Hamilton Specialist Referrals is holding a day of CPD focusing on emergency patients on 23rd May 2024 at the Holiday Inn in High Wycombe. 

The session will provide a practical guide to dealing with various emergencies that may present to vets and nurses across multiple disciplines.

The full schedule includes: 

• The ECC Approach to the Haemoabdomen, presented by Lead HDU Vet and RCVS Advanced Practitioner in Small Animal Emergency and Critical care Dr Bec Hyland  
• Damage Control: Bite Wounds, Severely Infected Wounds and Stick Injuries, presented by Head of Soft Tissue Surgery and European specialist in Small Animal Surgery Dr Karla Lee 
• Medical Management of The Jaundiced Patient, presented by Head of Internal Medicine and European specialist in Small Animal Internal Medicine Dr Amanda Paul 
• Anaesthesia Considerations for The Trauma Patient, presented by European specialist in Veterinary Anaesthesia and Analgesia Dr Marieke De Vries 
• The Spinal Fracture Patient, presented by European specialist in Veterinary Neurology Dr Pete Smith 
• The Orthopaedic Approach to Open Fractures, presented by Clinical Director and Recognised Diplomat in Small Animal Surgery Dr Michael Hamilton 

Arlene Connor, Interim Hospital Director at Hamilton Specialist Referrals, said: “Being presented with an emergency patient can be an intense and high-pressure situation, and it’s one that all vet professionals should do their best to prepare for so they are comfortable making decisions under pressure.

"We have a brilliant team here at Hamilton Specialist Referrals, all of whom are well equipped and very experienced when it comes to dealing with emergencies and this is an unrivalled opportunity to learn from them.” 

Tickets cost £80+vat, including lunch and refreshments

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-emergency-patient-tickets-861637851007 

www.hamiltonspecialists.vet

iCatCare has launched the Feline Wellbeing Panel. 

The panel is an international coalition of experts who come from different professional backgrounds but who all specialise in some form in the mental wellbeing of cats. 

The purpose of the panel is to help those working and caring for cats in all the various settings to understand their behavioural, emotional and cognitive capabilities and needs in order to be able to promote their mental wellbeing and ultimately protect their welfare.

Such settings include people’s homes, in catteries, in veterinary clinics, and in homing centres and on the streets. Through the sharing of initiatives and information in a confidential space, iCatCare says this will be a collaborative effort that will advance the accepted understanding and common practices in a way that would be impossible to do individually. 

CEO, Claire Bessant (pictured right) said: "By working together, gaining input from great people and enabling all those who work with cats to grow their expertise, iCatCare can deliver on its mission to create a world in which each cat’s life experience will be as good as it can be’.
 
For more information about the Feline Wellbeing Panel, visit:  https://icatcare.org/about/our-expert-panel

The RCVS is hosting a free one-hour webinar about self-compassion, presented by Mind Matters research grant recipient Dr Katherine Wakelin, Clinical Psychologist, and Sarah Corthorne, trainee Clinical Psychologist, at 7:00pm on Tuesday 3rd September 2024.

The webinar will discuss the importance of self-compassion and provide an overview of Katherine and Sarah’s research into the effectiveness of an online compassion focused therapy (CFT) intervention in improving the mental wellbeing of veterinary professionals.

Katherine and Sarah will also go into more detail about how to get the most out of a CFT course they have created, which will be made freely available for veterinary professionals on the Mind Matters website and on the RCVS YouTube channel .

Katherine said: “Our recent randomised control trial has shown the course to significantly improve resilience and self-compassion and reduce rumination and self-criticism amongst veterinarians.

"Therefore, Sarah and I are delighted to now be disseminating the CFT course freely to the veterinary professions, so that as many people are able to benefit from the evidence-based resource as possible.

“Even though our research was conducted on veterinary surgeons, we hope that the course will be useful to all those working in the veterinary team as the content can be applied in a number of contexts.

“Our webinar will explain more about our research, as well as some of the science behind the effectiveness of the course in a veterinary context.

"So, if you are interested in learning more about how CFT may be able to help you and your team, both in a personal and professional capacity, please do come along.”

Katherine and Sarah’s compassion focused therapy course will be made available on the Mind Matters website in due course. In order to access the online compassion course, individuals are invited to complete a short questionnaire before and after watching one 10-15 minute video each day for 14 days, with the aim of the video intervention being to develop self-compassion skills and reduce self-criticism.

https://vetmindmatters.org/events/ 

Dragon's Den star Jenny Campbell has been confirmed as the first of the keynote speakers for BSAVA Virtual Congress taking place from the 25th-27th March 2021.

