Cyfarfod Chwarterol 2 Grŵp Iechyd Anifeiliaid Cymru ar Ymwrthedd Gwrthficrobaidd

Rob Smith* (RS) Iechyd Da/Arwain DGC
Sarah Carr*^ (SC) Vet & Farmer/Animal Health & Welfare Framework Group Representative
Gwen Rees* (GR) Aberystwyth University/Arwain DGC
Hywel Morgan* (HM) Farmer
Thomas Bletcher* (TB) Farmer
Meryl Davies* (MD) Public Health Wales (PHW)
Catrin Moore* (CM) Microbiology Society
Ifan Lloyd* (IL) Iechyd Da/Arwain DGC
Muna Anjum (MA) Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA)
Anju Kirby^ (AK) Veterinary Medicines Directorate (VMD)
Tamsin Dewe (TD) Veterinary Medicines Directorate (VMD)
Gavin Watkins* (GW) OCVO, Welsh Government
Richard Pizzey (RP) OCVO, Welsh Government
Sian Timms (ST) OCVO, Welsh Government

Apologies

Peter Jones (PJ) HSS, Welsh Government
Simon Rolfe (SR) HSS, Welsh Government
Chris Teale* (CT) Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA)
Elitsa Penkova (EP) Water Policy, Welsh Government (PhD Placement)
Stella Christou (SC) Water Policy, Welsh Government (PhD Placement)
Kitty Healey* (KH) Veterinary Medicines Directorate (VMD)
Claire Jones* (CJ) Farmer

Facilitator

Kirsty Falcus (KF) OCVO, Welsh Government

Key

* = DG Board Member
^ = Joined at 10:55

• The meeting started at 10:00, GW thanked all for attending. Apologies were noted. Everyone present introduced themselves to the group. 

• Asked the group for comments on the minutes to be sent via email, if no comments these will be finalised and published on the WG website.
• Education actions are still in progress, initial discussions within OCVO have taken place. A further update on progress will be provided at the June meeting.
• Risks & Issues table now added to actions log to highlight to top 3-5 risks and issues for the group.

ACTION: Group to consider the top 3-5 risks/issues ready to finalise these at the June meeting. 

• Terms of reference have been circulated via email. No comments have been received.
• If no comments by 28^th March these will be finalised and published on the WG website.

• DG Members
  o    RS – Arwain phase II coming to an end. Phase III plans starting. Workstreams continuing to allow continuity with the programme. Some new areas starting.
  o    IL – update from the Cattle Antibiotic Guardian Group (CAGG) meeting. Detailed discussions about the medicine hub, continuing to be a challenge to get people to use this. Looking to encourage more use. A percentage of Wales AMU data is collected through WLBP tools. Mortality rates in cattle being recorded especially in calves. Group have an interest in RUMA task force and targets.

  GW asked if the Welsh tool could be expanded outside of farm assured farms? 
  RS: the tool is compulsory for farm assured farms so could be difficult for other farms outside the scheme as it is a lot of work for vets and farmers.
  HM found the report provided a useful tool, highlighted usage. Could be used in SFS universal action for medicine, feed and fertiliser use on farm. 
  GW: this is on the list for medium/longer term action to be potentially included in the future. 
  RP: would be something for us to look at in the future. 
  MD: needs some discussion and awareness that the England digital calculator isn’t the only option. Slaughterhouse forms are not allowing for Wales calculator to be included so data not being recorded. For the AMU calculator it would be good to see when the antibiotics are purchased as well as the 12-month aggregate. 
  Data being collected via FAVSNET, this shows use and disease that the antibiotics was used for. 
  MD: human health have codes for certain indications, this might help with analysis if codes were developed for veterinary use. TD, posted in chat about codes used in vet practice. 
  GR: challenging to get vets to use codes due to different practice management systems. Veterinary Prescribing Champions (VPC) network are keen to develop this. 
  ACTION: look into possible presentation from Liverpool for the group to learn more about their work.
  o    CM: in Belgium last week presenting on AMR to encourage collaboration between UK and Belgium.
  o    HM: sitting on roundtable for SFS. Slow progress but hopefully animal health and welfare part of actions will make progress soon.
  
  RP: ambition is to establish where farmers and vets want to improve without pressure to achieve results so no penalty if results not achieved. Encourages collaboration between vets and farmers. 
  TB: concerned about low uptake of the SFS due to farmers not finding it appealing. Should things be made universal actions that are not going to be taken up. Too much being asked. If SFS isn’t taken up, then the larger farms won’t benefit as much from SFS so less likely to take it up. The data from those farms won’t then be available even though they could be the biggest users. 
  HM: chance that eventually slaughterhouses, supermarkets etc will insist on this data therefore it becomes necessary. 
  o    GR: been to Scotland to talk to Mordun institute, interested in VPC. Northern Ireland is keen to have something similar as well. Good to share our work with the other administrations.
  o    MD: using new structure for Welsh Government reporting. Work ongoing with public engagement and preparing for World Antimicrobial Awareness Week. Children’s competition with posters and videos has been launched. Continuing work in line with National Action Plan and establishing if new working groups are required. 
  o    MA: been involved in the PATHSAFE work. Contributed to National Biosecurity Network (NBN). Involved in lots of UKRI projects, looking at research proposals in UK and EU.
  
