One Professional Organization for All Veterinary Professionals
To ensure the quality and accessibility of animal healthcare, address (work) pressure, and better support veterinarians, a new professional organization is needed to unite and represent all professionals. This will improve and strengthen collaboration between veterinarians and para-veterinarians, which is crucial for the implementation of re-registration, working with professional standards, quality assurance, continuing education, and a healthy work environment. This is the conclusion of discussions among parties in the veterinary field, including our faculty, initiated by the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, Food Security, and Nature (LVVN). A project leader will now design the professional organization together with the veterinary field.
Over the past year Vedias, the Collective Practicing Veterinarians (CPD), the Royal Dutch Veterinary Association (KNMvD), the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, Food Security and Nature (LVVN), and the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine of Utrecht University, led by independent chairperson Gerda Van Dijk, have worked on a vision document for the veterinary field. Input was also gathered from other veterinary organizations and from young veterinarians, embryo transfer technicians, and animal physiotherapists. The initiative was prompted by two reports from Berenschot and SEO external on the quality assurance of the veterinary sector and the labor market for veterinarians commissioned by LVVN. Former Minister Adema identified the main conclusion from these reports as the veterinary quality assurance system being too limited in scope. Additionally, there is no mandatory re-registration linked to continuing education. He invited the veterinary field to collaborate and develop a plan for better oversight and control of quality assurance, among other things. The involved organizations have now jointly presented a vision document outlining how this can be implemented in practice.
Deep Involvement
Becoming a para-veterinarian or veterinarian is a calling. What binds the profession is a deep commitment to the health and welfare of animals, and (indirectly) also their owners. Veterinary professionals contribute to public values such as animal health, animal welfare, public health, and food safety. Constantly, public and private interests must be carefully weighed. To achieve this, veterinarians must be able to perform their work strongly and independently.
Major Challenges
The veterinary profession is both a beautiful and demanding job. First, society's perspective on handling animals has evolved, placing more emphasis on values such as the environment, public health, and animal welfare. Research and technological advancements have enabled increasingly sophisticated veterinary care, making decisions about the appropriate level of service more complex.
Limited Regulation
The veterinary field also struggles with limitations in the quality assurance system. Although Dutch veterinary care is generally of good quality, society, animal owners, and animals lack clear information about and insight into this quality. Public regulation is limited, and quality assurance through private systems is inadequately coordinated and not organized for all professions.
Independence Under Pressure
Furthermore, the position of veterinary professionals as independent advocates is under pressure. Veterinary professionals increasingly work as employees for larger organizations where organizational interests play a larger role in their work. Additionally, the experienced labor market shortage and rising client expectations have led to increased workload and stress among veterinary professionals. In recent years, client misconduct seems to have played a growing role.
Fragmentation
The field lacks the capacity and governance to address these challenges as a profession. The veterinary field is fragmented and organizational participation has declined: fewer veterinary professionals are members of a professional association than 10, 20, or 40 years ago. As a result, it is difficult to establish widely accepted, well-known, and updated standards for veterinary professionals. Moreover, there is no obvious, consistent spokesperson for the profession to the outside world.
Veterinary Field Professional Organization (BOVV)
The new professional organization aims to change this. Its tasks will include re-registration of professionals, developing and maintaining professional standards, ensuring continuous development of permanent education, and addressing strategic issues such as the labor market challenge. A project leader will start working on the design based on the vision document titled "VET voor elkaar " after the summer, with an expected completion in six to nine months. The broader field will be closely involved.
From the profession, CPD, KNMvD, and Vedias were involved in the process, from academia, the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine of Utrecht University, and from the government, the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, Food Security, and Nature. The latter also facilitated the discussions in its role as system responsible. The parties met ten times under the leadership of an independent chairperson, Gerda Van Dijk, supported by Tim van Dijke (secretary).