Before becoming a dragon, Jenny worked in banking for 30 years and will be sharing her experiences as an entrepreneur and business leader. She became CEO of cash machine company Hanco, bought out the business, turned it around and sold it for £50 million.

Jenny is supportive of the move to host BSAVA Congress online. She said: “Veterinary communities, like other professions, have seen the value that online technologies can offer, both for networking and socials, as well as essential CPD. We should all embrace these changes and look at the value that they can bring.”

The Congress programme is currently being finalised and the organisers say the emphasis is on ensuring the experience is an interactive as possible for each delegate. It will deliver more than 100 hours of CPD, delivered by globally recognised speakers. 

BSAVA Congress 2021 Programme Committee Chair Andy Green said: ‘Whether a virtual or a live event our entire programme is proudly created by the profession, for the profession and we are committed to providing unrivalled education, with topical, clinically relevant and evidence-based content.”

There'll be a virtual commercial exhibition, where delegates will be able to chat with exhibitors from the comfort of their home or consult room. There will also be the ability to network with others in the profession, in face-to-face chat rooms.
 
Professor Ian Ramsey, President of the BSAVA said: “BSAVA Congress 2021 is going to be one of the most innovative in the history of our events.

"While the pandemic circumstances we continue to find ourselves in are far from ideal, we must continue to evolve and progress as a profession. BSAVA Congress is a unique highlight in our calendar for next year and it is shaping up to be a truly memorable event."

For further information and to register your interest click here: https://www.bsavaevents.com/bsavacongress2021/en/page/home

The American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine (ACVIM) has issued a consensus statement which sets new global standards for how primary care and practitioners should treat seizure patients.

The new directive, set out in a consensus statement led by neurologist Dr Marios Charalambous, Neurology Consultant at Blaise Veterinary Referral Hospital, champions a stage-based and prompt approach which targets the abnormal impediments responsible for sustaining seizure activity and establishing refractory stages.

Marios said: "This consensus statement is the culmination of extensive research and experience in managing complex neurological emergencies.

"By formulating clear and universally applicable guidelines for all vets, it presents both a novel perspective in terms of how seizures should be treated, and a huge step forward in this specific field."

Marios was joined by a panel of clinicians including Karen Muñana, Ned E. Patterson, Simon R. Platt, and Holger A. Volk, who have jointly made these recommendations based on prevailing evidence in peer-reviewed literature, as well as their own extensive clinical experience.

It was then validated by the ACVIM Board-Certified Specialists before being distributed globally by ACVIM to form official guidelines for vets across the world.

Marios will be presenting and discussing his findings at the BSAVA Congress 2024 in Manchester this weekend as part of the neurology agenda on Saturday 23 March 2024.

Dan Lewis, National ECC Lead at IVC Evidensia, said: “Being presented with an actively seizing animal can be incredibly stressful for owners and clinicians and has potentially dire consequences.

"Decision-making under such circumstances is often very difficult, even for the most knowledgeable teams, and access to these straightforward treatment guidelines will make a massive difference to how these cases progress.”

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jvim.16928.

North Yorkshire-based Amelia Briggs MRCVS has been reprimanded and warned by the RCVS Disciplinary Committee after she was found to have been dishonest in documentation relating to her official avian influenza surveillance visits. 

Dr Briggs faced four charges and admitted to her conduct in the first three at the outset. 

They related to three official Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) clinical investigation report forms she submitted following three official avian flu surveillance visits she'd undertaken as an Official Veterinarian (OV).

The three surveillance visits all took place during an outbreak of avian influenza in North Yorkshire and were on behalf of the APHA.

Dr Briggs admitted that she'd certified on each of the three forms that she had inspected specific poultry, that she had seen no clinical signs of avian influenza in the poultry and that in her opinion avian influenza did not exist and had not existed in the previous 56 days.

Dr Briggs also admitted that that she had subsequently submitted the three forms to the APHA.

The fourth charge alleged Dr Briggs conduct in certifying the three forms had been dishonest and that her actions risked undermining procedures, regulations and rules designed to protect animal welfare and public health.

Dr Briggs denied that she had been dishonest in any of her actions but admitted that her conduct had risked undermining procedures designed to protect animal welfare and public health.

Dr Briggs explained that in two cases she had relied on information given to her by the keepers of the poultry and in the remaining case it was possible that she had not visited the correct location of the poultry, had posted a letter through the wrong door and had then accidentally submitted a pre-populated inspection form to APHA.

Having heard evidence from the relevant poultry keepers, fellow Official Veterinarians, officials from the APHA and Dr Briggs herself, the Committee gave its determinations on dishonesty.

