Volume 3: The Early Years, 1986-88
1. The identification of a new disease in cattle
Veterinary Investigation Centres and the Central Veterinary Laboratory

1.2 In 1985 the State Veterinary Service for Great Britain (SVS) comprised the Veterinary Investigation Service (VI Service), the Veterinary Field Service (VFS) and the Central Veterinary Laboratory (CVL). Initially, a newly identified animal disease was the responsibility of the VI Service, though once a disease had been made notifiable its management became the responsibility of the VFS. ¹

1.3 Within the VI Service were 22 Veterinary Investigation Centres (VICs), spread throughout England and Wales. In Scotland, the Scottish Agricultural Colleges undertook the role of the VI Service. Northern Ireland had its own veterinary service and support facilities. ² The role of the VI Service was to carry out disease surveillance and to provide a consultancy facility for veterinary surgeons in private practice. Members of the VI Service reported to an Assistant Chief Veterinary Officer, who was directly responsible to the Chief Veterinary Officer (CVO) at MAFF in Tolworth (Surrey), rather than the Director of the CVL.

1.4 The CVL's role was to act as a central facility for the whole of the UK. It provided diagnosis and consulting on animal diseases, specialist and technical expertise for practising farm vets, ³ and a source of information for policy makers (though it had no primary responsibility for policy-related decisions itself, or for operational control of disease). ⁴

1.5 The VI Service and the CVL provided a two-stage consultancy service to private vets. VICs would send selected specimens to the CVL for specialised diagnosis within one of its departments: Bacteriology, Biochemistry, Parasitology and Pathology. ⁵ At this time, Mr Ray Bradley, who from June 1987 also coordinated BSE research, headed the Pathology Department. Within that department the Consultant Pathology Unit (CPU), headed by Mr Gerald Wells, provided a consultancy service for the VI Service. It was staffed by six CVL pathologists, from various sections of the Pathology Department, on a rota basis. ⁶