Lone working in veterinary practice: out of sight, out of mind?

Veterinary work can be a dangerous business. Numerous studies have shown that vets are at significant risk of physical injury, with evidence from insurance databases suggesting that the reported accident rate among vets was almost 3 per cent higher than that for general practitioners in human medicine.1 Large animal practitioners appear to be at higher risk, with more severe injuries tending to occur during the treatment of cattle and horses. In small animal work, dog bites are the predominant cause of injury.2,3 However, vets are not only exposed to physical dangers. Stress and burnout are common occupational health risks, with over 80 per cent of UK vets describing their work as stressful.4 High levels of anxiety and depression have been identified in the profession,5 and being on-call has been highlighted as one of the main difficulties faced by both new graduates and more experienced vets.6,7 Such dangers are not unique to the veterinary industry. Figures published by the Health and Safety Executive indicate that 0.6 million non-fatal injuries and 0.6 million reported cases of work-related stress, depression or anxiety occurred in the UK during 2018–2019.8 In total, poor health and safety at work cost the UK 15 billion pounds in 2018–2019, with the loss of 28.2 million working days. This begs the question, how much do similar issues cost the UK veterinary industry, in both financial and human terms? As in any industry, the risks of harm are likely to increase when vets are working alone and out-of-hours. In a paper summarised on p 728 of this issue of Vet Record , Irwin and colleagues explored the experiences of vets ‘on-call’, within the context of practice and …