Show Notes
With the CMA investigation shining a spotlight on veterinary pet services costs and consumer choice, Paul Higgs, chief veterinary officer for CVS, talks to Suzanne about the difference between value and price. We talk about what the tensions are for vet professionals in first-opinion practice, valuing veterinary expertise, and how contextualised care, if done well, can give owners reassurance as well as a sense of value. We also touch on how the proposed reform of the veterinary legislation has the potential to also show the value of veterinary services.
More from The Vet Record Podcast
David Black and Laura Roberts from the British Cattle Veterinary Association, and Philippa Page from the Sheep Veterinary Society, join Josh Loeb to speak about the impact of BTV-3 - the midge-borne virus responsible for the ongoing, unprecedented bluetongue outbreak - and what steps farmers and vets can take in the face of this threat.
Editor in chief Suzanne Jarvis talks to David Black and Anna Judson about how disease risk is likely to change in the UK as climate changes. Who should be responsible for monitoring it at the national, regional and local level, what should we expect with disease occurence and changes in range, and what can vets in practice do about it?
RUMA's Steve Howard and Kit Sturgess join editor in chief Suzanne Jarvis to talk about the new condition-specific toolkits released by RUMA. These cover canine acute diarrhoea and cat bite abscesses, and provide resources to help practitioners decrease their use of antimicrobials. They also discuss what the target reduction in use is and where we are on this. The toolkits can be accessed at: https://rumacae.org.uk/national-amu-reduction-targets
In this episode, Josh Loeb, Vet Record's senior news reporter, is joined by Michael Seals, chair of the Animal Sentience Committee, and committee member Richard Cooper, to discuss the origins of the committee and questions surrounding it. Set up in 2022, the committee has a remit to report to Parliament on the implications for the welfare of sentient animals arising from any area of policy. But how does it report to Parliament, and which of the many areas of policymaking does it consider most pertinent?
With record temperatures being recorded in the UK this summer, editor in chief Suzanne Jarvis talks to the RVC's Emily Hall, Jude Bradbury and Dan O'Neill about heat-related illness and heatstroke in companion animals. With the focus on dogs, we discuss this quintessential contextualised care condition. Mortality is high if body temperature exceeds 41.0°C, so the most important action is to cool the animal as soon as possible, with the overriding message being 'Wet then vet'. There is a companion In Practice article at https://bit.ly/4vwxVlB