Sector urged to ‘work together’ for colleagues needing support

A group representing veterinary business leaders has called for greater collaboration across the sector to help colleagues living with a disability or chronic condition.

The plea from the VMG follows the publication of analysis last month that suggested at least a third of vets felt they had been discriminated against, bullied or harassed due to their health issues.

The report, jointly commissioned by the RCVS and British Veterinary Chronic Illness Support (BVCIS), also highlighted significant gaps in managerial understanding of relevant equality legislation.

Training model

The VMG already offers a standalone training model relating to mental health issues, of which it said it had seen “significant uptake”.

But group president Liz Somerville said the RCVS-BVCIS report had emphasised the need for team leaders to be given “proper training” on how to support colleagues regardless of their individual needs.

She said: “As a profession we must be – and want to be – inclusive, so we must work together to gain the knowledge we need and then apply it in a practical way that supports all members of our hard-working teams.”

Knowledge gaps

The RCVS-BVCIS report followed the release earlier this year of the VMG’s own State of UK Veterinary Leadership report, which itself highlighted significant knowledge gaps among its participants.

Its findings indicated that only 41% of leaders feeling they knew how to support a colleague facing mental health issues.

Mrs Somerville said the two documents aligned in their findings and confirmed the need for more to be done to address knowledge shortages.

The need for action, as well as awareness, was also highlighted during a discussion of burnout in veterinary practice held as part of the recent BEVA Congress in Liverpool.

Vetlife helpline manager Rosie Allister told delegates: “It’s time to go beyond that [awareness] and think about what we can do.”