Having launched the findings of the latest Surveys of the Professions at London Vet Show earlier this month, the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons (RCVS) has now published the full reports, giving a snapshot of the current state of the veterinary and veterinary nursing professions respectively.
The Surveys of the Professions, carried out by the Institute for Employment Studies (IES) on behalf of the RCVS, take place once every four or five years. The aim is to give the College, the wider veterinary world and the public a comprehensive view of the composition and circumstances of the professions, as well as what veterinary professionals think and feel about various key issues, including their own wellbeing.
The reports are used by the RCVS as crucial background and context for policy discussions and decisions, and this year’s results will also be feeding into the College’s new Strategic Plan, due to be published in early 2025.
The data gathering for this year’s surveys took place in January and February 2024, with 6,987 responses from veterinary surgeons (a 19% response rate) and 3,740 veterinary nurse responses (a 16% response rate). The overall profile of the veterinary surgeon respondents was significantly older than the profession at large. In particular, vets aged 30 and under were under-represented, as they make up 23% of the Register, but only 14% of survey respondents. The profile of respondents also skewed more male than the profession at large, with women representing 64% of all vets on the Register, but 61% of respondents.
The profile of veterinary nurse respondents was slightly older and slightly more likely to be male than the profession at large, and with comparatively more males responding, but was more representative of the profession overall compared to the veterinary surgeon respondents.
The full reports are available to download here, along with summaries that highlight some of the key findings of the surveys in infographic form.
Key findings from the Survey of the Veterinary Profession include:
• When asked what the best thing was about working in the veterinary profession, 73% of respondents said working with animals, 57% said the challenge / stimulus of the role, and 51% said job satisfaction.
• There was a significant increase in the proportion of veterinary surgeon respondents who saw the affordability of veterinary care as one of top three issues facing the professions – from 30% in 2019, to 46% in 2024. There was a comparatively small increase in the proportion of respondents who identified stress levels as the main issue (47% in 2019 to 49% in 2024) and a slight decrease in the proportion of respondents identifying client expectations as a cause for concern (55% in 2019 to 54% in 2024).
• More than a quarter (27%) of veterinary surgeons now work part-time compared to 23% in the 2019 survey and 19% in the 2014 survey. Part-time working has increased for both female and male veterinary surgeons, although a higher proportion of women (34%) work part-time as compared to men (17%).
• There was a notable increase in the proportion of veterinary surgeon respondents who graduated in the UK in the 2024 survey (73%) compared to respondents to the 2019 survey (64%).
• The results of the veterinary surgeon survey demonstrated an ongoing trend for new vet graduates to go straight into clinical practice after graduation, with 83% saying they did so in the 2014 survey, compared to 73% in 2019 and just 52% in 2014.
• In 2024 a smaller proportion of veterinary surgeon respondents intended to stay in the profession for five or more years (75%) compared to 2019 (79%). However, there were large differences amongst age cohorts in the 2024 responses, with 88% of recent graduates saying they intended to stay for five or more years. The difference with the 2019 survey can also be explained by an increase in the percentage who intend to retire (15% in 2024 vs 11% in 2019). Reasons given by those who intended to leave the profession included poor work-life balance (56%), chronic stress (54%), and not feeling rewarded or valued in a non-financial sense (47%).
• Of the veterinary surgeon respondents, 34% said they had been on the receiving end of harassment and bullying by clients in the last 12 months, while 13% had experienced these behaviours from colleagues.
• Of the veterinary surgeon respondents, 35% did on call hours, while 16% of veterinary nurse respondents did on call hours.
• The overall view of respondents about the College remained broadly neutral. Respondents were asked to rate their views of the RCVS between 1 (very negative) and 10 (very positive) with the mean average score being 5.5. This compares to a mean average of 6.6 in 2019. Using the same scale, vet nurses gave the RCVS an overall score of 6 in the 2024 survey, compared to 7.15 in 2019.
• When asked what they thought the RCVS should ‘do more’ of, themes that emerged from veterinary surgeon respondents included better educating the public / clients on the nature of the veterinary professions and veterinary work in order to manage expectations, providing more proactive mental health and wellbeing support, proactively encouraging diversity and inclusion, and regulating the corporate ownership of practices.
Some key findings of the Survey of the Veterinary Nursing Profession were:
• When asked what the best thing was about working in the veterinary nursing profession, 94% said working with animals, 64% said making a difference and 49% said job satisfaction.
• The top three challenges to the veterinary nursing profession identified by respondents were: poor financial reward (66%); staff shortages (51%); and, stress levels (47%). The proportion of the veterinary nurses identifying poor financial reward increased slightly since the previous survey (63% in 2019) and the proportion of those identifying stress levels remained static – however, concerns over staff shortages appeared as a new category this year, replacing client expectations as one of the top three identified issues.
• Veterinary nurse respondents were more likely than veterinary surgeon respondents to have a mental or physical health condition / disability that had a substantial and long-term effect on their everyday activities, with such conditions affecting 29% of vet nurses compared to 17% of vets.
• Respondent veterinary nurses who had joined the Register since 2021 felt positive overall about their education and training. Of the 940 respondents who fell in this category, 77% were satisfied / very satisfied with the quality of their Training Practice experience; 68% satisfied / very satisfied with the support during clinical placements; and 63% satisfied / very satisfied with their university or college experience. Some 60% of respondents also went on to work at their Training Practice.
• Exactly three-quarters of respondent veterinary nurses work in small animal-only practice, up from 73% in 2019 and 69% in 2014. The proportion of respondents who worked in referral / consultancy fell to 11% from 14% in 2019, in 2014 the proportion was also 11%. The number of veterinary nurses working in mixed practice continued to fall with just 8% of 2024 respondents working in this sector compared to 12% in 2019 and 18% in 2014.
• A slightly higher proportion of veterinary nurse respondents reported harassment and bullying compared to veterinary surgeon respondents. Some 39% of respondents reported bullying and harassment from clients, and 21% from colleagues.
• When asked what they thought the RCVS should ‘do more’ of, themes that emerged from veterinary nurse respondents included helping to improve the status of and increase recognition for the profession, protecting the VN title in law, increasing the professional responsibilities of VNs, advocating for better pay and increasing public awareness of the role and remit of veterinary nurses.
Commenting on the publication of the two reports, RCVS Chief Executive Officer Lizzie Lockett said: “A big thank you to all those veterinary surgeons and veterinary nurses who took the time to complete their respective surveys, and also to those who joined our session at London Vet Show the other day to hear the headline results and ask questions.
“The responses we get from these surveys really do go into the foundations on which we will build our next Strategic Plan, providing the all-important statistical snapshot of the professions, as well as a temperature check of how the professions are feeling generally, and on specific issues.
“As part of the surveying process, we give members of the professions an opportunity to tell us what they want the College to do more of, and it’s worth reiterating that some of what they are asking for is already in train in one form or another. For example, developing our plans for mandatory practice regulation, enhancing our public engagement via the Public Advisory Group, working towards protection of title and an enhanced VN role through legislative reform, our suite of proactive training courses and learning opportunities via the Mind Matters Initiative and RCVS Academy, and building new and improved career pathways for veterinary surgeons.
“There were also some interesting learning points for us as an organisation coming from the survey, and we will be reviewing how we gather information from and interact with the professions, particularly their younger members, and how we act upon the information we receive.
“We look forward now to taking some of the key learnings and suggestions forward to our next Strategic Plan which we are in the process of finalising and will publish early in 2025.”
Download the full reports and summaries here.