Vet labour shortage could pose significant biosecurity risks, industry warns

Veterinarian clinics are reporting extended times to fill job vacancies as the sector's representative body believes an increasing number of skilled professionals are considering completely leaving the industry.

Australian Veterinary Association head of veterinary and public affairs Cristy Secombe, a horse vet by trade, said a skilled labour shortage in the industry had been an ongoing problem in rural communities for the best part of 20 years, but clinics in metropolitan areas were also beginning to face similar challenges.

"This is not just a Victorian or Australian problem, it's a global problem across the world," Dr Secombe said.

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AVA workforce data reveals 52 per cent of jobs advertised in 2021 took more than six months to fill, with 37pc of vacancies taking 12 months or more to find suitable labour.

In comparison, in 2018, just 34pc of vacancies took six months to fill.

"There is a skills shortage across the country in a multitude of professions," Dr Secombe said.

"The number of people within the profession has increased over the last 10 years, but what we don't know is the number of veterinary hours worked.

"As societal change occurs, people tend to work differently and the average number of hours vets work has decreased."

Another workforce survey undertaken by the AVA last year revealed 4pc of vets were intending to leave the industry in the next 12 months, while 9pc were thinking about it.

These statistics were similar to studies conducted in the UK and US.

Dr Secombe said changes in demographics and workforce demands were a leading factor for the exodus that bad been occurring.

"It's a massive biosecurity risk," she said.

"Biosecurity is a shared responsibility and vets have a key role and they play a specific part, particularly around surveillance and early recognition.

"If they are not there to do that, that increases the risk to the country of an exotic disease coming in or a disease that's notifiable becoming well established before it's recognised."

Diseases such as lumpy skin disease and foot and mouth disease are issues that are likely to pose significant risks to Australia's agricultural industry in coming months and years, and Dr Secombe said vets were at the forefront of mitigating these.

"It's going to require a coordinated response across all sectors of the industry, including veterinarians, and that includes both government veterinarians who play a vital role but also the private sector," she said.

"We are very concerned about the diseases that are on our doorstep such as lumpy skin disease and foot and mouth disease and we really want to play our part."

Dr Secombe said the labour shortage had been a growing issue in rural and regional Victoria for some time, but the problem had also been noted widely across metropolitan areas in the last 12 months.

"It goes to the concept of use it or lose it," she said.

"Veterinary services are expensive to deliver because you need infrastructure, equipment for high quality care and therapeutics which can also be quite costly and then you need to remunerate your staff appropriately."

Bendigo Animal Hospital clinical director Max Tori said the labour shortage of veterinarians had been a gradual problem for the industry in recent years.

"Looking back 10 years ago, you would put an advertisement out for a new graduate and you would get five-plus applications for that position and now if you put an ad out, depending on the clinic, I've heard of some clinics having positions advertised for 12 months," Dr Tori said.

"We've been lucky and we have six vets here, but I know there are issues around this area as far as attracting and retaining vets.

"A lot of people are leaving the industry on the back of working conditions.

"It's a tough job and while it's a well-paying job, it's nowhere near other medical professions despite it requiring the same education."

He said takeovers of smaller and privately-owned practices were also influencing people's dissatisfaction with the industry.

"Big groups are taking over a large number of clinics and I think sometimes if a vet is not happy working with a large group, then they are limited with where they can go," he said.

"The privately-owned vet clinic is something that is less and less common as people sell on to the big corporates, but we certainly have noticed some people that are not willing to work for those corporates."

He said demanding workloads and key performance indicators and targets were also hurdles practitioners often had to navigate.

In Bendigo, a group of six veterinary clinics have joined forces to offer an after hours roster which helps clinics share the workload.

Dr Tori said it also gave vets a better work-life balance.

"For instance, we do one night of the week for all of Bendigo, another clinic does another night and then we all refer across to Central Veterinary Emergency on weekends," he said.

"It helps a lot because we don't have to have our own on-call roster seven nights a week and allows clinics to limit their on-call work."