A research project is being conducted by Dr John AL Maxwell as part of a DVetMedSc at Murdoch University Veterinary School titled “Australia’s Veterinarians and the Frawley Review of 2003”. If you would like to participate in a survey as part of this research project please click on the following link www.surveymonkey.com/r/VET2016

The Frawley Review of Veterinary services was commissioned in 2003 to address Australia’s future animal health needs and the roles, availability and capabilities of rural veterinarians to meet those needs. The Review reached three broad conclusions:

• Australia’s animal health needs were being met on a day-to-day basis but Australia’s animal health system needed to be enhanced to meet more stringent requirements for international trade in the future. The immediate priorities identified were the establishment of an Australian Veterinary Reserve (AVR) and the strengthening of surveillance.
• There was no current crisis identified in the availability of veterinarians. However, rural veterinarians would have to contend with rising costs, a reluctance of producers to utilise their services, long hours, limited social opportunities and schooling for their families. These factors all impact on the willingness of veterinarians to live in rural areas, create local shortages and could lead to a chronic shortage of production animal veterinarians.
• The opportunity for the most lasting solutions is offered by policies that would build up the demand for veterinary services rather than policies which might artificially induce supply. Most issues could not be successfully addressed by any one sector. There was a need for all involved in rural veterinary services to make changes to their current approaches – governments, producers, veterinary practitioners and Veterinary Schools.

The questionnaire has been accepted by the Human Ethics Research Committee of Murdoch University (28/2015) and has the following attributes:

• Comprehensive – it involves all veterinarians
• Independent – the survey is conducted for research purposes only; the data is not available for any other use.
• Anonymous – the data collected is anonymous and does not infringe privacy laws.
• Analysis – survey monkey automatically analyses the data derived from the survey.