Working in veterinary at the minute is hard…
We thought it was tough last year, but there always seemed to be a light at the end of the tunnel (staff coming back from furlough, the vaccine rollout, etc). We hoped by now that 2020 would just seem like a bad dream.
But no. If anything, I think it’s worse…
It’s only temporary
In the distant memory that was lockdown #1, there was so much uncertainty. We still didn’t really know a lot about COVID, but knew it was big.
We understood why practices dramatically changed their ways of working almost overnight; it was strange and stressful, but we adapted and the knowledge that the pressure was temporary kept us going.
As we started doing more routine appointments and procedures, furloughed staff came back to work. Those that were more vulnerable came back when they felt able to, or when they had been vaccinated. Periodically, staff may fall ill or have to isolate but, again, this would only be temporary, and we would muddle through.
More pets, less vets
And then another pandemic was upon us: the puppy pandemic.
According to the Pet Food Manufacturers’ Association (PFMA), 3.2 million households have acquired a pet since the start of the pandemic. Unfortunately, this astronomical increase in pet ownership has not been matched by the number of vets – in fact, for a number of reasons, the opposite has happened.
Remember Brexit? Swept under the carpet since COVID, we are now experiencing its dire effects. The debacle that is the Animal Health Certificate (AHC), which replaced the Pet Passport, is just a minor consequence in the grand scheme of things. On explaining the whole process to a client travelling to Northern Ireland (who wouldn’t have even needed a Pet Passport pre-Brexit), they commented: “This is just the EU punishing us.”
Well sadly, yes. But it’s a drop in the ocean
Double whammy
The more pressing upshot is the significant reduction in EU vets registering to work in the UK since Brexit. Not only does this reduce the workforce in general practice, but also in abattoirs and export work. It’s a double whammy hit of needing more vets for the increased workload in both of those sectors (directly because of Brexit) and having less EU vets available to undertake it.
During the height of lockdown, two local practices had to close their large animal departments, choosing to continue to provide a small animal service only. As a result, our farm workload increased hugely, dramatically altering the species proportion of work for the mixed vets.
We had almost done the same a few years previously, but managed to plough through a tough few months until we were able to recruit. However, it seriously concerns me some farmers would be left without any veterinary provision at all if further practices discontinue large animal work.
Referring back (and forth)
Referral centres are at capacity. In fact, in some geographical areas, non-urgent referrals have waiting lists of months not weeks. We are having to ring around to find someone who can take an urgent referral for an emergency appointment. It is becoming impossible in some cases, resulting in first opinion vets having to “up their game” if there is simply nowhere to go within a reasonable distance.
Even the out-of-hours providers are struggling to staff their services adequately. What happens if they ultimately have to close in certain areas? Do the primary practices have to suddenly start doing their own OOH again? Do the clients have to travel even further to the next closest emergency service? At what point are we failing to provide 24-hour care?
So with more pets and less vets, what happens now?
Serious concerns
For the past few months I have been ploughing through, just getting by, not really thinking too deeply about why we’re so busy. But now I’ve reached a breaking point. All of a sudden the ludicrous demand has become crystal clear and the fact we do not have an answer is terrifying.
This is not something that has an easy fix. I genuinely fear many practices, and, ultimately, the whole profession, will implode.
People are suffering – vets, vet nurses, animal care assistants, receptionists, the admin team. We are all real people too; people who do not deserve to slog long hours dealing with an impossible workload to be screamed at by clients. We understand it is frustrating that you can’t get an appointment any quicker, but we are doing our absolute best – often to the detriment of our own physical and mental well-being.
In a profession with an already worrying level of poor mental health and suicide, I am seriously worried for my colleagues. It is not sustainable to continue to work in this way.
Back to school
The “perfect storm” of these factors combined has left us where we are now. Everyone is feeling overwhelmed; at best, practices are firefighting, at worst they’re imploding. It’s a vicious cycle – vets are exhausted and burned out, so are looking for a way out, which leaves those who remain even more stretched.
So how do we save the profession? Veterinary surgeons have finally been added to the Home Office Shortage Occupation List, which should make it easier for overseas vets to come and work here, while two new vet schools are in the making – Scotland’s Rural College (SRUC) in Aberdeen and The University of Central Lancashire in Preston are the latest to announce new veterinary programmes, in addition to the Harper & Keele Veterinary School, which took in the first cohort of future vets in 2020.
The question of whether opening new schools is a good idea remains to be seen, but these are not an instant fix – it will take years for the students to graduate and add to the veterinary workforce.
Overhaul
But what can we do NOW to avert the veterinary crisis? The profession as a whole needs an overhaul if we are to truly save ourselves. We have to think outside the box and assess how we can work most efficiently, fully utilise our teams and delegate where possible.
Apparently veterinary telemedicine has really taken off. My personal experience is that clients hate having to pay for a phone consultation when really they just want an appointment, but this is something I feel a lot of practices are going to have to start taking advantage of to keep their heads above water. The appointments are simply not available, so we have to find a way of filtering without compromising the client service or animal welfare.
Keep ’em close
Some practices are coping better than others, and some have already come up with creative ways of trying to retain staff – one through employing a large number of new graduates using a buddy system, while I have seen a couple of practices advertising jobs for new graduates to run vaccination clinics.
As for recruitment, there are so many job adverts and not many vets to fill them. Retention is key – if vets are struggling to cope and want flexible hours, give it to them! It’s better than ultimately losing them entirely. The tragedy is not losing them to other practices, but losing them from the profession entirely. We are a valuable commodity, more so now than ever, so appreciate that value and fight to keep us.
Ultimately, I’m not sure what the answer is – and that’s scary. But only marginally more scary than knowing I have to go into work tomorrow and face it all over again.
Leave a Reply