Spectrum of care call as drop in patient numbers reported

A leading advocate of evidence-based medicine has suggested those drawing up UK veterinary guidelines may need to be “a little bit more realistic”.

Rachel Dean, founding director of the Centre for Evidence-based Veterinary Medicine at the University of Nottingham, was speaking after she was invited to contribute to a US-focused paper: “Barriers and next steps to providing a spectrum of effective health care to companion animals”.

The document, published in the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association, addressed a growing US problem where data suggested a significant and steady decrease in the number of companion animals receiving treatment had coincided with rising veterinary costs.

Recognising the urgency of the situation, the US group has organised the Initiative for Accessible Veterinary Healthcare.

Lessons to be learned

The US group identified four key initiatives as priorities for improving access to affordable care, including the development, evaluation and refinement of clinical guidelines, where Dr Dean, now director of clinical research and excellence in practice at VetPartners, offered her evidence-based expertise.

With increasingly tighter economic conditions among veterinary clients, Dr Dean said she believed the UK could learn lessons from the US’ experience and expand guidelines to provide the widest spectrum of accepted choices for both vets and clients.

• Read the full story in the 17 December issue of Veterinary Times.