TB Farm Advice Online Course

TB Farm Advice Online

The interactive TB Farm Advice Online course is led by Jo Wheeler, an APHA TB Epidemiologist and James Russell who is a Director of a mixed Practice in Cheshire and a BCVA Board member. They are joined by Ian Vernon, an APHA Field Epidemiologist.

The content of the course is relevant to farms which are not under TB restrictions as well as those who may have been living with TB for some time.

The online course costs £99 plus VAT and enrolment is from your OV training dashboard.

Objectives

On completion of the course you should be able to:

Understand current Government policy in your area and across England
Know what to ask and how to ask it when addressing bTB biosecurity
Have confidence in using TBHub an ibTB
Understand the 5 point plan and how it applies to
• The data pack
• The farm walk
Appreciate CHeCS requirements and encourage farmers to sign up where appropriate
Know about the TB advisory Service and understand how to guide farmers to take advantage of this service.
To be able to construct a bTB biosecurity plan bespoke to each farm you attend

TB Farm Advice Workshops

These workshops have been developed to give the latest advice for farm vets on how their farm clients can protect their herds from TB.

The one day workshops are led by James Russell who is a Director of a mixed Practice in Cheshire and a BCVA Board member and Sue Hay, Head of Official Veterinarian (OV) Training at Improve International.

The content of the Workshops is relevant to farms which are not under TB restrictions as well as those who may have been living with TB for some time.

The workshop are classroom based in the morning and then the afternoon includes a farm walk where you will be able to apply the morning discussions to a practical situation. The farm walk will also be the opportunity to trial an app which has been especially designed to enable the details of the farm walk to be recorded and a report printed.

The workshops are accredited by ISVPS and deliver 9 hours of CPD. Each Workshop is supported with online material which includes precourse reading, a library of resources and a final exam.

Tutors

James Russell graduated in 2002 from the RVC. He has been involved in the BVA VPG since 2010 and has been a Director of a mixed practice in Derbyshire since 2011. At the World Mycobacterium bovis Conference in 2014 James won the poster competition in the ‘Practical Control’ section. He lectures at Farmers’ meetings throughout the midland at the invitation of the NFU and sits on the Derbyshire TB Board. He takes an active interest in prevention of infectious diseases and this has led to his recently appointment to the BCVA Board.

Jo Wheeler joined the MAFF State Veterinary Service in 1993 after almost a decade in general mixed practice. This was at the height of the BSE epidemic. However, as the BSE cases fell they were replaced with a rising number of TB breakdowns. Jo became the Lead TB VO for Cornwall and experienced and implemented a number of different TB strategies before the Classical Swine Fever outbreak in Bury in 2000. She was heavily involved in the 2001 FMD outbreak working in East Anglia, Cornwall, Devon and Cumbria at various points and in various different roles. This gave her a taste for Field Epidemiology and she applied for and was selected to become part of a national group of Field Epi Vets. In this role she has been involved in outbreaks of Avian Influenza, FMD, Bluetongue, Anthrax and Equine Infectious Anaemia, whilst continuing to battle TB in “peacetime”. She was appointed to her new role as South West Field Epidemiology Veterinary Adviser in November of 2014. Inevitably being based in the South West she deals with bovine TB on a daily basis.

Sue Hay graduated from Glasgow Vet School and went on to work for 10 years in mixed Practice. Following a short career break and a spell in small animal practice she joined APHA in the South West, where she spent most of her time working with TB. She studied for a Certificate in Clinical Education at The Peninsula Medical School. Sue joined Improve International in 2014 where she is currently Head of Official Veterinarian (OV) Training.