In relation to the first two charges, which concerned the visits that did take place, the Committee found Dr Briggs had been dishonest both in submitting the inspection forms to the APHA and also in certifying that she had seen no clinical signs or history of avian influenza in both cases.

The Committee concluded that an ordinary decent person would regard the submission of a signed form which contained false information as dishonest.

It also concluded that Dr Briggs had deliberately signed an official form which contained information which she knew to be untrue.

However, the Committee found that Dr Briggs was not dishonest in asserting on these forms that she was of the opinion that disease did not exist based upon the information provided to her by the poultry keepers.

In relation to the third charge, where Dr Briggs did not visit the property concerned, the Committee did not find it proven that she had been dishonest, having heard her evidence that, in this case, she had accidentally submitted a pre-populated inspection form.

The Committee next considered whether the admitted and proven charges amounted to serious professional misconduct.

Paul Morris, chairing the Committee and speaking on its behalf said: “In considering the seriousness of the misconduct, the Committee took into account the fact that the misconduct had involved dishonesty, that there had been a risk of injury to animals and humans (though this risk had not materialised), and that the misconduct had occurred when the respondent, as an Official Veterinarian, occupied a position of increased trust and responsibility.”

He added: “The Committee considered that honest, accurate and careful veterinary certification was a fundamental component of the responsibilities of a veterinary surgeon.

"The matters which the Committee had found to be proved fell far short of the standards expected of a registered veterinary surgeon and amounted, in the Committee’s judgment, to disgraceful conduct in a professional respect.”

In considering the sanction for Dr Briggs the Committee heard positive character testimonials from former employers and clients, as well as a representative from the APHA who said that Dr Briggs had shown contrition for the breaches while recognising that there was unlikely to be a repetition of the conduct and that Dr Briggs was a relatively new and inexperienced vet at the time of her actions.

Mr Morris said: “In the Committee’s judgement the circumstances of the incident were a mitigating factor in the sense that the respondent was working in a pressurised environment, and in a field of practice which was unfamiliar to her.

"The Committee had heard a considerable amount of evidence from various witnesses that the surveillance system created, to monitor the prevalence of avian influenza was one which placed considerable pressure on OVs and, perhaps inevitably, had some shortcomings.

"The respondent had not worked with poultry before so her inexperience in this area fed into this situation.

“The Committee took into account the fact that no actual harm had occurred and there was no financial gain to the respondent.

"The matters with which the Committee was concerned formed a highly unusual, and short-lived, episode in the respondent’s career.”

The Committee also considered that Dr Briggs had made open and frank admissions regarding most of the charges against her and had also shown genuine contrition over her failings.

In light of this, the Committee considered that a reprimand and warning as to future conduct was the most appropriate sanction.

Mr Morris added: “False certification can never be acceptable.

"Veterinary surgeons should never certify any matter which they know, or ought to know, not to be true.

"However, the Committee considered that this case was at the lower end of the spectrum of gravity of false certification cases, that there is no future risk to animals and that the respondent has demonstrated insight.

"In relation to the public interest, the Committee considered that a reasonable and fully informed member of the public would recognise that, in all the circumstances of this particular case, a reprimand and warning as to future conduct would be sufficient to satisfy the public interest.”

www.rcvs.org.uk/disciplinary

Wales' first and only school of veterinary science is to start its veterinary nursing degree course in September. 

The Veterinary Nursing foundation degree at Aberystwyth University combines theoretical and practical learning, with a year-long work placement in a veterinary practice as an integral part of the programme.

Facilities at the university include a clinical skills lab, research and anatomy laboratories, equine teaching centre and university farms.

A mock veterinary clinic is being developed and will allow students to prepare for clinical placements in a simulated environment.

The School of Veterinary Science at Aberystwyth University has been training veterinary students since it was officially opened in December 2021 by King Charles III.

Emma Anscombe-Skirrow, Senior Lecturer and Veterinary Nursing Lead said: “The success of Wales’ only School of Welsh Veterinary Science since it opened is fantastic to see.

"The addition of vet nursing studies to the veterinary degree that is already being taught here is a great opportunity to expand the School's educational provision."

Inquiries about the veterinary nursing course and applications can be made by emailing: vetssat@aber.ac.uk.

The British Equine Veterinary Association has launched a pilot project to tackle equine obesity.

The scheme uses a traffic light colour system of vaccination reminder stickers which veterinary surgeons can place on the front of passports at each vaccination appointment. If the 6-month pilot is a success, the initiative will be rolled out across the UK in the summer.

