12 Aug
Politicians, government scientists and academics were invited to support the “dreams” of dozens of youngsters as they got an insight into life as a vet.
Dozens of aspiring vets have taken part in a new summer camp that organisers hope will help to address current workforce challenges within the sector.
Nearly 50 young people attended the inaugural Future Vets Scotland programme at the Scotland’s Rural Collefge Oatridge campus in West Lothian from 31 July to 2 August (pictured).
The camp coincided with an ongoing UK-wide survey of workplace experiences in the sector, which officials believe can be a starting point for changing its culture.
Project leader Karen Gardiner described it as “humbling” to see the camp in action, nearly two years after she first set out her aim to increase interest in veterinary careers among children and young people.
She also praised the “generous” response of many senior sector figures to the campaign, despite her professional background outside the profession.
Dr Gardiner said: “The thing that brings it all together is an acknowledgement and recognition that there’s some real challenges in the veterinary profession right now and an openness to looking at different ways to resolve some of those.”
The camp is one of several initiatives designed both to raise awareness of the veterinary profession among young people and enable them to experience it first hand.
An information event for school careers advisors is due to take place in Aberdeen later this month and the campaign is also running an online survey for all UK veterinary professionals to share their experiences of life in practice, in a bid to help understand the factors that lead many to leave.
The scheme has also been supported by Scotland’s three vet schools, with academics from each attending to help give participants a practical taste of life as a vet.
The project further offered a scholarship to enable students from remote and rural areas, where recruitment and retention issues can be particularly acute, to take part. Dr Gardiner believes the camp can help to create a nationwide network of young people with similar career aspirations.
But she stressed that the shortage of veterinary professionals was a problem for everyone as she urged guests attending the camp’s opening to support the “dreams” of the students hoping to be the nation’s future clinicians.
She said: “If you care about the security of your food and where it comes from, if you care about the environment and the impact of the food that we produce, if you care about the health and well-being of your animals and pets, and if you care about keeping diseases like bird flu under control, then you need to care about how many vets we have in Scotland.”
The initiative has also been supported by the Scottish Government, whose agriculture and connectivity minister, Jim Fairlie, admitted to being “a wee bit jealous” of the opportunities offered by the camp due to his own childhood dreams of becoming a vet.
He said Scotland was “the best country in the world” to train as a vet because of the reputation of its education and hoped many of the attending students would go on to contribute to its “proud history of veterinary excellence”.
The camp’s opening also coincided with the announcement of a near 30% increase in the fees paying to Scottish OVs, plus further annual increases from next year and additional training funding.
Mr Fairlie said: “It demonstrates to the sector, and hopefully it demonstrates to the young folk that are here, that we’re dead serious about this.
“We need to make sure that the greatest traditions of the veterinary expertise we have in Scotland are fulfilled and are allowed to continue to grow and develop.”