As of May 18, there will no longer be an organized 24-hour veterinary emergency service in Dingle, Sweden.
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The district includes the municipalities of Sotenäs, Munkedal, Tanum and Strömstad as well as Lysekil except Skaftö parish.
Since 2015, a private operator has held the veterinary standby, but announced in November 2022 that they did not want to continue the agreement that expired on 18 May.
The Swedish Agricultural Agency is now giving the District Veterinarians the task of establishing themselves in Dingle, as well as drawing up a plan for this. However, the establishment will take time and requires extra resources.
The Swedish Agricultural Agency has worked to solve the emergency in Dingle in several ways.
"We have held dialogue with private veterinarians in the district who work with farm animals and horses, but they have not had the conditions to be part of the emergency work. We have also gone out with a tender, but no actor has shown any interest," says Anna Clarin, head of unit at the Swedish Agency for Agriculture.
"The District Veterinarians need to increase their staff to be able to care for animals in Dingle. Today we have no business and no staff there, says Robert ter Horst, head of the District Veterinarians.
"We are doing everything we can to resolve the situation as quickly as possible. In order to secure the food supply, however, we will immediately step in and deal with any outbreaks of infectious animal diseases in the Dingle district.
"We are working to find a long-term stable solution as soon as possible and secure the veterinary preparedness in Dingle," says Clarin.
"We will also send a letter to the government stating that we are currently unable to fulfill our mission, and again raise the need for broad solutions to solve the lack of vets who want to work on standby."
For many years there has been a shortage of clinical veterinarians in Sweden and access to emergency veterinary care is no longer a matter of course.
For several years, the district veterinarians have expanded their geographical area to help more animals when private operators choose to stop covering evenings, nights and weekends.
Private veterinarians are the largest veterinary resource in Sweden, and the Swedish Agricultural Agency believes that they need to be used more effectively in preparedness work.
As the District Veterinarians do not currently offer a veterinary service in Dingle, animal owners can turn to the private vets. Currently, it may be more difficult to get hold of a vet in the evenings, nights and weekends.
It is important to:
• Contact your regular vet if your animal starts to get sick - don't wait too long!
• Find out what opportunities for veterinary care are available in your local area, and what their opportunities to offer care look like at different times. There are several digital veterinary advice services that you can call for advice and support.
• Be aware that you may have to travel further to receive care.
• Be aware that you may have to wait longer to receive care. ■