Controversial veterinary laboratory review report published

Ninety five per cent of livestock farms in England and Wales would have access to post-mortem facilities or collection centres under plans to modernise the disease surveillance and veterinary laboratory network.

If the recommendations set out in an independent review panel’s report go ahead, a tiered surveillance network would be created with centres of expertise being established in livestock dense areas.

These would deliver comprehensive pathology and disease investigation services.

Other regions would have satellite centres, either at universities or at privately-run sites, where farmers would be able to access post-mortem facilities and fallen stock collection points.

The regions at the bottom of the tier would only have sites for dropping off and collecting carcasses or samples.

The review has been controversial because it will lead to the closure of all but six of the regional laboratories run by the Animal Health and Veterinary Laboratories Agency. Currently, central government funding for surveillance is set to reduce by 30% by 2015.

According to AHVLA chief executive, Catherine Brown, only 50% of holdings are currently within one hour’s travelling distance to a post-mortem facility or collection point. Under the proposals, this could be extended to 95%.

The roles and responsibilities of existing AHVLA veterinary staff would change. They would need expertise as either investigators to support private vets, gross pathologists or subject-specific experts.

“It is expected that most will have more than one level of expertise,’’ according to the report by the Surveillance Advisory Group, led by Dirk Pfeiffer, professor of veterinary epidemiology at the Royal Veterinary College.

The report insists that the cost of subsidised post-mortems, laboratory tests and a collection service must be carefully scrutinised to maintain their affordability to farmers and the government.

“Private vets, industry and AHVLA will need to embark on a new relationship of partnership working,’’ the report continues. “Implementation of the new model may need to be through a phased approach to evaluate its efficiency and effectiveness.’’

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