Rawlinson MRCVS, Global Technical Services Manager for the Novartis Animal Health Companion Animal Business in the Therapeutics & Equine areas said: "Adequan Equine is a leading joint treatment for horses and is widely used by veterinarians in the equine sport industry. Adequan Equine reduces pain and lameness in horses while at the same time stimulating cartilage repair.

Adequan Equine 100mg/ml solution contains polysulphated glycosaminoglycan for intramuscular injection. It is a chondroprotective, meaning it inhibits the breakdown of cartilage in diseased joints while at the same time supporting its repair.

Adequan Equine works by blocking the destructive enzymes formed in the joint as a result of inflammation while stimulating the production of hyaluronic acid to restore the synovial fluid, and the synthesis of cartilage building compounds.

The Veterinary Marketing Association has 10 tickets available for its annual debate being held at the House of Lords on Tuesday October 12th, this year entitled: Internet Pharmacies - Opportunity or Threat? 

The debate will be chaired by Professor Sandy Trees, and the panel will comprise:

• Jamie Critall - veterinary surgeon at Beech House Vets
• Matt Dobbs - veterinary surgeon with Westpoint Veterinary Group and director of online pharmacy Farmacy.co.uk
• Iain Booth - managing director of online pharmacy VetUK Limited
• Alison Glennon - NOAH
• Lesley Johnson - VMD
• Bob Moore - RCVS Council member and former president of BCVA and RCVS Council

The debate kicks off at 10:30am, and is followed by lunch at 12:30pm on the famous terrace, overlooking the Thames.

VetSurgeon members may buy tickets at the lower VMA member price of £120 + VAT, which includes the champagne reception and three course lunch with wine.

Click here for more information.

VetSurgeon.org member, Martin Atkinson MRCVS has had his first book, A Test of Patients, published on Amazon Kindle (£6.59).

Described as the experiences and musings of a veterinary surgeon, the book is a collection of anecdotes collected over the period since Martin qualified from Liverpool in 1975 up until his more recent self-appointed sainthood (or not, as the case may be), as the owner of St Martin's Veterinary Clinic.

Martin said: "This book is a collection of short stories recording some of the more entertaining aspects of my veterinary career plus one or two fantasies and musings. It is meant to be amusing but also carries some serious messages. It is illustrated in a suitable quirky way by my daughter Alice.

"This book has been a labour of love rather than a commercial enterprise and has not been professionally proof read or edited so there are one or two typos and formatting bloomers including one in the very first sentence! I hope this dos not detract from the reader's enjoyment".

Limited signed copies of the book are also available direct from the author (£8.99 inc p&p) by emailing your details to: martin@gconnect.com.

Martin is donating earnings from the book to animal charities, including Cats Protection, BSAVA Petsavers, The Dogs Trust and the PDSA.

Petplan, the pet insurance provider has been selected as a Which? Best Buy. The independent consumer guide selected Petplan's 'Covered For Life' policy that covers animals for accidents and illnesses, including reoccurring conditions, such as diabetes and glaucoma, year after year, as long as the policy is renewed annually. 

Alison Andrew, Petplan's Marketing Manager said: "The Which? report is crucial to being acknowledged as a worthy pet insurance provider.  We feel being selected as a Which? Best Buy reflects how we treat our customers by offering excellent customer service, paying claims quickly, discounts on pet products and regular information about pet care through our magazine PetPeople."

Petplan provides insurance cover for dogs, cats, rabbits and horses and is the largest provider of animal health insurance in the world.

Agria Pet Insurance has launched a competition in which the practice that creates the most informative and effective pet insurance display using the company's new display kit will win £500 cash.

Agria says its new display kit is designed primarily to help clients understand how pet insurance works, but also allows a practice to include their own patients' case studies and testimonials too.

To order your free display kit, either complete the online order form at www.agriavetcare.co.uk/competition.aspx or call Agria's Veterinary Helpline on 0800 369 90 98

To enter the competition, send a digital photograph of your finished display to vetphotos@agriapet.co.uk together with your practice name and address.

