"Like Sarah and Chris, I am also very concerned about the regulation of the veterinary profession. Indeed, after five years studying and eight years as a farm animal vet, I am still struggling to work out whether there is any regulation at all. There are no mandatory continuing professional development requirements, no mandatory clinical competence checks and no mandatory practice standards for example. In fact, 40% of veterinary practices rarely or never even conduct employee appraisals and when you combine this with the fact that veterinary surgeons have complete freedom to attempt whatever surgical and medical treatments they like, it really is hard to see any regulation at all. The whole system seems to be set up not to find cowboys and quacks and I think it is high time people started challenging the status quo. The veterinary profession has been living off the reputation of James Heriott for far too long. I don't know whether Ted would have survived with a different approach I must admit, but I do know this: if his protracted death becomes a catalyst for change within the veterinary profession, it will not have been in vain."

Link to Matthew Watkinson's website: 

http://fishsnorkel.wordpress.com/