Obviously I couldn't have a blog on veterinary-related issues without mentioning the two recent 'vetty' programmes on the BBC - the Bionic vet, following Noel Fitzpatrick's pioneering work in veterinary orthopaedics, and 'It shouldn't happen at a vet's', the 'Panorama special'.

The Panorama programme seemed to be based around the story of the vet who got 'struck off' last year by the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons for disgraceful professional conduct. He was found guilty of recommending unnecessary treatment to the owners of a dog which was suffering from terminal cancer, and he is now unable to work as a vet. Obviously his behaviour was outrageous and utterly unacceptable, but I found it very reassuring that he had already been dealt with by the RCVS and the BBC didn't find any other instances of vets behaving like this. Vets do get 'struck off' at the rate of a handful per year, and reading the reports it seems that they are usually suffering from mental illness or alcoholism, which is sad in itself. Hopefully being relieved of the job they clearly cannot cope with, will help them to recover their health.

I felt the worst bit of the Panorama programme was the lack of supervision for young employees, and the fact that untrained 'nurses' were able to perform quite sophisticated procedures, which is both illegal and dangerous. I once again gave thanks for our 8 fully trained and qualified nurses who perform all the tasks they are legally allowed to do, to an extremely high standard.

There did seem to be a lack of compassion in that corporate practice at times, although other staff were shown as very caring. The instances of rough handling made me very cross, but I was glad to see a 'whistleblower' within the practice reporting the male nurse to senior staff for abusing the Shar Pei. We always treat our patients as if they were our own; sometimes I wish they were my own, I've seen several this last week that I could have taken home!

It's easy to be smug and say 'that's not the way we do things' but I felt sorry for the majority of Medivet staff who are trying to do a good job in difficult circumstances; undertrained, under-supervised, and probably over-worked and underpaid. When corporate practice first came onto the veterinary scene a decade or more ago, the end of the independent vet practice such as Argyll was predicted because the corporates were going to do everything cheaper and better. Neither of these has happened, as the programme showed, but the threat is more that they bring the whole profession into disrepute by poor management and trying to do the job cheaply. Long may the independent practices thrive!

The independent practice featured in the Bionic Vet has been fascinating, with equipment we can only dream of! However, spending millions of pounds on equipment raises the very real problem of how to pay for it. It may be that pet insurance becomes more expensive in the future, in part due to the cost of using such equipment; then the number of pets insured will fall, and the number of patients whose owners can afford to use the equipment will fall.....no wonder Noel looks so stressed most of the time! 

Most interesting has been the limited feedback I have heard on both programmes. It has been overwhelmingly positive for the Bionic Vet and overwhelmingly negative for Panorama. While Noel Fitzpatrick is undoubtedly breaking new ground with his fantastic surgical skills, I could see good and bad in both and think  it is interesting how much difference the 'spin' put on both programmes by the BBC has made to peoples' perceptions.