Provision of Contingency Official Veterinarians ("COV") Services in Scotland

Supporting Scotland's Response to Exotic Animal Disease Outbreaks
The Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) is seeking support from vet practices across Scotland to help respond to outbreaks of exotic notifiable and reportable animal diseases, including Avian Influenza (AI) and Bluetongue (BT).
During disease outbreaks, APHA often requires additional veterinary capacity to undertake field-based disease control activities such as farm visits, clinical inspections, examinations and sampling. We recognise the invaluable local knowledge and expertise held by veterinary practices across Scotland and would like to work with practices to strengthen Scotland's ability to respond quickly and effectively when outbreaks occur.
We intend to invite interested practices to join a framework that would allow APHA to call upon veterinary resource within your local area when additional support is needed.
Before designing this framework, we are interested to hear from vet practices in Scotland about how you think we can best work together. We are inviting you to:
1. Submit written feedback to us by Fri 16th October.
2. Join one of our engagement sessions (via Microsoft Teams), during which we will present our draft plans for the framework. The time has yet to be agreed, but we propose either 7pm Wed 28th Oct or 12:30 pm Fri 30th Oct allowing you to engage with us over lunch or after practice hours. If you wish to attend, please let us know which time works best for you.
Below, we provide further information regarding the services, and describe the areas on which we are keen to hear your thoughts about how we can best work together.
Training and Support
Any vets deployed through this arrangement will receive comprehensive training before undertaking outbreak work. Practices can decide which members of their team receive training and make themselves available for deployment; there is no requirement for all vets within a practice to participate.
APHA will provide disease-specific...