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Corporate Presentation
Malone J.
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The past 10 years has already seen significant change within the veterinary profession, and the equine part of the profession has not been immune to that. The establishment of corporate ownership, increased use of more advanced imaging technology, changes in the sex demographic of the profession and more recently, Brexit and also the introduction of separate out-of-hours services for equine practice, to mention just a few.
What will equine practice look like in another 20 years? Some things are fairly safe to predict: the relative sex distribution will continue towards a greater female majority and male minority among vets. Age distribution is also likely to move towards a lower average age of practising vets. If the current trend for time spent in practice post qualification continues, then in another 20 years there could be considerable challenges ensuring there is a sufficient foundation of knowledge and experience within the practising profession and ensuring the adequate flow of that down to the younger echelons of the profession, while maintaining service delivery to clients. Additionally, in the search for improved work–life balance, part-time veterinary positions are likely to be proportionately more numerous, which can bring additional challenges in communication within teams and delivering continuity to clients.
Increasing capacity within UK veterinary schools may help produce greater numbers of new graduates into the profession; however, there are risks of dilution. Will there be enough teaching staff with sufficient experience to ensure the graduates have adequate day-1 experience to be useful to practices or will practices become more responsible for the clinical finishing/ up-skilling of their employees?
The UK’s equine population has remained roughly consistent for a long time; that is unlikely to change and certainly not expand significantly, so horse-ownership will probably move more towards those with sufficient wealth and therefore there will be pressure to supply a high level of clinical service delivery.
As the costs of providing high-level veterinary services increase, given insurers are not likely to change their exposure dramatically in the equine market, this will favour the larger practices which can more readily accommodate the part-time vets, each with more niche clinical ranges of activity/specialism, provide the support network and supply the required levels of investment in equipment and facilities to meet the expectations of veterinary surgeons, as well as those of horse-owners.
Horse sport has traditionally been the backbone of a healthy equine industry. There will be significant challenges over the next 20 years to ensure there is a continuing social licence for the use of animals in competitive activities and the veterinary profession will have a vital role in ensuring that welfare is visibly protected and optimised in the public eye.
The next 20 years are going to be more challenging for all stakeholders, not less so, and those in the profession that can adapt, collaborate, retain clinicians and support each other to provide a level of clinical service delivery that best matches their clients’ expectations will likely fare much better.
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About
Affiliation of the authors at the time of publication
VetPartners, Spitfire House, Aviator Court, York, YO30 4UZ, UK
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