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J. small Anim. Pract. (1984) 25,529-530. Editor i a1 SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT An alarm bell has begun to sound in the medical profession. Are too many doctors being trained? Is medical unemployment, already manifest, a future threat of any consequence? Already there is talk of reducing the number of students, and of insisting that overseas trainees, once qualified, must return home. What of ours, the sister profession? So far we are free of some, at least, of the pressures on our medical colleagues. There is no huge influx of students from the third world who, once qualified, may be reluctant to leave. The E.E.C. has not led to an invasion by European veterinarians. Nor are we constrained by a national health service whose funds are not inexhaustible. Even so, the first chimes of alarm bells are audible for those with ears to hear or wit to perceive. With most of the major eradication schemes co-mpleted or on the way to being so, and with so much ‘free’ advice and help being provided to farmers, large-animal practice is being squeezed and newly qualified graduates are finding it less easy to obtain employment. The urgent needs of principals to find suitable assistants-a common part of the veterinary scene not many years ago-are altogether less pressing. Nor are some other avenues as widely open as they used to be. Posts in the schools and in the research institutes are left vacant. Economies, some of them extremely undesirable, are being practised at government level. Yet the competition for places in the schools has never before been so intense. The profession has become the ‘in thing’; but its potential as an employer is very far from being unlimited. Some time ago an official investigation was made of present and future man- power needs. It came to the (perhaps too comfortable?) conclusion that things were about right. Could such a conclusion justifiably be drawn now.’ At present, small-animal prospects seem somewhat brighter than do those in large-animal work. But it would not be wise to be complacent. A rise in the dog licence fee to anything near a level that would make up for the ravages of inflation, since the present fee was fixed, could have a noticeable effect on the number of dogs kept. The ever rising cost of drugs and all the other overheads of practice, which must of necessity be reflected in our fees and charges do not go unnoticed by present and potential clients. The tragic (and indefensible) number of abandoned animals is not without significance. And if a chill breeze continues to blow upon farm work, more veterinarians may turn, out of economic necessity, to the other branch of their profession and intensify the competition for work. 529

SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT

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J . small Anim. Pract. (1984) 25,529-530.

Editor i a1 S O M E T H I N G T O T H I N K A B O U T

An alarm bell has begun to sound in the medical profession. Are too many doctors being trained? Is medical unemployment, already manifest, a future threat of any consequence? Already there is talk of reducing the number of students, and of insisting that overseas trainees, once qualified, must return home.

What of ours, the sister profession? So far we are free of some, at least, of the pressures on our medical colleagues.

There is no huge influx of students from the third world who, once qualified, may be reluctant to leave. The E.E.C. has not led to an invasion by European veterinarians. Nor are we constrained by a national health service whose funds are not inexhaustible. Even so, the first chimes of alarm bells are audible for those with ears to hear or wit to perceive.

With most of the major eradication schemes co-mpleted or on the way to being so, and with so much ‘free’ advice and help being provided to farmers, large-animal practice is being squeezed and newly qualified graduates are finding it less easy to obtain employment. The urgent needs of principals to find suitable assistants-a common part of the veterinary scene not many years ago-are altogether less pressing.

Nor are some other avenues as widely open as they used to be. Posts in the schools and in the research institutes are left vacant. Economies, some of them extremely undesirable, are being practised at government level. Yet the competition for places in the schools has never before been so intense. The profession has become the ‘in thing’; but its potential as an employer is very far from being unlimited.

Some time ago an official investigation was made of present and future man- power needs. It came to the (perhaps too comfortable?) conclusion that things were about right. Could such a conclusion justifiably be drawn now.’

At present, small-animal prospects seem somewhat brighter than do those in large-animal work. But it would not be wise to be complacent. A rise in the dog licence fee to anything near a level that would make up for the ravages of inflation, since the present fee was fixed, could have a noticeable effect on the number of dogs kept. The ever rising cost of drugs and all the other overheads of practice, which must of necessity be reflected in our fees and charges do not go unnoticed by present and potential clients. The tragic (and indefensible) number of abandoned animals is not without significance. And if a chill breeze continues to blow upon farm work, more veterinarians may turn, out of economic necessity, to the other branch of their profession and intensify the competition for work.

529

530 E D I T O R I A L

Attempting to read the crystal ball is a tricky occupation. In the event, none of these problems may arise. But it would be of dubious wisdom to assume that they will not, and be unprepared if the bells start to sound as they are doing for the doctors.

The suggestion has been heard that the number of women students should be reduced. But apart from the injustice-to say nothing of the illegality-of such sex discrimination, women have an indispensable contribution to make to a caring profession. That this is recognized at the highest level is clear from the honours bestowed on women veterinarians, one of the most distinguished among whom has been created Dame by the Monarch.

Most practices are cost-conscious; they have to be; but it could be suggested, as a generalization, that many small businesses-and a veterinary practice is a business in its economic aspect-could be more cost-efficient than they are. There is a limit beyond which some clients will not, indeed cannot, pay. Our charges, justified as they may be, must not outrun the client’s purse.

Associations at both national and local level must be unremitting in publicising the work of veterinary surgeons, and the contribution they make to society. In this context James Herriott’s books have been invaluable, and the honour bestowed on him by the University of Liverpool is richly merited. Anything that helps to make people more ‘vet conscious’ is a good thing for the community as well as for us. Future employment does lie, in quite large measure, in our own hands.

What we must avoid at all costs, not withstanding the nudgings and shovings of certain official bodies, is any form of advertising that could lead-as in the end it well might-to cut-throat competition between neighbouring practices. We are not hucksters nor street traders, and loss of that public confidence, so firmly built up over generations, would be the end result of unprofessional behaviour.

This article may sound something of a Jeremiad. It is not so intended. Its intention is to stimulate constructive thought and action to ensure, so far as is humanly possible, that for whom so ever the bell tolls, it will not toll for us.

C. MITCHELL