Newsletter. Veterinary Council of Ireland

Transcription

1 Veterinary Council of Ireland Newsletter Quarter Issue 20 Message from the President, Peadar Ó Scanaill On behalf of the Veterinary Council of Ireland, I would like to wish you and your families a very Happy Christmas and a prosperous New Year. As 2018 draws to a close, the VCI is in a strong position, recognising the challenging year ahead with Brexit on our horizon. The VCI continues to benefit from a growing number of registrants, and I was delighted to meet many of our new registrants at the graduation ceremonies for veterinary practitioners and veterinary nurses. Activity undertaken by the Council this year has been significant, with renewals of Certificates of Suitability, registrations and the ongoing business of the Council. It was a year of change too, with the departure of our long serving Registrar, Ms Valerie Beatty. I am pleased to let you know that the recruitment process to fill her vacancy on a permanent basis is well underway and I would expect to be in a position to inform you of the outcome of this process during the first quarter of With a continually growing and diverse membership the VCI can expect increasing levels of variety and vibrancy in 2019, as we oversee and regulate the veterinary profession. My particular thanks at this time of year goes to the members of Council, who have worked diligently in both Council and Committee meetings to further the Council s regulatory functions. The Council was well served by the attentive and hard-working team at the offices of the VCI, to whom I would also express my thanks on behalf of Council and myself, as President. A final word of thanks to you, our registrants, for your support to the Council. I hope you enjoyed a successful 2018 and best wishes for the year ahead. LOGGING ONTO YOUR VCI ACCOUNT (THE REGISTRANT EXTRANET ) Go to and click on Registrant Login Your username is the numeric portion of your registration number (e.g. 3476) Your password can be retrieved by clicking on Forgotten Password and using only the address that you provided on the Register When you log on, you must first click the Registrant Extranet before accessing any functions that are available to you as a registrant. In the Registrant Extranet you can: 3 View/upload CVE 3 Amend your PAS Declaration 3 Make an Application for a Certificate of Suitability 3 Download VCI forms Veterinary practitioner wins the coveted 2018 Zurich Farm Insurance/Irish Independent Farmer of Year award (Gillian O Sullivan winner of the 2018 Zurich Farm Insurance/Irish Independent Farmer of the year award pictured with her husband Neil O Sullivan) Photo: Gerry Mooney (This article originally appeared in independent.ie on 1 December Photo and extract has been reproduced with kind permission from Gillian O Sullivan and Alex Meehan). Gillian began her career working as a vet caring for small animals in Bray, Co. Wicklow. When her brother, Vincent passed away suddenly she started helping her father on the family farm. It turned into a longer stay which eventually became her full-time occupation. Winning this award means a huge amount to me as it has been a long journey to get here and it hasn t always been easy explains Gillian. Gillian is a huge advocate of choosing farming as a career that compliments family life. She would love to see more women involved in the profession. I would encourage young women to get into farming and show them how it can be an attractive career even with a young family to support.

2 Veterinary Council of Ireland Newsletter Quarter Issue 20 FEDERATION OF VETERINARIANS IN EUROPE (FVE) During the FVE s most recent meeting held in Rome, among the many themes discussed were: i) Vets and Society ii) Educational Standards and Opportunities iii) Animal Welfare iv) One Health AMR and Antimicrobial Stewardship v) Vet Futures and Telemedicine vi) Brexit One Health is seen as a very important project. AMR is identified as being a huge threat to human health. Vets are credited for reducing their drug use in animals and sales of antimicrobials have reduced in Europe by 20% over the last 6 years. Italy and Spain are developing e-prescriptions so that more information is made available to vets. Vets are important contributors to the wellbeing of society. The profession is involved in the care of animals. It s important that veterinary leaders are trained to speak with knowledge and authority about what vets do. EAEVE is the accreditation body for veterinary education in Europe and veterinary colleges in Asia, the Middle East and Africa are looking to be accredited. VetCEE, has developed 8 modules intended to help practitioners achieve more specialised skills without having to make the commitment required to become a diplomat with ECVS. VetFutures is gaining a lot of prominence with different countries building on the work started by the RCVS and the BVA. The French have written their Blue Book with their initial findings. The FVE President Rafael Laguens said being aware of the issues is an important step. Telemedicine is here and is expected to develop very quickly. There was concern that Brexit is a threat to the availability of medicines, recruitment of vets in UK and the movement of pet animals from the UK to and from Europe. Animal Welfare is the main concern of the profession. Two position papers were adopted by the General Assembly (i) the provision of education for professional animal owners and animal handlers; and (ii) monitoring of farm animal welfare using animal indicators. FVE is conducting a Europe wide survey of the veterinary profession and hopes all vets will participate. Further information is available in the Registrants extranet of the VCI s website. The next meeting will be in Bratislava June NEW GUIDANCE ON AN ANIMAL UNDER VETERINARY CARE USE OF TELEMEDICINE IN VETERINARY PRACTICE The Council has introduced new guidance into the Code of Professional Conduct on an animal under veterinary care. A copy of the guidance is enclosed with this newsletter and can be found on the VCI s website. If a registrant has any queries on the new guidance, please contact the VCI s offices. The Council recently considered queries from registrants regarding the use of telemedicine and formed the view that while telemedicine may be used for triage or general non-specific advice purposes, it is not permitted to diagnose, treat or prescribe an animal remedy in the absence of an actual physical clinical examination.

