Veterinary profession stable - despite anecdotal evidence

Despite anecdotal evidence to the contrary, the dynamics of the veterinary profession remain relatively stable. That was the message from RCVS President Lynne Hill, addressing veterinary surgeons and nurses at the RCVS Question Time session at BSAVA Congress on Friday 21 April.

Drawing on the early results of the new RCVS Survey of the Profession, she noted that the impact of the so-called ‘feminisation of the profession’ seems to be less marked than anticipated, given the rise in the number of female veterinary surgeons:

“If you listen to vets out in the field you might expect to find the number of part-time workers and those on career breaks would have shot up – but this is just not the case,” she explained.

In fact, the number of part-time workers has risen by only 2% since the last survey was carried out, in 2002. Meanwhile 23% of sole principals, practice partners or directors are now female, putting paid to the suggestion that women are unwilling to invest in practice.

The survey was sent to all RCVS members in January of this year, and with a near-50% response rate, its findings represent a good spread of the profession.

Although 37% of vets stated that an improved ‘work-life balance’ would make the profession better for them, the average hours worked in practice are down on the 2002 findings, at 42.8 per week in general/first opinion practice, compared with 51.6 in 2002 (figures are for full-timers only).

On-call hours for full-time workers had also dropped, from an average of 27.3 per week for general/first opinion practice in 2002, compared with 21.6 this time around. The fact that 22% of respondents say their practice is using out-of-hours services may account in part for this decrease.

A massive 91% of vets working within the profession spent at least some time in practice, a figure that continues to climb, from 81% back in 2000. To discover where time in practice was spent, the survey asked veterinary surgeons to estimate the percentage of their time they had spent in 2001, are spending now and will spend in 2011, by species or type of work.

Not surprisingly, the trend for time spent on cats, rabbits, horses and practice management/admin was felt to be going up and that spent on dogs, cattle (both beef and dairy), sheep, poultry, meat hygiene and Local Veterinary Inspector work was estimated to be going down. Time spent on birds, exotics, pigs and fish for food was quite static.

“However, whilst there is a drop in farm animal work, it is interesting to note that 26% of respondents continue to work in mixed practice, despite reports of its demise,” commented Mrs Hill.

It is also worth noting that 18% of respondents used paraprofessionals within the practice, including physiotherapists, dentists, farriers and animal behaviourists (excluding veterinary nurses). Of these, approximately a quarter were employed by the practice. This was coupled with a similarly high use of consultants, such as dermatologists, ophthalmologists and orthopaedic surgeons, the vast majority of whom shared practice facilities.

“This extension of the veterinary team shows that practices are adapting to the changing needs of their clients. This is positive news,” said Mrs Hill.

“In more general terms, it is important to view this snapshot of today’s profession, and where it estimates itself to be in five years, against the context of where we would like to be in the future,” she added. “Findings such as these, when compared with previous studies, can throw up interesting trends. But it's important that we use this information to help to shape the profession that we want, rather than letting the extrapolation of trends become a self-fulfilling prophecy.”

Other questions in the survey covered areas such as continuing professional development, graduate training and the profession’s views on issues such as stress levels, farm animal work and student recruitment. A more detailed report of the RCVS Survey of the Profession, which was supported by Defra and BVA, will be available during June.