Ben Mayes Announced As New BEVA President

The appointment of Ben Mayes as President of the Association for 2011/12 will be formally approved at BEVA Congress 7th-10th September 2011 at the Liverpool Arena Convention Centre, Liverpool. He will take over the role from Deidre Carson at the end of the Congress. Keith Chandler will become President Elect and Paul Jepson will become Junior Vice President. Ben Mayes graduated from Cambridge vet School in 1992. He is a partner at Mayes and Scrine equine veterinary practice on the Surrey/West Sussex border and over the past 10 years has developed the business into a five-vet, RCVS PSS tier 2 practice with purpose-built clinic facilities. Ben is a true equine general practitioner with clients from all disciplines of equine sport and is equally happy with routine call outs or in-house surgery. Ben Mayes has broad ambitions during his presidential year. As Chair of the Equine Establishments’ Working Party he hopes that BEVA will be able to help draw up and implement a Code of Practice for livery yards, dealers, breeders and sanctuaries during 2012, a pivotal part of which would include compliance with passport and welfare regulations. He explains: “Vets can play an integral role in helping yards comply with a Code of Practice. Proper knowledge of where all the horses are in the country would be hugely beneficial for disease control and it is imperative to secure a safe future for the single database.” As Chair of the BEVA Welfare Committee, Ben is actively involved with the development of a simple bio-security code for yards and is responsible for BEVA’s integral role within the UK’s Equine Health and Welfare Strategy. He is keen to highlight the importance of professional practice in all aspects of equine health, saying: “BEVA is at the coal-face of interaction between the profession, paraprofessionals and alternative practitioners. Many individuals who naively “treat” horses are not qualified in any way and handling these situations is a common day-to-day scenario for equine vets. I look forward to lobbying from the highly qualified, knowledgeable and legitimate practitioner’s corner.” Ben Mayes has identified insurance as an important focus for attention during 2012. Over the next few months BEVA hopes to work with the industry to produce a downloadable leaflet. This will be made available to insurance companies and BEVA members for inclusion with all insurance correspondence, explaining in simple language the complexities of equine cover, such as veterinary history, exclusions, excesses, maxima and mortality. He is also enthusiastic about building on BEVA’s important role in continuing education. He says: “As well as Congress, BEVA’s not-for-profit CPD programme will provide over 50 courses next year, including seasonal workshops on subjects from litigation to competition emergencies.” He concludes: “I thank the outgoing President Deidre Carson for her hard work and dedication during BEVA’s 50th year and I know that the Board and Council, including our new members Dr Tim Mair, Dr Lesley Young and Dr Neil Hudson, are excited about the year ahead. BEVA must continue to be at the forefront of education, measured comment, respected opinion and collective responsibility for the sake of the horse, the veterinary profession and all of us.” For further information visit www.beva.org.uk.

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