28 Jun 2023
Guests heard a plea for sustainable funding to address key issues for the sector during the BVA’s annual Welsh dinner in Cardiff.
Allister Webb
Job Title
Cardiff City Hall. Image © travelwitness / Adobe Stock
The new head of the BVA in Wales has said the nation’s veterinary profession can be a “role model” for the rest of the UK.
More than 80 guests attended the association’s annual Welsh dinner last night (27 June), where farm vet and academic Gwen Rees succeeded Collin Wilson as Welsh branch president.
But the gathering at Cardiff City Hall also heard a plea for sustainability from BVA president Malcolm Morley in key areas such as education.
He said the offer of a veterinary degree programme in Wales, at Aberystwyth, offered “a unique opportunity” to address the sector’s well-documented workforce challenges.
But he argued that “chronic underfunding” was threatening the quality and delivery of programmes across the UK as he urged Welsh politicians to act.
Dr Morley said: “To ensure a sustainable future for the veterinary profession in Wales, we urge decision-makers to provide sustainable funding for the veterinary school in Aberystwyth, supporting its growth as a flagship institution.
“By delivering top-tier education, cutting-edge facilities and robust research programmes, we can attract, educate and retain a new generation of skilled vets to safeguard animal well-being, and promote the sustainable growth of the Welsh agrieconomy.”
Dr Morley also praised the advances made in tackling antimicrobial resistance in Wales, through the impact of projects including Arwain Vets Cymru and Arwain DGC.
But he argued that sustainable funding was now needed to “future-proof” those gains and enable expansion of those efforts beyond the farm setting.
He said: “We should encourage an expanding remit to tackle this issue in companion animals and horses.”
Dr Rees, a farm vet who is also a lecturer at Aberystwyth and project lead for Arwain DGC’s Veterinary Prescribing Champions Network, paid tribute to her predecessor, Collin Willson, as she highlighted a wide range of priorities for her own tenure in addition to responsible prescribing
Dr Rees said: “I believe that being a vet in Wales should be something people aspire to, and that we can act as a role model for the profession across the UK.
“We need a strong workforce of happy and fulfilled vets, with a focus on developing good workplaces and a sustainable model of veterinary training.
“Other areas of focus include dog breeding, the ongoing endemic disease challenges including bovine TB and avian influenza, embedding vets at the heart of the Sustainable Farming Scheme and ensuring the animal welfare measures that would have come into force with the failed Kept Animals Bill remain on the political agenda.”
Mr Willson has taken up the role of senior vice-president, while Phoebe McCarter succeeds Dr Rees as junior vice-president.
