08 December 2016

Open Letter to Allison Pearson 

Vets are neither ‘ripping you off’ nor ‘raking it in’.

Dear Allison,

I agree with so much of what you say.  I frequently find myself reading out parts of your column to any family members who are prepared to listen.  I can often be heard to exclaim ‘Exactly! Just what I was saying to X the other day!’ I am afraid though that I have to disagree vehemently with you over the impression, given in your piece in The Telegraph in support of the animal charity Blue Cross, that vets are somehow ‘ripping off’ pet owners who need their services.

With a daughter who is a vet, I have a more than passing acquaintance with the problems, needs and difficulties of this profession. Let us start from the beginning. Firstly, this is one of the hardest degree courses to get onto.  There used to be only six universities offering the five or six-year course, but first Nottingham in 2006 and then the University of Surrey last year opened new schools of veterinary medicine. Still, places are limited and entry requirements are high – essentially AAB at A’ level as a minimum, plus work experience (usually at least 6 weeks), an impressive personal statement and a demanding interview. Given the cost of training and the demanding nature of the course and of the profession itself, part of the selection process is designed to weed out those who might otherwise drop out later.

Once those hurdles have been crossed, the course itself is tough. This one is not a student ‘swan’. Lectures and practicals make it a full-time occupation and (unlike aspiring doctors who, at least for the first few years of their course, do get holidays at the end of each term) vets are expected to fit more unpaid work experience (so-called Extra Mural Studies or EMS) into each vacation. Furthermore, they can end up not only being unpaid, but having to spend money on transport and accommodation for the duration of that work experience, which, depending on the requirements of that year’s course, may be on a remote rural farm, a mixed veterinary practice, an abattoir, a small animal practice, an equine or indeed Blue Cross hospital.

When they finally graduate (with, of course, a larger-than-usual student debt owing to the length of the course) veterinary graduates are highly likely to get a job. According to statistics provided by the Higher Education Statistics Agency in 2014, 86% of those graduating were in full-time employment – only a few percentage points less than those graduating in Medicine or Dentistry. However, whilst hospital consultants can go on to earn between £75,000 and £101,000 as a basic salary with the prospect of an NHS pension at the end of their working lives, 72% of vets earn less than £55,000 a year. Average starting salaries for newly qualified vets currently range from £25k to £29k and do not seem to increase greatly in the following three to five years.

Add the long hours to the relatively low pay, and the current dissatisfaction of many new entrants to the profession starts to become understandable. Many vets are still working one in two or one in three nights (which means they can be called out by clients at any time between 6.30pm and 8.30 am), and one in two or one in three weekends. Saturday working is standard, of course. Young doctors have long since moved on from these kinds of hours – on the grounds that doctors who are tired are more likely to make mistakes.  Young newly-qualified vets are also without the support networks available to doctors.  There may be less than half-a-dozen vets in the practice, none of whom are going to be around when you are called out at night to a fitting dog or a horse with colic.

As well as being physicians (diagnosing and prescribing), vets are also expected to practice as surgeons. They are still, in these days of specialists, all-rounders. Although the profession is undergoing massive change and there are fewer generalists than there were in James Herriot’s day, vets can be called upon to deal with anything from a gerbil to a cockatoo; a bearded dragon to a bearded goat; a Persian cat to a poodle. Difficult and crucial decisions need to be made.  Mistakes are not tolerated by a public used to having their own opinions listened to (especially when they are paying for a service); even where their own knowledge may not be informed.  After all, we are no longer interested in experts.  We all have the right to have our say.  This mentality leads to situations where clients not only do not understand what they are paying for, but they feel entitled to write vituperative letters of complaint whenever they feel that perfect service has not been delivered. They have no idea how hurtful those ignorant letters can be, nor indeed how threatening they are to someone whose livelihood may for weeks or months feel as if it is on the line while these complaints are investigated by the professional body. Words like ‘negligent’ and ‘incompetent’ are bandied about with little or no understanding of professional requirements nor really of what the job entails.

You said in your article, Allison, that ‘They took some blood, gave me some tablets… the bill … was £367.  What FOR?’ Well, obviously as I was not there, I cannot say and as described, it does sound like quite a lot, but the blood does need to be analysed and tested; more than one test may need to be run; there are qualified humans and machines involved.  I do not know what the pills were, but as none of us pay for our medications through the NHS the actual cost of drugs is something of which most of us are ignorant.  This was NOT just a ‘prod and three pills’.  You were paying for the opinion of a qualified professional and all the back-up services needed to keep that professional at your beck and call.  When you called your vet, were you told you could not see him/her that day?  No, of course not. A receptionist answered the phone and arranged to see you urgently, at your convenience. Should your dog have needed that scan it would have been done on expensive equipment – which you expect your practice to have access to. The business has to buy that equipment.  Should your beloved pet have needed to be kept in for observation there would have been several vet nurses on duty (day and night) for that purpose. Need I go on?

Part of the problem is perception and in this country many love their animals but seem to expect an NHS-type arrangement to be in place for them.  The NHS costs money to run, too, but we, the clients, generally have no clue at all what those costs are (and how often does your GP get blood tests back to you the same or the next day?).  People are prepared to pay hundreds of pounds to buy a dog, but when it comes to paying for their ongoing health they are horrified at the expense. The mental and physical health benefits of owning a pet are well known, but perhaps some do need to think things through before they embark on ownership. Blue Cross is a great charity and offers help with veterinary costs where people are on benefits, but how many people are aware that many vet practices are involved in offering their services on a pro bono basis so that Blue Cross can continue to function?

Most vets are kind, empathetic people (increasingly women, who now make up at least 75% of entrants to the profession).  They do not go into the profession thinking they are going to make a fortune, but nor do they go into it believing they should be expected to work simply for their love of animals. They are generally underpaid and frequently undervalued and as a result many are leaving the profession. 50% of young vets feel that few, if any, of their expectations have been met. 90% view their work as stressful.  If anyone is making money out of the veterinary business it is not the vets, but the companies which are increasingly taking over practices, and holding down salaries to increase profits.  So, please, next time you visit the vet, take a closer look at that bill.  It should be itemised.  The consultation (i.e. the actual input from the vet) fee is probably only a very small proportion of the total and of that the professional is getting a much smaller proportion. (One of my daughter’s friends worked out that over a week, with the hours she had worked, her hourly pay amounted to £2.90 – rather less than she’d have been paid for stacking shelves in a supermarket for the minimum wage!)

I do hope you’ll forgive my rant, but although the profession is trying to address the issues with its Vets Futures project http://www.vetfutures.org.uk/about/, I feel it is vitally important that people like you, who do have the ability to influence and affect people’s thinking on different subjects, understand just how difficult it is currently for those in the profession. Unguarded comments such as those you made only reinforce the totally distorted perceptions which seem to be causing so much damage and indeed distress to those who have worked so hard and who continue to work hard to conform to professional standards and to look after the health and welfare of the Nation’s animals.

Yours sincerely,

Lynda Goetz

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