Tuesday July 28th 2026
FutureVets Camp Photo 2025 credit Lidija Divjak
Written by Midlothian View Reporter, Liam Eunson
Tom Arthur MSP will open FutureVets Camp 2026 and meet 60+ teenagers whose dreams of caring for animals could decide whether rural communities keep their farms and families – and whether the country’s food supply is secure.
This year’s FutureVets Camp for young aspiring vets and vet nurses will be opened by the Minister for Business and Fair Work Tom Arthur on Tuesday 28 July.
The camp, held at Scotland’s Rural College (SRUC) Oatridge in West Lothian from 28-30 July, brings together more than 60 young people aged 15-18 from all across Scotland, almost half of them from areas designated rural or deprived. It is fully subscribed, with a waiting list already open for 2027.
Like most people in the vet profession, these school pupils dream of a future caring for animals, not running a business. Yet for Scotland’s farming communities to survive, some vets will need to join, start, or run an independent practice, with all the additional business challenges that the CMA report on the UK veterinary services market, brings.
FutureVets aims to be the keepers of dreams, encouraging more pupils to join the dwindling number of applicants to the vet profession – both vets and vet nurses – and nurturing them, giving some of the skills that will help them succeed.
In Scotland, their dream carries a bigger weight. Remote and rural areas make up 70% of Scotland’s land, and vets are one of the services that hold those communities together. Ultimately no vets could mean no farms, no fisheries and, as a consequence, families moving away from remote rural areas. Developing the next generation of rural vets starts the same as every other career: with education, inspiration and the chance to try. That is what camp provides – three days of hands-on animal care, clinical skills, lab work, emotional intelligence and leadership training.
Following this year’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) report, veterinary practices are entering a new era of transparency with animal owners, with more clear pricing, ownership and cost estimates. FutureVets has welcomed the change. Delivering it well is now a practical business challenge, especially for small independent and rural practices, and practices with strong business foundations will be best placed to give animal owners the openness they’ve been promised.
While 60% of the UK’s vet practices are now owned by corporates, which have the group resources to implement the CMA changes, corporates own a tiny percentage of practices in remote and rural areas. In these places, the business landscape is as challenging as the mountain and glen terrain. As well as the costs and hours involved in covering huge distances to see animals on farms, there aren’t so many pets in areas with smaller populations.
For many, a veterinary practice is the cornerstone of the community and a business like no other – a clinical service, an emergency service and a local employer, and much of Scotland’s food security depends on these practices operating. The library of video interviews on the FutureVets website is testament to how fulfilling it can be to belong to these communities. But beyond that, Scotland’s food security and public health depends on these practices operating.
Farms and fisheries need vets not just for care in times of sickness, but to comply with national and international regulations and laws. Without the vets, the communities collapse, and ultimately so does some of Scotland’s food supply.
So vets need to be encouraged and supported to work in rural communities which is one reason why FutureVets offers supported places at camp, to pupils from remote and deprived areas. It’s also why admissions teams from all three of the country’s universities that offer vet courses are at camp, because the logistics and expense for families to come to visit each of the campuses are considerable.
FutureVets believes Scotland needs business support designed specifically for veterinary practice. Mentoring and start-up support could help a new generation set up, take on and sustain practices in rural Scotland, building on the country’s existing enterprise support network.
During his visit to camp, the Minister for Business and Fair Work will speak to the assembled FutureVets and staff, join hands-on sessions, and chat to participants, FutureVets Ambassadors (current vet school students who came through earlier camps), a rural practice owner and staff from Scotland’s vet schools.
Minister for Business and Fair Work Tom Arthur said:
“The importance of attracting talented young people into careers that support our economy and our communities cannot be underestimated. We need to nuture and encourage skilled professionals across every sector, and the veterinary profession is no exception.
“This is why I am particularly delighted to have the opportunity to be joining this year’s FutureVets Camp, which plays an important role in helping our young people to gain new insights, develop new skills and gain a better understanding of the many different paths available within animal health and veterinary science. I look forward to meeting this year’s attendees, who’ve come from every corner of the country, and who I am sure will head home inspired to join the next generation of veterinary professionals.”
Dr Karen Gardiner, a Founder of FutureVets, said: “Nobody at camp dreams of profit and loss spreadsheets. These young people dream of caring for animals, and Scotland badly needs them to. In much of rural Scotland, when the vet goes, the farm goes, and the school and the shop are not far behind. Our job is to keep the dream alive all the way from the classroom to the clinic. That means inspiring young people at camp, and it means making sure that when one of them takes on a practice in a community that needs them, there is proper mentoring and business support behind them so they can focus on what they trained for – the animals.”
Dr Sheila Voas, Chief Veterinary Officer (Scotland), said: “I am delighted to see the FutureVets Camp running again this year, building on the successes of the previous 2 camps, to help to promote the profession as an option for young people and to help address a chronic shortage of vets especially in some of our more remote areas.”
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