New BVA president challenges portrayal of vets during CMA review
“We do all this because we do really care” – Elizabeth Mullineaux.
The new president of the British Veterinary Association (BVA), Elizabeth Mullineaux, has promised to focus on the veterinary sector as “a profession that cares” during her term in office.
Making her first speech as president during BVA Day on 26 September, Dr Mullineaux spoke about how she did not recognise the way that veterinary professionals have been portrayed during the ongoing investigation into the veterinary sector by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA).
Dr Mullineaux said: “We get up in the middle of the night to calve a cow; support our clients as they say goodbye to their beloved dog; and share the excitement of a family with young children when they bring in their new kitten for the first vaccination.
“We do all this because we do really care. It’s therefore incredibly difficult to see our motivations questioned in the way we have seen as a result of the CMA’s investigation.”
She also criticised the media coverage of the investigation, saying: “The media reporting of the CMA investigation has portrayed vets in a way that is at odds with everything I understand and value about the profession, and it has put additional strain on people in practice who already feel overworked and undervalued.”
In response to these pressures, Dr Mullineaux said that the BVA was going to be “changing the narrative”. She revealed that a new communications campaign was going to be launched this autumn to highlight the positive work that the veterinary sector does and remind the public how much veterinary professionals care.
She also highlighted the opportunity that the CMA investigation could lead to a new Veterinary Surgeons Act and promised to continue lobbying the government on issues such as the provision of veterinary medicines to Northern Ireland, puppy smuggling, and improved measures to control and eradicate bovine TB.
Dr Mullineaux will serve as president of the BVA for one year. A wildlife specialist veterinary surgeon, she is a graduate of the Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies and has previously served as president of the British Veterinary Zoological Society.
Rob Williams has been elected as BVA junior vice-president and outgoing BVA president Anna Judson will serve as senior vice-president.
Image © BVA
Defra has published guidance for the vet sector ahead of a proposed UK-EU Sanitary and Phytosanitary agreement.
