Bones to pick....

011 Webchats.tv video and transcript of the 'web chat' with Lynne Hill, President of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons (RCVS) which took place on 27 March 2006 can be viewed at Peace of mind for pet owners. Generally speaking, although members of the public were invited to ask Lynne Hill questions, the web chat was primarily to promote the new RCVS Practice Standards Accreditation Scheme.

I have been told that a number of questions relating to other topics were submitted to the webchat e.g. some questions on the pet food industry and the veterinary profession's endorsement of processed pet food - a subject that Mrs Hill would possibly be well qualified to comment on given the fact that she worked for Hills Pet Nutrition from August 1995 until March 1998, however she chose to keep the webchat on the subject of the Practice Standards Accreditation Scheme, even to the point where towards the end of the webchat, host Mark Ryes said someone called Pete had sent a question saying "Can you explain the accreditation system again?" He missed the beginning of the programme. So Mrs Hill explained the accreditation scheme AGAIN!!

With regard to the accreditation sceme, Mrs Hill said "this is a new scheme and what happens is that we are inspecting the practices every four years on a four-year cycle and then annually the practices have to self-certify. However, we do spot checks."

I don't know about you, but I had always believed that 'spot check' meant on the spot, randomly selected. However, it appears that the RCVS definition of a spot check is "with a small amount of notice, not a lot but they do know that we're coming."

The Practice Standards Accreditation Scheme is voluntary, and although it is about practices not individual vets, I was wondering how many of the vets that I personally know have had complaints made against them (that at least got as far as the Preliminary Investigation Committee of the RCVS) have joined up for this voluntary scheme?

Some of my findings (correct as at 5 May 2006):-

NOT YET JOINED THE PRACTICE STANDARDS ACCREDITATION SCHEME:-

The vet that injected a cat with Baytril against the wishes of the owner having been told that the owner believed the cat had previously suffered an idiosyncratic adverse reaction to Baytril - this resulted in the cat having to be euthanased. NOT JOINED!

The bird vet who administered the NSAID Rimadyl Injectable to a Lesser Sulphur Crested Cockatoo (which is a CITES Appendix I critically endangered species) without the consent of the owner and without discussing the risks involved, and then categorically denied that the cockatoo had suffered an adverse reaction to Rimadyl resulting in death. Then failed to report the suspected adverse reaction to the Veterinary Medicines Directorate. NOT JOINED!

The RCVS Specialist in Small Animal Surgery (ENT) who performed laryngeal tie-back surgery on an Irish Setter - this case was reviewed at six separate meetings of the RCVS Preliminary Investigation Committee. NOT JOINED!

I realise this is only three examples and it could be pure coincidence that none of the above veterinary practices have to date joined the Practice Standards Accreditation Scheme. However, in the absence of any other consumer advice or information available to the general public to assist in choosing a veterinary practice the above snippets of information may be worth taking into consideration - if you wish to avoid any of the three vets mentioned above, choose a practice that has joined the accreditation scheme! You can find out which practices are currently joined up for the scheme at RCVS findavet. The above information could of course change at any time, indeed the Practice Standards Accreditation Scheme may become compulsory at some point in the future.

Review of the Veterinary Surgeons Act - Please sign the petition to the Prime Minister

012 A meeting arranged by UKRMB and hosted by David Lepper MP by 'invitation only' for all Members of Parliament is scheduled for Wednesday, 12 July 2006. See also: Vet Watch Page 1 / 003

If you need help on how to contact your MP (including email address if they have one) plus a great source of other information on MPs such as how they voted on major issues, I recommend The Guardian's Ask Aristotle

Also, UK residents can contact their MP using the free fax service at writetothem.com

013 Whilst writing this Vet Watch page I have been listening to today's news regarding Blair's Cabinet reshuffle, may I be one of the first to congratulate Margaret Beckett who leaves her job as secretary of state for environment, food and rural affairs to get one of the top jobs in government, becoming Britain's first ever woman foreign secretary. Well done, Margaret!

