A member of a Cumbrian veterinary group’s farm team has become one of the first in the country to gain a pioneering new qualification.
Karen McNeil, of Paragon, has just gained a Vet Technician higher level 5 apprenticeship from Harper Adams University.
She is among the first cohort of students to take the course which was launched as part of moves to formalise the status of vet techs, who work alongside vets performing routine tasks such as disbudding calves.
Karen is also the first in Cumbria to gain the qualification.
She said: “I am proud to be one of the first vet techs to qualify. The goal is to achieve regulation and recognition for vet techs, comparable to that for veterinary nurses, and the launch of this course is a step towards that.
“The vet tech is an increasingly important role in this country, helping farmers to care for their animals to the highest standards. We do things like disbudding calves, mobility scoring, administering vaccines for pneumonia, assisting with TB testing and have recently launched a freeze branding service.”
She passed the two-year course after a final intense assessment carried out by a vet examiner watching her while she worked on farm.
It is the first time there has been a qualification available for vet technicians, a role well established in some countries abroad and now growing in the UK.
Karen, of Blencogo, is also one of the founders of the newly formed British and Irish Veterinary Technician Association which is holding a conference with international speakers on October 9 in Worcester.
She added: “I would like to see all vet techs take this qualification, and we are working to build the membership of the association. Vet techs are paraprofessionals,” said Karen.
Currently vet techs learn on the job. They are supervised by a veterinary surgeon, which will not change with the advent of qualification and regulation, said Karen, who has worked as a vet tech with Paragon for five years.