  GW: does APHA still publish a report with AMU from their database. MA, this is included in the VARSS report. GW and MA to continue discussion offline.

• WG Update (RP)
  o    Work been recently approved by DFM, Written Ministerial Statement being published next week.
  o    2024 review being published next week alongside a new 2025 – 2029 AMR control plan for animals. Thanked members who commented on the draft plan. One area of the work that fits in One Health work promoted by cabinet. 
  o    Animal only plan due to the way industry work as it is different to the human health sector. Aligns with the UK NAP and their One Health objectives.
  o    Formal announcement of outcome of the procurement exercise due next week. Exercise launched in December. Workstreams continuing as well as new workstreams to help continue our work and align with NAP objectives.
  o    Surveillance update to be shared via email. 
  ACTION: KF to share this with the group.
  o    Companion animals still on the radar, still considering how we can take this forward in the future.
  o    Continuing to look for future funding options.
• One Health Update
  o    No update for this meeting.
• VMD Update (TD)
  o    NAP governance – monitoring for the NAP, does current data tell us what we need to know. Interested in hearing more about monitoring and evaluation in Wales. 
  o    National Audit Office report – audit of AMR delivery and progress in England with some UK wide elements. Only one of five targets from 2019 NAP achieved: Reducing AMR in food producing animals. Not a lot of money going to Defra for AMR work in animals. 
  o    International – continuing work of international delivery plan, independent panel of AMR for action due to launch this year. 
  o    Documentary on AMR being released in next couple of months, misleading narrative for animal AMU and links between AMR in people and animals. 
  o    Consumption – new set of antibiotic targets for livestock sector. Coordinated by RUMA task force. Targets on improving AMU data.
  o    AMR surveillance – work through NBN, scaled up, now working with engaging with private vet labs. Linking with Liverpool University (companion animals), Cambridge University (horses) and Defra (farm animals). Trying to pilot surveillance for AMU in companion animals and horses including healthy dogs and cats. A PhD is beginning soon. 
  o    Links for documents referred to above:
  NAO Report: Investigation into how government is addressing antimicrobial resistance - NAO report.
  Public Accounts Committee: Antimicrobial resistance: addressing the risks - Committees - UK Parliament.
  Roadmap for Independent Panel for Evidence on AMR: Roadmap.
  Press around film: How decades of factory farming paved the way for today’s… | TBIJ.
   

• Piloting UK AMR surveillance of Sheep; PATH-SAFE AMR surveys, healthy sheep are not included in routine AMR surveillance.
• Project looked at healthy sheep at slaughter, caecal samples were collected for analysis.
• From Epidemiological Cut Off Value (ECOFF) method; majority of E. coli isolates found were fully susceptible, only 3.8% were multi drug resistant (MDR). Campylobacter spp. isolates were again mostly fully susceptible with very low MDR levels. In Enterococci spp., there were high levels of full susceptibility and no MDR. Salmonella spp. were mostly fully susceptible.
• Further testing carried out through selective media methods.
• Overall low risk of AMR in UK sheep, however situation is constantly evolving.
  o    HM: is there a way you can link technical terms to brand names that farmers are using? Pass onto Fraser and see if this is possible. If there is a low risk of AMR in sheep, what species are higher risk? Difficult to compare due to lower coverage and shorter timescale, pigs and poultry are generally higher risk.
  o    IL: have similar surveys been carried out on sheep in other countries, are the results comparable? Some comparisons, nothing remarkably different. 
  MA: APHA do lots of comparison and trend analysis. Sheep not included as the numbers weren’t high enough. 
  o    ACTION: include masterclass on antibiotic groups and how they relate to antibiotics used in practice in future meeting.
  o    GW: could we compare on farm sampling results, results from sheep and results from butchers? Limitations around location of sheep, don’t know where they are from. Food Standards Agency (FSA) did carcass swab samples; that would be comparable to butchers. 
  o    MA: working on project looking at AMR moving around in plasmids. Comparing all sectors, looking at E. coli genetic background. Useful to see the relationship between sectors and transmission pathways.
  o    ACTION: invite AK back to meeting to present the beef cattle results at a future meeting.

• Chair of the group
  o    GW is leaving the group as he is retiring from WG; therefore, we need a new chair. 
  o    Would the group like to nominate a chair from WG or nominate someone else.
  o    Answers to be sent via email. 
  o    GW gave a short leaving speech.
  o    Other members thanked GW for his contributions and work.

• Date for September meeting – Thursday 18th or Tuesday 23rd
  o    Availability to be sent via email. Date to be decided in next few weeks. Will be an in-person meeting.
• Royal Welsh Show
  o    WG won’t have the gazebo at the RWS this year therefore WG cannot host Arwain. WG are interested in hearing about other events we could attend at the show.
• Bios for website
  o    In the process of updating the WG website. Members from the previous group should check their bios for accuracy. New members need to provide a short bio.

With no further business, the meeting finished at 12:00.