Veterinary surgeons and practice managers will be invited to judge the entries and vote for the winning display at the Veterinary Business & Management Congress in January 2013.

The overall winner will be announced at the BSAVA Congress.

The RCVS reports that the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) has now finalised the new microchip regulations for England, which include a provision that dog breeders and other individuals who wish to implant microchips and have no previous approved training, must undergo a compulsory training course.

While veterinary surgeons were exempted from this training, Defra initially envisaged that veterinary nurses would be required to undertake it. In a joint letter, that was followed by negotiations with Defra, the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons (RCVS), the British Veterinary Association (BVA) and the British Veterinary Nursing Association (BVNA), stressed that registered veterinary nurses are already sufficiently trained to be able to safely implant a microchip, and would be doing so under the direction of a veterinary surgeon.

Defra subsequently has agreed that registered veterinary nurses are already sufficiently qualified to implant microchips, and will therefore be exempt from further training requirements when new legislation comes in for England. Wales and Scotland are currently considering the details of implementation.

The Royal College says it is also aware of new Defra microchipping guidelines for England which make it compulsory to report adverse reactions (including migration from the site of implantation) or the failure of a microchip. Gordon Hockey, RCVS Registrar, said: "There is some concern in the profession about this requirement, but Defra have said that they would not enforce this regulation via the courts, or seek to impose fines. The RCVS is likely to amend its supporting guidance later this year to clarify that veterinary surgeons should make appropriate reports, similar to reports for adverse reactions to veterinary medicines.  In each case reports can be made online to the Veterinary Medicines Directorate."

To help veterinary surgeons and veterinary nurses, as well as practices, raise awareness of owners' legal obligation to microchip their dogs, the BVA has posters available for all three regions (England, Scotland and Wales) that can be displayed in waiting rooms and surgeries. The posters are available to download from the BVA website: www.bva.co.uk.

BVA President John Blackwell said: "As a founding member of the Microchipping Alliance, which campaigned for compulsory microchipping together with dog welfare organisations, local authorities and others, BVA is delighted with the progress that has been made and it is very good indeed to be less than a year away from mandatory microchipping across the UK.

"But this is where the work begins for veterinary surgeons and nurses. We need to work hard to make owners aware of the new law throughout this year, with animals microchipped as far in advance of the deadline as possible.

"We also need to ensure that microchipping does the job it is intended to do. This process will be helped very much by not compelling veterinary nurses to undertake additional training when they already undertake minor acts of veterinary surgery that are much more complex procedures than implanting a microchip."

The National Office of Animal Health (NOAH) has launched a new 'Use Medicines Responsibly' campaign.

The main thrust of the campaign is an initiative by NOAH to encourage pharmaceutical companies to add: 'Use Medicines Responsibly' as a strapline to their own advertising campaigns, with a link to the NOAH information resource for prescribers and users of animal medicines: www.noah.co.uk/responsible.

Speaking at the NOAH annual members' conference in Northampton, NOAH chief executive Phil Sketchley said: "NOAH believes responsible promotion of animal medicines to be an important link in the chain towards responsible use. Companies' promotional material can educate prescribers and users of animal medicines to the benefit of their animals' health and welfare.

"We believe this new advice resource, with the reminder on advertisements, will help."

VetSurgeon.org has undergone its biggest overhaul since the online community was first launched over a decade ago, specifically to offer a far better platform for clinical discussion than Facebook, and to give referral practitioners a major new incentive to help their general practitioner colleagues online.

Earlier in the year, we conducted a survey of veterinary surgeons to ask what you felt were the biggest problems with using Facebook as a way to share or discuss clinical information.

