Like many viewers I have been enjoying the latest television interpretation of James Herriot's All Creatures Great and Small, with its entertaining and only slightly embellished tales of the Veterinarian's early career. Although Mr Herriot wasn't my inspiration for being a vet (that comes from a love of animals, fostered by Gerald Durrell), I did devour each of his books as they were published.
Despite being set in the 1930s–50s, some aspects of the program, such as white and brown coats, the use of a house as a practice and living above the surgery are all familiar to me from my youth. While I didn't use chloroform as my (primary) method of anaesthesia, I did come across an old bottle in the back of our dangerous drugs cabinet the other day! The ring of the single practice phone sends shivers down my spine. When even pagers were not ubiquitous, it was not uncommon to drive home from an out of hours call to find that you would have to turn around and head back to the surgery or out to a call. For that matter, rather than pay for an answering machine, it was common for adverts to call for married vets to apply so that their wives could perform that function.
There was also no UK Veterinary Surgeon's Act pre-1966, so it was not illegal for someone who hadn't quite passed their exams to carry out acts of veterinary surgery. Interestingly, other countries such as Australia seem to have been far more proactive, with Queensland passing its Veterinary Surgeons Act in 1936, a full 30 years before our own legislation.
The changes in our lives as vets were highlighted to me recently, as I took on the pleasure of mentoring a vet student. Life has been tough for students during the pandemic, and my mentee was excited at the upcoming prospect of attending live lectures. However, this begs the question, how much more difficult would life be without the advances we are coming to take for granted? My mentee was able to receive a full year's teaching via remote lectures and an abundance of teaching material delivered online. Although this was not ideal, it enabled us to maintain our schools and the current crop of excellent students. I was also privileged to share her lecture and other notes via the wonders of Microsoft One Note, and to enjoy video calls through WhatsApp.
The COVID-19 pandemic has proved challenging for us all, but how much worse would it have been without the technology we have available to us now? Just as war time accelerates innovation, COVID-19 has stimulated providers and users of remote communication to hone their skills. Some aspects, such as remote consulting which is now almost a default for our medical GP colleagues, may be here to stay. Just as corporatisation caused a large change in UK veterinary practice, the pandemic, lockdowns and isolation have brought challenges and huge opportunities. I am confident that we will adapt, manage and improve as a profession and come through stronger than ever.