AUCKLAND VETS IN ‘CRISIS’ AS STAFF SHORTAGE COINCIDES WITH SURGE IN PET ADOPTION

Pet owners are struggling to get vet appointments, as a “dire” staff shortage has coincided with a surge in pet adoption.

Several veterinary clinics in Auckland said they had been turning down new clients for routine treatment because they simply didn’t have the capacity to take them on.

Pakuranga Veterinary Clinic has been turning away new patients for six months.

Director Sasha Nowell said the pressure caused by the vet shortage had reached breaking point because of a backlog of work which had continued to pile up since lockdown.

“This really is a crisis now. It is heartbreaking having to turn clients and patients away, but there simply isn’t anybody to look after them,” she said.

Meanwhile, there has been a surge of Aucklanders adopting furry friends following last year’s long Covid-19 lockdown.

Auckland Council recorded 7358 new dogs in its system since August 2021. In comparison, in 2019, it recorded just 957 new dogs in the same timeframe.

The companion animal register also saw a 23 per cent increase in animal microchip registration nationally in 2021.

Dr Megan Alderson of The Strand Veterinarian in Parnell said vets she knew had been working long hours without lunch or toilet breaks, but it still hadn’t been enough.

Her clinic had a two-week wait list for new clients. She said each day was a challenge to roster a full team due to the impacts of stress and illness.

She said the price of vet care was likely to increase in the near future as a result of the shortage.

“We will need to pay staff more to keep them on the ground. There’s the perception that vets drive Porsches, but that is not the case.”

She said the majority of the cost of visiting a vet went towards the increasingly high standard of care, including use of MRI scans, CT scans and specialised anaesthetists.

New Zealand Veterinary Association chief executive Kevin Bryant said he had been hearing stories about overworked and stressed vets turning down new clients all over the country.

He said there were 76 job vacancies for vets listed on the association’s website alone, and not nearly enough trained staff in New Zealand to fill them.

“There’s been a domino effect, where if you have a practice short of staff, the other staff have to work longer hours under increased pressure, and so they leave.”

He believed the industry could well be short 200 to 300 vets, based on a survey the association conducted two years ago.

Bryant said the only way to stem the crisis was to bring in vets from overseas.

The association had lobbied the Government for border exemptions for 50 further veterinarians, but only 20 positions had been filled because of strict visa criteria and a lack of spots in managed isolation and quarantine (MIQ).

Massey University is the only tertiary institution in New Zealand that offers a Bachelor of Veterinary Science (BVSc). It produces 100 graduates each year.

The university’s head of veterinary science Professor Jon Huxley said as a result of discussions with the Tertiary Education Commission, the programme was increasing its domestic intake this year. However, he couldn’t say by how many.

Places for the programme were selected at the start of semester two in July.

“Unfortunately, this is not a short-term fix. It takes five years to train a vet, so any changes to our student intake which occur today will not graduate until 2027,” Huxley said.