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Following a meeting on 13 September, the Veterinary Council of Ireland has announced it has deleted the change made in the Code of Professional Conduct on 14 December 2017 regarding the ownership of veterinary practices, and it has also cleansed the code of all references on this subject.
This change, which was exclusively revealed in the Irish Farmers Journal at the time, said that there was no prohibition on a non-registered vet(s) or a corporate body owning a veterinary practice.
The Veterinary Council of Ireland is clarifying whether or not anybody other than a registrant, a veterinary practitioner or a registered veterinary nurse can own and operate a veterinary practice.
A change in veterinary practice ownership could affect farmers - should a practice be taken over by a corporate body, out of hours services, which farmers rely heavily on, potentially could be affected.
Speaking to the Irish Farmers Journal on Friday evening, Peadar Ó Scanaill, a member of the Veterinary Council of Ireland, said that a review is ongoing into who exactly can own a veterinary practice.
“There is still a review being undertaken about the ownership and operation of vet practices. We are clarifying from the Veterinary Practice Act 2005 (we set up the Code of Professional Conduct based on that) whether or not anybody other than a registrant can own and operate a veterinary practice.
“On completion of the review, the council will update all registrants on the situation.
“The council has no knowledge of who owns practices. We issue a certificate of suitability to our registrants to open and operate a practice at and from a vet premises.
“We don’t usually delve into ownership, but the issue has been raised and we’re putting it under review. There are issues in our act where it [veterinary ownership] may not be very clear. We are [conducting] a review with all stakeholders, we are getting input from registrants and from users of vet services and other stakeholders accordingly,” he said.
Ó Scanaill said that the council hopes to have the review completed at the end of this year or early next year, after which it will clarify its position on veterinary practice ownership.
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