A shortage in the veterinary workforce in regional NSW has been the focus of a recent report, but one local vet clinic says things are not as bad as they seem.

Committee Chair of the review, the Hon Mark Banasiak MLC said 'There are many factors that have contributed to the veterinary workforce shortage in New South Wales, including the regulatory framework, market forces and community expectations.

"These issues have created a 'perfect storm' for the workforce, affecting recruitment, retention, salaries, working hours, and mental health and wellbeing."

Dr Kylie Parry from NorthWest Vets in Coonamble, said she found the report interesting as, in 20 years of living locally, they had never had issues finding vets.

"There are eight vets working at the practice at the moment and over all our time here, we have not had any trouble attracting young vets," Dr Parry said.

"It's very important to foster an environment where vets want to come to a practice and that involves not being constantly on call and working ridiculously long hours.

"I don't think that is any different to any other professions - work/ life balance is very important."

Regional retention of vets is a big issue according to Mr Banasiak and this is compounded for veterinarians outside the major cities, where finding childcare and housing is also difficult.

These challenges, plus a dwindling supply of younger veterinarians wanting to work with large animals, make it extremely difficult to recruit veterinarians in rural and regional areas, the report claims.

Accordingly, the committee has recommended that the NSW Government provide financial incentives to encourage veterinarians to work in large animal practice in regional areas.'

Dr Parry said that she hasn’t see any issue with young vets wanting to work with larger animals.

"We have plenty of vets interested in larger animals," she said. "It is definitely not the experience of our practice that these young vets aren't around.

"I think the main thing is to provide a culture and practice to attract vets.

"We work hard to foster an environment to attract vets and it is also around the community welcoming new people which we find to happen quite naturally in our region.

"As far as financial incentives, I would suggest a HECS rebate would be extremely helpful."

"There are definitely vet practices that have issues with staffing, but shortages in industries are not unique to vets.

"Issues around mental health are huge and that is a lot about unrealistic views from clients. Luckily, I can say that we do not have that issue here and our clients are fantastic.

"One big problem with the vet industry at the moment is that, when I graduated in the early 90's, the gender split was 50/50. Now it is 85% women and 15% men. That's not a problem until women have children and are the primary caregivers and need time off work."

Kylie and Scott Parry passed the ownership of their practice to younger vets Charlie Millthorp and Emily Fisher in 2022 but continue to be part of the veterinary team that covers Coonamble, Walgett, Lightning Ridge and further afield.

Other findings from the report touched on additional stressors with animals that have no owners.

Mr Banasiak continued: 'The committee found that veterinarians provide a public good by caring for and treating injured wildlife and stray, lost and homeless animals.

These services often receive little or no recompense.

To address this issue, the committee has recommended that the NSW Government provide dedicated ongoing funding for the provision of veterinary services to wildlife and to help ensure local government authorities collect stray animals from licensed veterinary clinics.

Dr Parry said we were extremely lucky in the Western Plains that the Dubbo Zoo is close by and offers free wildlife treatment.

"It means caring for wildlife is not an onerous issue for local vets and that is hugely appreciated," Dr Parry said. "Vets also have a good relationship with local councils and work well together for the welfare of animals."