3 Veterinary Council of Ireland Newsletter Ethical Ethel Quarter Issue 20 Your ethical dilemmas are welcome for Ethel s consideration. These may be submitted in confidence to info@vci.ie or the Council offices at 53 Lansdowne Road, Ballsbridge, Dublin 4 D04 NY29 Dear Ethical Ethel, I am aware that the veterinary practitioner/client relationship is founded on mutual trust and respect. I have encountered a difficult scenario at work recently that risks jeopardising the veterinary practitioner/client relationship and breaching client confidentiality. One of my clients presented a puppy to the practice last week with a pet passport which I suspect is false. I am concerned that this puppy has been illegally imported into Ireland and I m concerned it has not had its rabies vaccination. I am wondering am I obliged to report this to the authorities. I want to act ethically and under best practice guidelines. Jonathan Dear Jonathan, welfare or the public interest is compromised, client confidentiality Thank you for your letter. Confidentiality may be breached, and appropriate is central to the trust between you and information reported to the your client and is a core element of the relevant authorities. My advice is veterinary practitioner/client relationship. that the more animal welfare or the The duty of confidentiality is very public interest is compromised, the important; however, it is not absolute and more prepared a veterinary in certain circumstances information can practitioner should be to report be disclosed, for example with the client s that alleged criminal behaviour to consent, where there are animal welfare the relevant authority. Therefore, concerns or where disclosure is required you will need to exercise your by law. professional judgement in determining whether you are Veterinary practitioners are not obliged sufficiently concerned to breach to report suspected criminal activity (for client confidentiality. You may wish example an illegally imported pup). The to discuss your concerns directly decision to report is discretionary and it with your client first, indicating that will be up to each individual veterinary your concerns are sufficiently practitioner in each case to decide serious that you are considering whether he/she wants to involve the reporting the matter. You may also authorities. In some cases, there may be wish to seek your client s stronger reasons for doing so such as permission to take this concerns about public health, safety or step, in which case there would be animal welfare. In circumstances where no breach of confidentiality. your client has not given permission for disclosure and you consider that animal Licence to Practise Fee The Veterinary Council of Ireland s Licence to Practise fee for veterinary practitioners for 2019 is 475 and the fee for veterinary nurses is 215. The fees are due for payment by 31 December I would advise you to keep a full written record of your concerns, steps taken to advise your client and the justification for any decision to breach confidentiality, in the event of any subsequent challenge. If you are unsure whether disclosure without consent is justified, you should discuss the case and the issues with a senior colleague in the practice before the information is released. Professional confidentiality is dealt with in Chapter 3 on page 17 of the Code of Professional Conduct for Veterinary Practitioners. Veterinary practitioners and veterinary nurses who wish to seek advice on matters of confidentiality and disclosing confidential information are encouraged to contact the VCI s offices. Ethel Veterinary Practitioners 475 Veterinary Nurses 215

4 Veterinary Council of Ireland Newsletter Quarter Issue VETERINARY NURSING GRADUATION PHOTOS Letterkenny IT Veterinary Nurses graduation in September Back Row from L-R: Dr Gertie Taggart, Mr Finntan Maloney, Mr Paul Hannigan, Mr Billy Bennet. Front Row from L-R: Ms Fiona Linnane (VCI Council Member), Ms Michelle Foley (Nurse of the Year Award Winner 2018), Dr Joanne Gallagher (VCI Council Member). GDPR AND VETERINARY PRACTICES Laura Mullen Awarded Dundalk IT Nurse of the Year Award 2018 The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is in force as of 25 May 2018 replacing the existing data protection framework under the EU Data Protection Directive. There are a number of new principles which increase the responsibilities of veterinary practitioners and veterinary nurses in how they look after and maintain their client s data. Non-compliance with the GDPR could lead to sizeable financial penalties e.g. insufficient consent to process a client s data. Data processing includes everything you do with personal or sensitive data from the moment you obtain it to the moment you destroy it. Step 1: Consider Data Protection Principles Lawfulness, fairness and transparency: Data must be processed lawfully, fairly and in a transparent manner. Purpose Limitation: Data must be collected for a specified, explicit and legitimate purpose. Veterinary practitioners and veterinary nurses must think about why they need the data and what they are going to do with it. Data processed must be adequate, relevant and limited to what is necessary. Data minimisation: Data must be accurate and kept up to date. Accuracy: reasonable steps must be taken to rectify data that is inaccurate. Therefore it is important to ensure your systems are in place to ensure your data is kept up to date. Storage limitation: Data must not be kept for longer than is necessary. It is important to consider how long you need to keep the data for and how and when it should be destroyed. The data must be kept in a form which permits identification of data subject for no longer than is necessary for the purpose of which the personal data is processed. Excessive processing cannot be carried out. Security: Files must be kept securely and must be protected against unauthorised or unlawful processing, against accidental loss, destruction or damage. Step 2: Consider Grounds for Processing Personal Data Consent: You must have the prior consent of the data subject. Performance of a contract: Processing the data must be necessary for performance of a contract or necessary in order to enter a contract Compliance with a legal obligation: The processing of data is necessary for compliance with a legal obligation e.g. controlled drugs records and processing is necessary for the purposes of legitimate interests e.g. a business interest such as updating a client s details. Transparency: There needs to be transparency about providing information to the data subject that is concise, easily accessible and easy to understand. Data subjects have the right to be informed and provided with clear information about how their data is processed. Increased accountability: One of the key requirements under GDPR legislation means that practices will now be expected to show how they are compliant with GDPR (through internal processes and procedures). GDPR requires organisations to have detailed privacy notices explaining how they process data which are concise, transparent, clear and easily accessible.

