Charity Status
On January 9th 2008 The Bella Moss Foundation became a Registered Charity, number 1122246. This was the culmination of many months’ work and the Trustees, Jill Moss, Mark Dosher and Elizabeth Yareham would like to thank the Charities Commission for the support and help they gave during the application process.
Continue reading "Bella Moss Foundation Winter 2008 Newsletter" »
The Bella Moss Foundation has voiced serious concerns about new regulations from the Environmental Agency that are causing uncertainty and concern within the veterinary profession as well as to pet owners’ groups and charities.
The regulations, which concern the classification and disposal of hazardous waste, came into effect in July 2005 but have yet to be enforced fully because of a lack of clarity on how they should be interpreted.
Continue reading "Allowing Animals Dying of MRSA a Proper Cremation" »
Reports on the 1st International Conference on MRSA in Animals.
By Jill Moss, President of The Bella Moss Foundation
I can’t really describe the feeling I had when the conference opened. Twenty research papers on clinical and epidemiological aspects of MRSA in animals were presented by some of the world’s leading veterinary experts came for two days of presentations which took place at the Leahurst campus of the University of Liverpool June 19-21st 2006.
The RCVS finally made the public launch of its Practice Standards Scheme more than a year after it took over two similar programmes run by the BSAVA and the BVHA, and the event has not gone without some fairly explicit criticism from within the profession.
It is fair to say that although the scheme is intended to both raise standards and reassure the public, it stands a pretty good chance of doing neither. Vets themselves have pointed out that a voluntary scheme cannot help pet owners to draw a conclusion about those practices that do not join, that there is no indication that it will bring commercial benefits to the practices that do, and that after a year, the number of practices that are members of the PSS is barely more than the number covered by the previous two schemes.
The fact that there has been no loud outcry about loss of professional independence or intrusive meddling by the RCVS indicates clearly that there is a strong body of support for something that will tell consumers what they should expect from vets, but this scheme is not it. Voluntary schemes such as this suffer the double disadvantage of inconsistent participation and low credibility, and in the absence of definite financial benefit no one could blame practicing vets for saying ‘Why bother?’
The inspection process, whilst exhaustive in the first instance, allows for participation in the scheme for four years and thereafter renewal is in the basis of self-assessment and spot-checks. This is hardly a recipe to raise standards and improve public confidence. The RCVS’ stated commitment to raising standards is laudable and should be supported in every way, but the main player is absent.
Whilst many vets have said they would prefer a compulsory scheme, and some senior figures predict that this will become so, the real sticking point is the law. The Veterinary Surgeons Act of 1966 effectively prohibits the RCVS from making the scheme mandatory and that will remain the case until the law is changed. Where, then, is the Government? We all know how long a new VSA has been talked about, and we are all aware of the consultations that have taken place, but until the Government makes time in the parliamentary schedule for the passage of a new Act, nothing will change: except, perhaps, a snail’s progress towards full veterinary practice membership.
It’s now time for DEFRA to step out of the shadows and cast aside its policy of following the profession. DEFRA has to take the lead in pressing Government business managers into allocating time for a new Act. Only in this way will vets truly raise their standards in a way that will give pet owners confidence and their pets the quality of care they deserve.
© The Bella Moss Foundation April 06
If anyone doubted that MRSA (and indeed, by implication, the whole range of bacterial pathogens) was capable of presenting a constantly evolving and growing risk to pets and owners, the reality is now unavoidable. In a paper published in Veterinary Microbiology Shelley Rankin and other researchers at the University of Pennsylvania have identified Panton valentine leukocidin toxin positive MRSA strains carried by companion animals.
This marks a significant increase in the risks presented to companion animals, and highlights once again the importance of a serious and systematic approach to post-operative care and infection control in the veterinary world.
How hard can it be to change the culture of care in the veterinary profession? Pretty hard, really, and that should be neither surprising nor unusual. It’s all very well to talk the talk, but when it comes to walking the walk, that a different matter.
Having said that, though, there are real signs of change taking place, and some of those signs are evident from the way Bob Partridge and Dr Freda Scott-Park, both senior figures at the BVA, have been talking over the past couple of months about MRSA and veterinary practice.
PETS-MRSA.COM COMMENT
MRSA in pets is now entering the mainstream of veterinary awareness, and if anyone doubts that they only have to look at the comments coming from the BVA during the first couple of weeks of April. In response to a press release from the Bella Moss Foundation, BVHA President Bob Partidge voiced ‘great concern’ and said that the profession had to adopt best practice in operating procedures, followed almost immediately by BVA President-Elect Dr Freda Scott-Parker telling everyone that ‘the alarm being generated is completely unnecessary’. So that’s alright then.
