A trend in your industry. Where it’s come from, where it’s going and what your take is on it.

As I touched upon earlier this week on Facebook, I was a founder member of RAMP and the aims of this UK centric body is to enhance public and veterinary awareness and encourage a high standard of training in each of the three disciplines of Osteopathic, Chiropractic and Physiotherapy.

As a result of RAMP’s discussions with DEFRA and RCVS, in 2020, there were changes in the Veterinary Code of Conduct, which clarified that whilst remedial care requires veterinary consent, competition and maintenance care no longer require agreement for treatment from the vet prior to consultation with an Osteopathic, Chiropractic and Physiotherapy practitioner.

Another aim of RAMP’s was to work toward the concept of autonomous practice for those who are suitably trained, but this has been a harder hurdle to overcome because of the huge contrast in educational training and the lack of formal regulation.

My personal take on this situation is this. Until a formal regulator is in place to police standards, and educational providers realise the important role they play in shaping practitioners of the future, we need to remain part of a vet-led team. The discrepancy between courses at this time, means that not all practitioners are equal, even though their titles remain the same on paper. So, in light of the fact that the only thing we should care about is the welfare of the animal, I believe we need to walk before we can run.

Whilst I personally, would love to have the same autonomous practice in animal osteopathy that I have in human practice, I also worry that some people in the industry will end up bypassing key investigatory processes because they do not know enough about veterinary medicine to do what is right for that animal, No matter how good we get at communicating with horses and dogs, the fact remains, we don’t speak their language. And that is unlikely to change, anytime soon. Resultantly, I know that were I to be given autonomous rights, I would still want to communicate with the animal’s vet, to be 100% sure that osteopathy was right modality for that animal. This may not be everyone’s take on the situation, but years in this industry have shown me a hard lesson. It is not what a practitioner knows that harms. It is what he does not know.

Dustie

@animalosteopathyinternational

#growlikeaprofessional