35 jobs face axe in ‘radical’ shake-up of vet services
A radical shake up in farm animal disease surveillance in Scotland has been announced and, while it brings with it a new specialist laboratory at Moredun, the proposal will also see the closure of postmortem facilities in Ayr and Perth along with up to 35 job losses across the country in a rationalisation process.
George Caldow, head of SRUC veterinary services, said the moves were made as a result of recommendations made back in 2011 by former NFUS president John Kinnaird.
After admitting the time lag had been due to a lack of finance, he said: “The challenge has been to create a new model of disease surveillance that provides the necessary amount of coverage within a reduced budget.”
The proposals, which will come into effect by next April, will put 35 jobs “at risk” – about one third of the current animal disease surveillance taskforce. Caldow confirmed that SRUC had entered into a period of statutory consultation with those at risk of redundancy or redeployment.
Caldow claimed the proposed model would allow the expertise within SRUC to be harnessed more effectively for the benefit of all livestock production in Scotland.
Central to the proposed new system is the new £1.6 million SRUC veterinary and analytical laboratory at the Moredun Research Institute, on the Bush Estate near Edinburgh, where integrated testing, technology and expertise will take place.
Caldow admitted the proposals had meant difficult decisions had been made around the closure of post-mortem facilities at Perth and Ayr but he stressed facilities were being retained in areas where there was a high concentration of livestock production with post mortem units remaining in Aberdeen, St Boswells and Dumfries.
Coverage in Perth, Ayr, the Lothians and Inverness areas would, after April 2020 come from “vet hubs” with two vets covering each geographical area. They would be responsible for going on to farms where there were animal disease problems.
Caldow described the current system as outdated and said the new model would help farmers and veterinary practitioners react sooner to disease outbreaks, as well as being able to better predict where disease outbreaks would occur.
Sheila Voas, Scotland’s chief veterinary officer, said consolidating and integrating Scotland’s expertise at the new veterinary and analytical laboratory would provide “timely and cost-effective diagnoses which would benefit everyone”.
But NFU Scotland president Andrew Mccornick said the closures would be a disappointment to members and local communities. “Disease surveillance is a critical service for the livestock industry, and it is vital that it is not weakened through this rationalisation,” he said.
But he admitted cost savings were necessary and there was logic in the centralisation of the diagnostic services especially as it gave access to advances in technology which would allow better and faster delivery of results.