The mission of a government vet is to ensure high animal welfare standards and protect the country from animal disease. As UK chief veterinary officer, I head this challenging and rewarding profession which has been at the heart of government operations and policy since 1865, when the Veterinary Department of the Privy Council was established to tackle a devastating epidemic of Rinderpest, or cattle plague.
From boosting food production during World War II to tackling foot and mouth disease, government vets have fulfilled a full range of operational, research and policy roles. In frontline positions, veterinary officers work with animals and their keepers, investigate diseases and monitor the quality of our food industries. More broadly, we provide advice that underpins policy in the UK and internationally and play a critical role in the detection, understanding and management of animal-related risks.
Our workplace is Whitehall as well as the farm and the lab. It is not uncommon for the modern government vet to attend meetings with European colleagues in Brussels on one day and to be dealing with an animal disease outbreak the next – in both cases having to make critical decisions to ensure the welfare of animals and the safety of our food.
A rich heritage
The government veterinary service has a rich and proud history of both disease control and scientific investigation. Following the early success of the application of basic disease control principles to eradicate Rinderpest in the late 19th century, the scientific understanding of disease agents and epidemiology was steadily developed. The Veterinary Laboratory Service (VLS) was established at the beginning of the last century in a basement at 4 Whitehall Place, where samples from diseased pigs were transported to the centre of London for examination.
In 1917, research was transferred to the newly opened Central Veterinary Laboratory at a site near Weybridge. It was one of the first purpose-built state veterinary laboratories in the world and is now an integral part of the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA).
Government vets advised on the introduction of the Tuberculosis Order in 1925, which for the first time linked the spread of disease in humans with the consumption of untreated milk, and led to bovine TB testing in cattle herds.
State veterinary medicine today
Our national network of laboratories, which provide veterinary surveillance, research and specialist advice to government, private veterinarians and industry, is behind many significant developments in animal health – including on major diseases such as salmonella. We also work closely with public health bodies to protect human health, for example our vets in the Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science working on fish health, or those in the Veterinary Medicines Directorate who work to ensure safe and effective treatments for animals, and play a key role in the joint Defra/DH strategy to deal with the global threat from antimicrobial resistance.
As well as supporting Defra’s responsibilities for tackling animal disease and protecting animal welfare, vets work in a variety of roles across government. For example, with the Food Standards Agency, to ensure food safety, the Home Office, protecting the welfare of animals in science, and the Ministry of Defence in a range of roles from clinical work with animals to food safety and public health protection.
An exciting and fulfilling career
The service continues to protect the country from well-known threats and indeed new ones such as avian influenza. Since November 2014, we have successfully dealt with three cases of bird flu and, thanks to the swift and robust action of our vets, all three were successfully contained while minimising disruption to industry and the risk to human health.
As government vets, the work we do is hugely fulfilling, and requires us to draw on a wide range of veterinary skills. Judgement and communication skills, for example, are particularly important and there is a lot of complex problem-solving required.
Compared to work in a private practice, government vet work tends to be much wider in scope, impact and influence and involves veterinary medicine at both a national and international level. The service has to be flexible in its response: during 1993, for example, the service responded to over 700 cases of BSE per week. In 2015 there has been just one.
Many of our vets work in multidisciplinary teams with a very broad range of people, from both within and outside the civil service, and often with our counterparts in other countries in Europe and beyond. The applied-science nature of veterinary research jobs means what we do will often have a direct impact on the “real world”, resulting in improvements to disease control and surveillance activities. We also have the opportunity to provide expert advice in outbreak situations and work alongside leading scientists.
Vets of the future
On the 150th anniversary of state veterinary medicine in the UK, we can look back proudly knowing we have promoted better animal welfare and eradicated a number of diseases that threatened animal and public health. And we will continue to do so. Our profession looks forward to meeting the new challenges head on – from raising animal welfare standards while supporting a competitive food industry to protecting human health in a globalised economy. There has never been a more exciting time to join the service and we encourage students and vets to look at the civil service as a meaningful opportunity to make an impact and gain unparalleled professional experience.