Category
Pet Lifestyle, The Vet Consultancy
Written by Paul
Dr Paul Manktelow is a vet who’s worked for almost 20 years on the front line in some of the UK’s busiest veterinary hospitals. As Chief Vet in the Charity Sector, he leads a team of vets and nurses that treat thousands of pets every year. Paul also appears regularly in the media as a TV and radio presenter, writer, public speaker and podcast producer.
We have known for some time that the laws governing veterinary medicine in the UK are heading for major reform. The more interesting question now is what those reforms could actually change when you walk through the doors of your local vet practice.
Earlier proposals established the case for replacing a regulatory system built around the Veterinary Surgeons Act 1966. Now, DEFRA’s Our Vision for a Thriving Veterinary Sector gives us a much clearer indication of the direction veterinary regulation could take.
The proposals extend well beyond individual vets. They look at the businesses delivering veterinary care, the role of veterinary nurses and other professionals, how competence is maintained throughout a career and how accountability works when things go wrong.
For pet guardians, much of that might sound like regulation happening behind the scenes. But some of these changes could ultimately influence who delivers your pet’s care, how practices operate and where responsibility sits.
Your Vet Practice Could Be Regulated as a Business
One of the biggest proposed changes is the move towards licensing veterinary businesses themselves.
At present, regulation focuses heavily on individual veterinary professionals. But modern practices are organisations, and decisions about staffing, pricing, appointment structures, clinical policies and investment may be made at business level rather than by the vet standing in front of you.
Business licensing could create clearer accountability for those organisational decisions. Whether a practice is independently owned, part of a corporate group or operating under another model, the principle is that the organisation delivering veterinary care should also have responsibilities for the standards under which that care is provided.
That represents a significant change in how veterinary regulation works.
Professional Regulation Could Become More Proportionate
The proposals also look at replacing an outdated disciplinary framework with a modern fitness-to-practise model.
That may sound largely relevant to veterinary professionals, but effective professional regulation matters to everyone using veterinary services.
Rather than regulation focusing primarily on serious misconduct after something has gone wrong, a modern system could place greater emphasis on maintaining competence, continuing professional development and responding proportionately when concerns arise.
The aim should be a system that protects the public and animal welfare while also supporting professionals to maintain high standards throughout their careers.
Veterinary Nurses Could Be Properly Recognised in Law
Veterinary nurses already play a major clinical role, but the proposed reforms could finally provide statutory protection for the Veterinary Nurse title and create a clearer framework for how their skills are used.
I have previously written about why this matters. What is significant now is that better use of the wider veterinary team is becoming part of a much broader vision for how veterinary services could operate.
If appropriately trained veterinary nurses can take greater responsibility for certain areas of care, practices may be able to use their clinical workforce more effectively. Vets can concentrate on work requiring veterinary diagnosis and expertise, while nurses contribute more fully within their own professional skill set.
For pet guardians, the potential benefit is not simply professional recognition. Used well, team-based care could improve capacity and access.
Other Animal Healthcare Professionals Could Face Clearer Regulation
Modern pet care increasingly involves more than vets and veterinary nurses.
Physiotherapists, musculoskeletal therapists and other allied professionals may all contribute to an animal’s care. Yet regulation across these areas can be fragmented and difficult for pet guardians to understand.
The proposed reforms aim to create a clearer regulatory framework around the wider veterinary team, including standards around training, professional responsibilities and how work is delegated.
For the public, the principle is straightforward: you should be able to understand who is treating your animal, what they are qualified to do and who is accountable for the care they provide.
Regulation Could Improve Transparency, But Don’t Expect It to Make Advanced Medicine Cheap
The reforms follow a period of intense scrutiny of veterinary costs, so inevitably there will be expectations around affordability.
Some changes could improve efficiency. Making better use of veterinary nurses and allied professionals, for example, could help practices use expensive veterinary surgeon time more effectively. Greater business accountability and transparency could also make it clearer how services operate.
But legislation cannot remove the underlying costs of modern veterinary medicine. It won’t reverse inflation, solve workforce shortages or suddenly make advanced imaging, complex surgery and highly skilled clinical teams inexpensive.
This distinction is important.
In the latest episode of The Consult Room, I look beyond why veterinary law needs reform and explore what DEFRA’s proposals could actually mean on the clinic floor, from business licensing and professional regulation to the changing roles within veterinary teams.
🎧 Listen to the full episode of The Consult Room on Spotify.
The Real Test Comes Next
There is much within these proposals that could move veterinary regulation in the right direction. But legislation alone doesn’t deliver better care.
Business regulation has to improve accountability without creating unnecessary bureaucracy. Expanding professional roles has to be backed by appropriate training, governance and responsibility. Greater transparency has to provide genuinely useful information rather than simply generating more paperwork.
The conversation has therefore moved on.
The question is no longer simply whether legislation written almost 60 years ago needs to change. It is whether the system that replaces it can actually make veterinary care work better for the animals, people and professionals who depend upon it.