5 Veterinary Council of Ireland Newsletter Quarter Issue 20 Penny Huggard is a veterinary practitioner who recently spent two weeks volunteering at BSPCA in Malawi Can you tell me a bit about the inspiration behind your decision to volunteer in Malawi? I wanted to have the opportunity to use my veterinary skills in a volunteering capacity. The animal welfare charity World Veterinary Services (WVS) and its sister charity Mission Rabies have several international project sites. I chose their Malawian base, BSPCA Blantyre, as it allowed me the opportunity to combine voluntary work and to visit a new country. Can you tell us a bit about your work environment e.g. were you based in a clinic/centre for rescued or endangered animals or in a wildlife centre? BSPCA has a purpose built clinic in Blantyre, Malawi s second largest city. In addition, it runs outreach sterilisation clinics in surrounding villages at the weekends, where we set up operating theatres in the classrooms of rural schools. BSPCA is a non-profit organisation that offers free vaccinations, sterilisations and other treatments to stray animals or those from low-income households. Our team included myself, an Italian vet and two veterinary nurses from the UK. Can you describe your typical day there? The work at the outreach sterilisation clinics in the village schools ran all day. Through word of mouth, people from the village would gather at the schools with their dogs. It was a great team effort and the days flew by spaying/castrating approximately 25 animals a day as well as vaccinations and providing other necessary treatments. Days in the clinic in Blantyre also included sterilisations as well as more involved surgeries. What did you enjoy most, or find most rewarding about working in Malawi? Days spent at the outreach sterilisation clinics gave us the opportunity to meet people in rural African communities. Malawi is aptly known as the Warm Heart of Africa for the kindness of its people, who were so welcoming. Children gathered all day at the windows of the classrooms chatting to us and entertaining us with stories and songs while watching us operating on their dogs. It was great to see such a positive response from the communities for the work we were doing. Finally is there anything else you would like to add, recommend, or share about your volunteering experience e.g. advice on why volunteering abroad is a good idea? I would highly recommend it. Not only can you be assured of a worthwhile project treating animals that would otherwise receive no veterinary care, it also provides a fantastic opportunity to explore a new country, meet local people and to have a unique experience in a developing country. If you wish to find out more about volunteering with BSPCA in Malawi, please visit: Did the new work environment differ vastly from what you were normally used to? The working environment was certainly very different to anything I had previously experienced in practice in Ireland and abroad. Malawi is one of the world s worst affected rabies hotspots and vaccination for most people is prohibitively expensive. In 2012, the government hospital in Blantyre recorded the highest annual incidence of child rabies deaths from any single institution in the whole of Africa. As a result, Mission Rabies targeted Blantyre with their rabies elimination programme and runs mass vaccination drives of dogs. One of the primary reasons the WVS developed the BSPCA was to give them a headquarters for their sister charity Mission Rabies. BSPCA and WVS work closely with Mission Rabies on their rabies elimination programme. As one of the world s poorest countries the people in Malawi have little or no access to veterinary care. Although most dogs in Malawi are owned, they are still allowed to roam freely and infectious diseases such as Rabies, Canine Distemper and Canine transmissible venereal tumours (CTVTs), which I had not seen in practice before, are prevalent amongst the dog population. The availability of veterinary medicinal products is also considerably limited. Nevertheless, briefings on the clinical policy at the time of arrival ensured a smooth transition to working in this very different clinical setting.

6 Contact Details The Veterinary Council of Ireland 53 Lansdowne Road Ballsbridge Dublin 4 D04 NY29 Tel: Fax: info@vci.ie Website: