Graham Easton talks to veterinary students at Liverpool University
Mondays 12 & 19 August 2002, 8.00-8.30pm
Veterinary Science is changing fast. No longer are qualified vets expected to be omni-competent James Herriot clones. Specialisation is now the norm. In short, today's vets are either politicians or pet doctors. They either work for the government controlling livestock, or spend their days in suburbia cashing in on pampered pooches and neurotic kitty cats. Graham Easton has been talking to vets in training at the University of Liverpool to find out what life is like for a young vet.
You only had to see the number of livestock vets on the TV in their roles as government advisors during the recent Foot and Mouth crisis to realise the power this profession has. It wasn't to improve the health and well being of individual animals that government vets ordered the culling of thousands of healthy sheep and cows. It was a political decision to save an industry. And if that industry founders, the future of this type of vet looks bleak.
The other branch of the veterinary profession will spend a considerable amount of their time spaying cats and treating fleas. And in a world where companion animals are becoming ever more valued, its important not to denigrate a role that contributes to the sanity of so many people. But should the government spend our hard-earned for the benefit of pet owners or should they concentrate on paying just for the training of vets who work in agriculture? And, if they are willing to pay for everyone , why do they pay so little? Vet schools struggle to find money for clinical training of vets when trainee doctors are heavily subsidised through the NHS.
In an attempt to reconcile the two very different arms of the profession, and provide good training for the next generation of vets, the 6 UK veterinary schools, under the guidance of the Royal College have been trying to sort out the future of the profession.
In Training the Vets we find out what they intend to do and why.
Listen again to programme 1
