The BVA has launched a survey to gather experiences of discrimination in the veterinary professions.

Veterinary nurses, veterinary surgeons, students and other veterinary professionals are all invited to take part in the anonymous survey and share incidents where they have witnessed discrimination or felt discriminated against.

The survey covers the nine protected characteristics under the Equality Act: age, gender reassignment, marital or partnership status, being pregnant, disability, race, religion, sex and sexual orientation. It also includes other forms of discrimination which might not fit under these characteristics, such as body weight and socio-economic background.

BVA Junior Vice President Daniella Dos Santos said: "The veterinary professions should be open, welcoming and supportive of everyone; however, it is clear from the reports we’re hearing that discrimination is still an issue. Worse still, we’re aware that some colleagues have faced a backlash when talking about their experiences of discrimination. This is completely unacceptable.

"If we hope to prompt meaningful change we need to fully understand the scale of the problems our colleagues are facing. To do that it’s important that we provide a safe, anonymous space for everyone to share their experiences. We hope this questionnaire will give people that opportunity and we would like to sincerely thank our colleagues for their willingness to share their personal experiences with us."

The survey was developed with the support of the British Veterinary Ethnicity and Diversity Society (BVEDS) and British Veterinary LGBT+.

BVA says it intends to gather further quantitative data on discrimination via its Spring Voice of the Veterinary Profession Survey 2019.

The questionnaire is open from 2 February until 2 March and should take around 10 minutes to complete. A link to the questionnaire is available here.

PS: Whilst you're here, take a moment to see our latest job opportunities for vet nurses.