Concerned vets in Northern Ireland have reported suspected breaches in the sale of antibiotics to the Irish Farmers Journal.Some of the vets have made complaints to the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons (RCVS) against one practice in particular, Ballygawley Veterinary Centre in Tyrone, which was taken over by multinational vet group CVS Group plc in March 2018.
Concerned vets in Northern Ireland have reported suspected breaches in the sale of antibiotics to the Irish Farmers Journal.
Some of the vets have made complaints to the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons (RCVS) against one practice in particular, Ballygawley Veterinary Centre in Tyrone, which was taken over by multinational vet group CVS Group plc in March 2018.
The complaints, seen by the Irish Farmers Journal, outline concerns about the sales tactics of Ballygawley Veterinary Centre.
Secretly filmed footage seen by the Irish Farmers Journal also shows a Ballygawley outlet at Tamnamore, Dungannon, selling antibiotics, including critically important antibiotics used in human health, to an unknown individual posing as a new client in December.
This is in breach of the RCVS code of professional conduct, which states that in order to prescribe antibiotics, a vet “must first carry out a clinical assessment of the animal under his or her care” and that the care must not be “nominal”.
Posting medication
The client is told by the woman serving him that Ballygawley does a lot of business in Newtownards, which is 70 miles away, because they post medication to farms.
“We post it out to men. Fastway is only a tenner,” the woman says. “It’s nearly next day.”
She continues by saying that cool boxes are used when vaccines are shipped, and the individual will be visited by one of the vets in the new year but “it will only be half an hour”.
You can try them but you’re a wee bit far away
When asked if the vets would calve a cow for the individual in the Newtownards area if he needed them, the woman laughs and says: “You can try them but you’re a wee bit far away.”
The individual bought two bottles of Betamox and one bottle of Marbocyl from the practice.
Marbocyl is a high-priority critically important antibiotic (HPCIA) that is used in human health and should only be used as a last resort in animal medicine.
At the time the antibiotics were sold, the animals could not be described as “under the care” of the vet practice as stipulated by the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons.
At the time the antibiotics were sold, the animals could not be described as “under the care” of the vet practice as stipulated by the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons, which states: “…the animal or herd must have been seen immediately before prescription or, recently enough or often enough for the veterinary surgeon to have personal knowledge of the condition of the animal”.
More secretly filmed footage shows a different individual, posing as a new customer, buying prescription-only Draxxin and soluble antibiotics without having his farm or animals visited before the sale.
Brexit letter
Ballygawley Veterinary Centre also sent a letter to farmers in January informing them that Brexit has affected its business. “The main impact it [Brexit] is having on our business is the difficulty in sourcing animal health products from outside Northern Ireland,” the letter, seen by the Irish Farmers Journal states.
Other medicine companies, Norbrook, Zoetis and MSD, separately confirmed none of them were experiencing shortages either
It goes on to say the practice is forward-buying stock and will be contacting farmers to find out what products they will need for the first half of the year.
However, while there are some issues sourcing active ingredients for medicines, the main veterinary medicine wholesaler in Northern Ireland confirmed that there were no widespread shortages. Other medicine companies, Norbrook, Zoetis and MSD, separately confirmed none of them were experiencing shortages either.
Improvement notice
Ballygawley Veterinary Centre was previously served with an improvement notice from the Veterinary Medicine Directorate in November 2018 for a number of breaches that contravened the Veterinary Medicines Regulation 2013, including “the supply of veterinary medicinal products to farms where there is insufficient evidence to show that the animals are under the veterinary surgeon’s care and that clinical assessments are being made prior to the supply of veterinary medicinal products”.
We are aware that there has been isolated breaches of our protocols at a small number of practices in Northern Ireland
CVS, the corporate body that owns Ballygawley Veterinary Centre, was contacted by the Irish Farmers Journal for comment on the issue.
A spokesperson for the practices said: “We are aware that there has been isolated breaches of our protocols at a small number of practices in Northern Ireland.
The incidents have been thoroughly investigated and we are working to reinforce the robust measures we have in place to ensure that medicines are prescribed appropriately and responsibly, in accordance with RCVS guidelines.
To support this, all of our practices are independently inspected and fully accredited under the voluntary Practice Standards Scheme
“Our practices offer high standards of clinical care across a comprehensive range of services and play an important role in ensuring the farms served by our practices can thrive and prosper.
“To support this, all of our practices are independently inspected and fully accredited under the voluntary Practice Standards Scheme, operated by the RCVS, who we will continue to work openly with to ensure continued consistent high standards of clinical care.”
Read more
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Slack control of antibiotic sales uncovered
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