It shouldn’t happen to a vet: how the face of veterinary medicine has changed since James Herriot
Herriot: the nom de plume of the veterinary profession. Everyone knows the story – the tales of the young Scottish vet trundling through the Yorkshire Dales, fresh faced and brimming with enthusiasm. In the life of a 21st century vet, the picture is often very different.
Has veterinary practice changed since Herriot?
Herriot portrays the life of a mixed vet in the Dales as a romanticised notion of adventure, emergency cases, and receiving payment through home cooked food. Vetting today is undoubtedly different. His stories depict a ‘fire fighting’ approach to practising medicine, with exciting tales of saving lives, however today the focus has shifted towards favouring preventative health care. While it might be less thrill-seeking than Herriot’s emergency endeavours, the preventative approach to medicine is more pragmatic.
Herriot spoke of the praise he received from the public, the gratitude, and the deep-seated respect from the local community. In reality, many vets are frustrated with how they are sometimes treated by clients. The shift towards favouring preventative health care means that vets might appear less heroic to the public, resulting in the diminishing respect we sometimes have with clients.
Feminisation of veterinary medicine
In Herriot’s class at Glasgow in 1939, there were two female vets in his entire year. Now, almost 80% of students enrolling onto veterinary medicine courses are female. Taking into account that over 60% of the profession is now women, it is clear that Herriot is no longer representative of the workforce today. The gender balance is shifting as more women join the profession each year, and with it brings a host of challenges to the forefront, specifically that of the gender pay gap and discrimination. The face of veterinary medicine is changing, and so must attitudes within the profession.
The veterinary business model
The business aspect of veterinary medicine is often not talked about enough: we can’t treat our patients if we’re not making money to do so. Herriot gives the impression of doing favours for people, and being paid in gastronomic, as opposed to monetary, forms – something that would be wholly unsustainable in today’s society. Promoting the narrative of veterinary medicine as a business could help to increase clients’ awareness of cost. Over 50% of UK veterinary practices are now owned by corporates, with a predicted increase to 70% over the next five years – these figures highlight how quickly the profession, and the veterinary business model, is changing.
Has mentorship in the profession changed over time?
In the recent channel five adaptation we see young Herriot enter the profession. The situation is a common one: a new graduate working under an experienced – and at times highly critical – older vet, conveying a no-nonsense approach to Herriot’s mistakes. This is a familiar stereotype in the profession; a senior vet keen to teach, but who can also appear fearsome and unapproachable. A common situation that many new graduates face when entering practice, it highlights areas where mentorship can be improved. If new vets are less fearful of getting things wrong and know they have support from a senior vet, then their wellbeing and mentorship could be considerably improved.
Emily Collins-Wingate, a new graduate farm vet, commented on the new adaptation of Herriot saying, “The programme still captures the spirit of farming and vetting and shows the dedication that everyone puts into their livestock. The main difference is the type of calls we get called to compared to in Herriot’s days – most farmers have the skills and facilities on farm to treat cases such as difficult calvings and milk fever themselves, meaning the complexity of calls we go to is different now.”
For better or worse?
While today’s modern vet might not have the idyllic life of Herriot going from call to call with a stomach full of food and gratitude, in many ways the treatment and management of animal health and welfare has vastly improved over the years. While client satisfaction might not be what it once was, vets are harnessing modern technology in their approach to promote good welfare in ways that were not possible 80 years ago. Preventative health plans mean fewer emergencies, and in the long run, less time and cost.
Matt Dobbs, a farm vet at heart who was inspired by Herriot’s stories, said, “Veterinary medicine isn’t just about animals – behind every animal is a person who cares for it, and sometimes people forget that. Herriot was the one who really recognised this in his stories. An old professor once told me, ‘the animal doesn’t care what you know, as long as they know that you care’ and I think that’s really important and still relevant to remember today.”
Herriot’s stories blur the lines between fiction and reality. His stories evoke a sense of nostalgia, with many vets admitting that his depiction of the profession was what first piqued their interest in becoming a vet. His writing is rich in storytelling, but there needs to be recognition of the problems vets are facing today. Maybe one day we can find a way to incorporate small moments of Herriot-esque idealism into our daily lives as vets, but until then, we must look towards the future for ways to improve both animal – and our – welfare in the profession.
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