Longer vet waiting times on farms
Border closures have highlighted the scale of the vet shortage, as practices struggle to recruit vets of all skill levels and specialties, Vet Association chief executive Kevin Bryant says.
‘‘Some of our rural areas are suffering. The more isolated it is, the more challenging it is,’’ Bryant said.
Last September, the Government granted an exemption for 30 farm animal vets. Some were already here and others were still waiting for visas to be processed. The wait time was about 10 weeks, he said.
Other vets needed to apply for a border exemption through the ‘‘other critical worker’’ process, which assesses requests for exceptions based on current restrictions.
General manager of The Vet Centre, Zelda De Villiers has been looking for three vets, including large animal vets, for her Kaipara practice since August. Until now there has been only one expression of interest.
‘‘We are in a busy time of year, it’s [pregnancy] scanning season at the moment, which is physical, especially if you are working with large herds, like 800 cows.’’
This could lead to repetitive strain injuries if vets were overworked, she said.
‘‘We are managing this without increasing waiting times for farmers by really planning proactively, but there will come a time when people will have to wait longer to see a vet.’’
Ha¯wera mixed animal vet Candice Wight said the practice she worked for was managing to hold on to its vets, but this was an exception.
‘‘There is a lot of advertising about, in particular finding people willing to go to rural zones. That’s where international locums tend to fill the gap,’’ she said.
After-hours rosters were particularly affected, with vets working them more frequently, leading to burnout, she said.
A recent survey of the Vet Association’s members found 120 businesses were in need of about 220 vets throughout the country, and across specialties. The scale of the shortage only became clear after the border closed, Bryant said.
The association had been working with the Government since September to address the problem and just before Christmas a further exemption for all kinds of vets appears to have been granted.
The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment told the Vet Council in a letter on December 22 that Immigration New Zealand acknowledged vets, not just specialist vets, generally met the bar of having ‘‘unique experience and technical or specialist skills that are not readily obtainable in New Zealand’’.
Immigration wrote it would begin to ‘‘apply this approach immediately’’.
An Immigration spokesman said it will reconsider applications from vets who were declined visas as ‘‘other critical workers’’.
Immigration had received 73 applications from vets since June 18, of which 38 had been approved, including 25 vets as part of the class exemption. Several of those approved since December 22 had previously been declined under the previous interpretation of immigration instructions, the spokesman said.
Bryant said the decision showed the Government was listening to the sector’s concerns.
‘‘There are more than 100 people coming in and that will break the back of the problem. Everybody is under the pump, but we have to allow the [visa application] system to operate.’’
A petition started by vet recruitment specialist Julie South said that despite advocacy by the association, Government actions were yet to make any material difference. The petition sought to have all vets classified as critical workers.
‘‘The Government’s pre-Christmas announcement only reconfirms its existing and publicly stated policy: that only vets earning more than $106,080 a year will be eligible for border exemptions,’’ South said.
Vets of all skill levels, salary rates, experience levels and disciplines were needed, she said.
The Immigration spokesman confirmed this was correct.
South said that only 100 vets graduated each year from Massey University, which was not enough to meet the shortfall because it took three years before a vet had the necessary skills to work in a clinic without supervision.
Massey University school of veterinary science associate dean, Eloise Jillings, said there were about 200 eligible applicants each year. The number of places was limited by the Tertiary Education Commission.
‘‘We would be delighted to train larger numbers of students and that is an ongoing conversation with [the] Government but unfortunately this is not a shortterm fix.’’
It took five years to train a vet, so any changes to the next intake would not graduate until 2026.