Select a region
A “bogus” vet who practiced in Guernsey for half-a-year without anyone noticing is just one of the reasons why E&I wants to introduce additional controls on vets, as part of wider proposed reforms to animal welfare legislation.
Environment & Infrastructure have put forward new regulations for vet practices and accredited staff, including surgeons, nurses and temporary visiting staff, which would require all of them to be registered, while also indicating on the registers which surgeons are approved to carry out work for the government.
“A long, long, long time ago, there was a vet that came to Guernsey from South Africa and practiced probably for a good six months before anyone realising he was a bogus vet. So, it's important to keep an eye on that sort of thing,” States Vet David Chamberlain said.
Deputy Lindsay de Sausmarez, E&I President, said the moves would mirror similar changes in the UK to acknowledge veterinary nurses in line with accredited UK bodies.
“One of the drivers behind this legislation that we're proposing to bring in now is to bring us into better alignment with those and to take into account that actually veterinary practices in that and of themselves have evolved quite significantly over the last 10 or 15 years. It's about aligning with the RCVS. But also, it's about understanding what veterinary services are being provided on islands.”
Mr Chamberlain added: “not only will we want to see that they are members of the Royal College, but we will also look for things like a government issued document with a photograph on it so we can make sure that person is who they say they are.
“We could, if necessary, say you can only visit the island for two working weeks every year. But that ability to pull people in and let them go again, is very useful in terms of choice.
“One of the problems is veterinary practice has changed hugely, and vets don't tend to stay in one place very long. There's a lot of changeovers of locums. So, it's just important that we keep a handle on who's here when they were here, what they were doing.
“As a small government, we want to make sure that if we push any jobs out to vets to do on our behalf as the government, they are appropriately qualified.”
Pictured: E&I also want to ban inhumane traps to protect wild and domestic wildlife, such as the field vole.
A changing employment landscape has also created a need to update the laws.
“Defra requires all veterinary practices which hold drugs to be registered, and that's done under the auspices of the Veterinary Medicines Directorate. Now in Guernsey, the Veterinary Medicines Directorate has no powers,” Mr Chamberlain said.
“So, if we as a competent authority can issue people with these registrations and numbers they will be able to get drugs more easily.
“Guernsey lost its only resident cattle vet recently, so trying to get vets to come to us is sometimes a bit of a task. We're in a position whereby there often isn't enough work for one vet in a specialty to manage it, particularly if that person wants to have a life and have a day off occasionally.”
He said exceptions have been made for the islands and similar jurisdictions because of our unique circumstances.
“The Royal College of Surgeons has said, you are a remote jurisdiction, and you are difficult to get to. You look at Alderney, no vets at all. Look at Sark, no vets at all. We are akin to Scottish Highlands and Islands, where the Royal College cuts us a little bit of slack to allow us to get vets in on an as needed basis.
“So, we don't want to say that can't happen - we need to allow that to happen - so if visiting vets want to come in, and they're providing a service, and they are giving people choice, we don't want to stop that. But equally, we want to keep an eye on it.
“Veterinary nurses do a lot of locum work, and they're in and out and in and out. So, it's a far more fluid situation.”
The States will debate the proposed reforms in July.
Comments
Comments on this story express the views of the commentator only, not Bailiwick Publishing. We are unable to guarantee the accuracy of any of those comments.