Resumen de Surveillance: Proposed closure of Inverness disease surveillance centre
Graeme Swanson, Hamish MacGregor-Robertson, Douglas Swaffield, Kenny Johnston, Colm Farrell, Francisco Morera-Pallares, Abigail Walker, Andrew Rafferty, Jane Harley, Eilidh Corr, Gabrielle Beresford, Joanne Patience, Charlotte Fraser, Jim Fraser, Alice Bacon, Rebecca Holden, Sabrina Brunner, Paul Morrison, John Donald, Jamie McLaren
AFTER discussion and due consideration we have decided that as a group of independent veterinary practices we totally oppose the SAC proposal to close the Inverness Disease Surveillance Centre (DSC).
In his introduction to the Kinnaird Report, Richard Lochhead, Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs and Environment in Scotland, stated: ‘I commissioned John Kinnaird to conduct this review because I felt that the surveillance system could be strengthened.’ It is our considered opinion that closure of the Inverness DSC will have the opposite effect and lead to an almost complete eradication of surveillance for a large part of the Scottish land mass, which is home to some 25 per cent of Scottish registered agricultural holdings.
The SAC case for closure is based on the number of sheep and cattle postmortem examination submissions at the Inverness centre but we believe this to be a flawed argument, not accurately reflecting the amount of diagnostic and surveillance work that the Inverness DSC carries out.
The region served by the Inverness DSC is geographically distinct from areas served by other DSCs; holdings within this region primarily have extensive farming practices with low stock density, thus fewer disease problems are encountered. In our opinion, the actual number of carcase submissions is not important and leads to an erroneous judgement for closure....