According to the survey, veterinary surgeons felt the greatest problem with Facebook is that you cannot see the professional qualifications of those contributing to a discussion, so unless you know them offline, you have no context for what they post. Even in closed groups, it can be hard, if not impossible to know whether you are talking to someone with many years' experience, or virtually none; an RCVS Specialist, or a general practitioner, or a veterinary nurse.

The father of the world wide web, Sir Tim Berners-Lee recognised transparency as one of the most significant problems with the Internet during the Dimbleby Lecture at the end of last year. He said:

“Another problem people are perhaps increasingly aware of, particularly more recently, has to do with the fact that much of the web has insufficient accountability. There is by design, no approval system people need to go to, to share their information online. They don’t have to come and ask me to post something. So as soon as someone posts something on the web it can be viewed by a huge number of people. This seemed to work when people posted as individuals with their own reputations at stake. But now we have systems which create fake accounts and there are millions of automated systems, bots we call them, for robots, on social media platforms spreading messages of hate and conflict

"Because of this, misinformation has been spreading rapidly. There are not enough systems holding these people and this information to account. They should be testing the truthfulness of the information organisations and individuals are putting online.”

Whilst it is perhaps unlikely that malign foreign governments have been infiltrating veterinary Facebook groups to spread discord or indeed that there are many individuals deliberately spreading misinformation in this small profession, Sir Tim's point is still highly relevant to the sharing of clinical information, advice, experience or opinion.

The problem is that Facebook gives equivalence to everyone's opinion, an equivalence they simply do not deserve. 

Sir Tim is right, you should indeed be questioning the truthfulness, or rather the accuracy of clinical information and opinions posted by colleagues online, and the starting point for that is knowing who posted it, and what qualifications they hold. 

Improved provenance for posts offers a higher standard of clinical discussion

The new VetSurgeon.org discussion forums make an important step forward with that, by displaying the year and place of qualification next to posts, together with veterinary postnominals, taken from members' full VetSurgeon Profiles. We're also going to make it compulsory for contributing referral practitioners to complete their profile before posting.

Better curation of information

The other biggest problems identified in the survey are how quality information gets drowned in a sea of 'me too' replies on Facebook, how it is difficult to refer back to old posts with useful information and how information is badly curated, making it hard to find what interests you.

On VetSurgeon.org content is now curated both by type, for example forum or news posts, and by areas of clinical interest, which each have their own group you can join and subscribe to. That makes it easier for referral practitioners or postgrad students to follow just their specific area of interest, or for anyone just trying to find information quickly.

We also asked what we could do to encourage you to visit VetSurgeon.org more often for clinical discussions. 62% of you said: 'improve the ease of use on smartphones' and 50.9% said: 'create a way for you to put a question to a group of expert clinicians'.

So that is what we've done (or are doing). 

Enhanced for mobile phone use

The new VetSurgeon discussion forums have been significantly enhanced for mobile phones. The new main navigation makes it far easier to find your way around the site. You can now reply to forum posts on the same page as the original post, which may sound like a small thing, but it makes a big difference. Elsewhere, we've optimised our use of the more limited space available.

Coming soon, new Expert Help Forums

Very soon, we'll be unveiling another feature designed to improve the quality of online clinical discussions, and to stop them drowning in a sea of me too replies. In our new Expert Help Forums, all members will be able to ask a clinical question, but only referral practitioners and selected expert general practitioner members will be able to reply (so long as they display their credentials, of course). When they do, they'll get proper recognition for their help, something which is again missing from Facebook.

With all this talk of better standards of clinical discussions on VetSurgeon.org, it is also worth reminding everyone that time spent in the forums counts towards your annual CPD requirement too. Just click the 'Claim CPD' button in the title.

Finally, as with any building project of this magnitude, there are inevitably some snags. Things that don't work or display as expected, especially on older or more obscure devices. If you come across something like that, please do email details (your browser, version and device type) to support@vetsurgeon.org and we'll endeavour to get it fixed, pronto. 

Photo: Arlo Guthrie, Editor www.vetsurgeon.org