Sums no longer add up for vets with £22,000 debt

Published on Friday 15 May 2009 19:00

ONE of the most successful programmes screened by the BBC was All Creatures Great and Small with millions of viewers never missing the exploits of the young James Herriot in the Yorkshire Dales in the immediate post-war period.

The programme proved to be a great recruitment agency for the profession, but the scripts tended to be a shade remote from the realities of life at the sharp end.

However, the current generation of graduates is finding life extremely difficult, with each new member of the profession seeking a first job with an average debt of 22,300.

Gaining entry to the UK's veterinary schools – there at two in Scotland at Edinburgh and Glasgow – almost invariably requires a higher school academic qualification than that of those young people seeking to enter the medical profession for a five-year course that is extremely taxing. And in later life doctors tend to earn much more, with a few exceptions, than vets.

In addition 66.8 per cent of students, according to a survey conducted by the British Veterinary Association (BVA) and the Association of Veterinary Students (AVS), find it difficult to find employment during vacations. Most vet students are obliged to engage in compulsory extra-mural studies when not attending formal classes.

This is called "seeing practice" and is important in terms of gaining a wider knowledge of their eventual profession. However, this involves extra expense in terms of both travel and accommodation and is not liable for any form of financial support on top of the normal tuition fees which may be available.

Students seldom receive any pay from the practices they are involved with. The survey reveals that 35 per cent of students have major financial problems and that a significant minority experience mental health difficulties. The veterinary profession has an abnormally high suicide rate. This may partly due to the fact that they have access to a range of potentially lethal drugs, but also to the high level of stress that many encounter.

Nicky Paul, the president of the BVA, who is a member of a mixed practice in Cornwall, said: "The impact of this increasing level of student debt is twofold. Firstly, new graduates are more likely to choose their first jobs on the basis of salary and reducing debt rather than individual professional development.

"Secondly, we are concerned that as school leavers make career decisions on financial grounds, only those from relatively affluent backgrounds can choose the veterinary profession. This is at odds with government policy. It would be sad to see such a vitally important under-graduate course become one which can only be undertaken by talented young people from families who feel they can afford to help with the long-term costs."

From the farming perspective the ability to consult a local vet is invaluable: money can be saved with little more than a brief discussion. However, large animal practices – those dealing predominantly with cattle, sheep and pigs and, to a lesser extent, horses, are finding the economics of such businesses increasingly difficult.

The younger generation of vets simply do not want to be on 24-hour standby, going out in the middle of the night to calve a cow or lamb a ewe. They can make a better living tending cats, dogs, budgies and hamsters.

There is another factor to be considered: half a century ago the vast majority of vet students were male. The BVA reckons that now almost 80 per cent of vet under-graduates are female and that close on 30 per cent of students come from overseas.