Apart from becoming Britain's first ever woman foreign secretary, I can't help but think that is also a lucky escape before the faeces hits the fan at Defra. What faeces I hear you ask? Swan faeces, duck faeces, goose faeces - all the faeces that was 'tested' by Defra from 3343 wild birds and revealed none of the ordinary flu that ducks and geese normally carry.

Of the 3343 faecal samples from wild birds taken for DEFRA by the conservation group the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust (WWT) in December, only two were shown to contain low-pathogenicity bird flu - 0.06 per cent. In a parallel study for DEFRA conducted by hunters, bird flu was found in only three of 423 freshly shot ducks, or 0.7 per cent.

Björn Olsen of the University of Kalmar in Sweden, who tests up to 10,000 wild birds per year in Europe's biggest monitoring programme for avian flu has said "There's something wrong with those numbers". Normally, he says, around 10 per cent of dabbling ducks and 1 per cent of geese should be carrying low-pathogenicity bird flu in Europe in December.

Richard Slemmons of Ohio State University in Columbus has tested 2000 to 3000 water birds per year for 20 years. His chief technician, Jacqueline Nolting, told New Scientist that "at least 6 or 7 per cent should be positive" at any time.

The problem may have been DEFRA's method of collecting samples. Ruth Crommie of the WWT says DEFRA told WWT samplers to moisten a sterile swab on a stick with saline, take a faecal sample from the bird, then put the swab back in its dry plastic tube. The tubes were then kept at refrigerator temperature and taken to the testing laboratories the next day.

Both Nolting and Olsen are adamant that swabs must be immediately immersed in a saline or preservative solution, and also frozen quickly. "If you left a swab in the refrigerator in its sheath like that, it would dry out and you'd lose all your virus," says Olsen. He says whoever planned the tests "should have talked to us". DEFRA has not done large-scale flu surveys before.

DEFRA declined to comment on whether its sampling method would deliver intact virus to the testing labs.

UK's bird tests may be missing flu virus [New Scientist - 12 April 2006]

David Miliband (MP for South Shields) moves from local government minister into the cabinet as the secretary of state for environment, food and rural affairs.

Review of the Veterinary Surgeons Act - Please sign the petition to the Prime Minister

Other End of the Leash - Patricia McConnell

Some links to websites that may interest you... The Senior Dogs Project & Rimadyl: News, Views & Advisories Romi's Website Dedicated to Romi, a Rottweiler whose untimely death is attributed to the inappropriate and casual prescribing/dispensing of Pfizer's drug RIMADYL by her trusted veterinarian - according to Romi's owner & companion. In America, Pfizer introduces Frank™ [20 February 2006] a veterinarian-client communication initiative. I can't see it working here in the UK - if vets treat with contempt the RCVS Code of Conduct, they are hardly going to take heed of Frank are they?

The Freedom of Information (Additional Public Authorities) Order 2005 - Some of you may be interested to know that as from 1st June 2006 you can request information from the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons (in respect of information held by it otherwise than as a tribunal) under the Freedom of Information Act. Statutory Instrument 2005 No. 3593

N.B. The Freedom of Information Act covers the administrative functions of Courts and Tribunals, but leaves the disclosure regime operated by the Courts untouched, so that judges could decide what information should or should not be disclosed from Court and Tribunal records.

Also useful is the following, published in The Times by Katherine Gundersen, of the Campaign for Freedom of Information. Q&A: The Freedom of Information Act (9 February 2005) Note, you can complain to the Information Commissioner if your request for information is refused. The Information Commissioner can order the authority to disclose information, but ministerial veto allows ministers to overrule the Information Commissioner under certain conditions. However, in January 2005 Lord Falconer said that the whole Cabinet will have to agree any proposal by a minister to bar the release of documents under freedom of information laws. Only Cabinet can keep files secret [The Times - 01 January 2005]

Review of the Veterinary Surgeons Act - Please sign the petition to the Prime Minister

Even if you do not live in the UK, please feel free to sign the petition. Our Prime Minister, Tony Blair spends a lot of time on the world stage letting people in other countries know his opinions, I therefore think it is fitting that he should reciprocate and listen to what you have to say for a change!

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