Noel Fitzpatrick announces VET Festival end

VET Festival will not return in 2023, its founder Noel Fitzpatrick has announced – as he admitted “we cannot make the numbers work”.

In a heartfelt email thanking sponsors, partners and exhibitors of 2022’s event – back after a two-year COVID-19 absence – Prof Fitzpatrick said “a range of factors mean that it is regretfully not viable” for the annual conference to continue.

VET Festival launched in 2015 as a feel-good CPD event, the first held outdoors, that combined lectures from leading speakers with a fun social programme, and professional and personal well-being sessions.

Support

In his email, Prof Fitzpatrick thanked everyone for contributing to the festival’s “quality and uniqueness”, and helping to showcase “the best of what the veterinary industry has to offer” following the uncertainties caused by the pandemic.

He said: “However, the reality is that running an event like VET Festival has presented significant challenges. A range of factors mean that it is regretfully not viable for us to continue holding this annual conference.

“In an ever-more commercial world, it is a real struggle for smaller events like ours to attract the range of delegates, exhibitors, and sponsors that complete the picture and bring in the funds necessary to run this event.”

‘Good of all’

Prof Fitzpatrick continued: “It was never our intention to exist for profit, but rather reinject everything back into the veterinary industry for the good of all.

“We earnestly wished that this intention was enough to keep going and build on the foundations we set down in 2015, but as it is, we cannot make the numbers work.

“I very much hope we will have the opportunity to get together again one day and to build on the essence of what VET Festival is all about – a vision of ‘veterinary education for tomorrow’, supporting mental and physical well-being at all levels of the profession, as well as continuing professional development in a unique outdoor environment.”