FIVE independent companies – each owned and managed by separate consortiums of farm veterinary practices – have won the contracts to deliver Government veterinary work, including TB testing, in England on behalf of the Animal & Plant Health Association (APHA).

XL Farmcare North; XL Farmcare Midlands; XL Farmcare South East; XL Farmcare Devon and Cornwall and XL Farmcare Wessex are now the official "Delivery Partners" for APHA's five English regions.

They already undertake a significant proportion of TB testing in their areas and will work with other veterinary practices when the system begins on May 1.

Rob Henderson, of XL Farmcare Midlands, said: “If a veterinary practice is not yet working with a regional Delivery Partner and wants to undertake TB testing and other Government veterinary work for their own farm clients – and they can deliver the required standard of work – then they can enter into an agreement with the regional contract holder to provide this."

Although the majority of farmers are expected to continue using their own vet for TB testing, the new system requires farmers to choose who undertakes it in the future from a list of eligible sub-contractors.

Once all the sub-contractors are established, the regional XL Farmcare companies will work to ensure every farmer's choice of provider for TB testing is registered. In addition, farmers can register their preference on the xlfarmcare.co.uk website.

Many veterinary practices already have experience of collaborative working. Bridget Taylor of XL Farmcare North said: “Experience of working co-operatively, along with the high levels of trust that have developed over many years, will definitely help ensure a cohesive approach to TB testing is maintained. This in turn will support a smoother transition of delivery of the Government veterinary services to the new regional companies."

The NFU has said the changes to the way on-farm Bovine TB testing is done should not result in farmers having to pay towards costs if they want to keep using their own vets.

Minette Batters, deputy president, said: "It is vital that the new delivery partners maintain local service delivery so farmers can continue to use their own vets without having to pay towards the testing costs.

“The long-term relationships farmers build with their vets are hugely important for all aspects of animal health and welfare, and especially regarding bovine TB. These vets have often worked closely with farmers for many years, building up trust, knowledge of the farmer’s business, and a working relationship which allows them to have informed and detailed discussions about how best to keep bTB, and other diseases, out of their herds."

She also said if any problems occur which result in overdue tests farmers must not be fined under cross compliance for something that was beyond their control.

Under the new system, the delivery partners are required to offer testing work to vet businesses operating within their region. Livestock keepers will be able to express a preference for a particular sub-contracted vet to do their testing and APHA has said this will be honoured where possible.

John Blackwell, president of the British Veterinary Association (BVA), said: "It is essential that local vets in England continue to play an important role in critical disease testing, such as bovine TB, and other OV services and we will expect the delivery partners to utilise the existing networks of local veterinary practices.

"We will monitor how the service is being delivered at a local level and feed in any concerns raised by our members to Defra and APHA, particularly in terms of any erosion of the link between vets and farmers and the potential impact of a loss of veterinary services in rural areas.

"APHA must continue to recognise that veterinary surgeons are vital to both individual farms and to the national disease control programmes."