BEVA says that despite the best efforts of numerous equine welfare charities to address the obesity issue, a significant proportion of owners are either not recognising obesity in their horses, or not being motivated to take action.

For this reason, the Association decided to try and confront the problem in a different way, using knowledge gained from the Behavioural Insights Team (BIT) – a government think tank specialising in behavioural economics and psychology.

Lucy Grieve, President Elect of BEVA and part of the Association’s obesity campaign working group, said: "Determined to look at new ways to positively engage with horse owners, we harnessed the BIT’s experience of what methods work most effectively and came up with a simple, practical scheme revolving around vaccination visits, which could be affected by vets themselves."

The idea is to use the routine annual or six-monthly vaccination visit as a time to assess a horse’s body condition. After the vaccination is given and the body condition assessed, a colour-coded vaccination reminder is stuck to the front of the passport, both to remind the owner when the next vaccination is due and to start a conversation about body condition. 

A green sticker indicates a ‘healthy’ body condition. Amber means the horse is carrying too much fat tissue and needs moderate changes to diet, exercise, management, rugging and clipping regimes. Red implies that the horse is carrying excessive amounts of fat tissue which are placing the horse in morbid danger.

Amber or red stickers provide the opportunity to talk about the potential impact on the horse’s health and what needs to be done.

If there isn't enough time to talk about it during the appointment, the sticker includes a colour-specific QR code which the owner can use to access additional information via their smartphone in their own time.

One of three short, colour-specific videos will explain the reason their horse has been designated the colour of sticker on their passport, leading to a link to more specific advice on what the owner needs to do next. Having swotted up on the background information beforehand, the owner can then discuss the various management options with their vet at a convenient time. 

Lucy said: "The first challenge is helping owners recognise when their horse is overweight. Once this has been established then we can make a plan to correct the problem as a team.

"The owner needs to be on board and committed in order to carry out the tough task of reducing the weight of their horse. We hope that owners will be ‘nudged’ by the sticker intervention to consider the information they have been offered and start to tackle the problem before it causes life-threatening disease."

Nine equine veterinary practices were invited to participate in the pilot scheme, including Loch Leven Equine Practice in Kinross. Managing director Liz Somerville said: "We have been focusing on equine obesity for the last couple of years including running a #FitnotFat campaign last year to try to highlight the growing obesity problem in our horses. Unfortunately, it sometimes feels that we are banging our heads against a brick wall so when BEVA came up with a new approach to try and get the message through to our owners it was too good an opportunity to miss."

BEVA says that at the end of the pilot, it will assess how well the project has worked for the vets involved, what proportion of owners used the QR codes, visited the advice pages and sought guidance from their vets. 

For more information, visit: https://www.beva.org.uk/Resources-For-Vets-Practices/Clinical-Practice-Guidance/Obesity-in-horses 

Voting has opened for the 2023 RCVS Council elections.

There are 5 candidates standing this year and vet nurses can vote for up to two of them until 5pm on Friday 21st April 2023:

• Sarah Jane Batt-Williams RVN
• Heather Jane Mathieson Kirkness RVN
• Katherine Ann Mortimer RVN
• Matthew Edwin Rendle RVN
• Simon Peter Williams RVN

The candidates' profiles are available at www.rcvs.org.uk/vnvote23, where you can also read the candidates’ answers to two questions of their choice submitted by the profession.

The two candidates with the most votes will join VN Council for their three-year terms at the College’s AGM in July.

Any veterinary nurses who have not received their voting email should contact CES directly on support@cesvotes.com.

IVC Evidensia has collaborated with TVM to publish training materials for vets about DogStem, TVM's stem cell treatment for dogs with mild to severe osteoarthritis of the elbow and hip. 

TVM says DogStem, which is currently the only UK/EU-licensed stem cell treatment for this condition, is clinically proven to reduce pain and lameness while improving mobility and quality of life for dogs over one year. 

The training materials include downloadable teaching guides and two videos fronted by Dr Russell Chandler BVSc CertSAO MSc(OrthoEng) MRCVS, an Advanced Practitioner in Small Animal Orthopaedics (pictured). 

The videos are designed to help GP vets become more confident about performing intra-articular injections in the hip and elbow, sharing principles and techniques which are also useful for performing arthrocentesis. 

Specifically, the videos show the precise procedures, in both elbow and hip, for accessing joint spaces, confirming accurate placement by the appearance of synovial fluid and injecting DogStem.

The training guides offer supporting diagrams and explanations of the approaches to each joint. 

Russell, who works at Alphavet Referrals in Newport, Gwent said: “We are proud to have been involved in the production of these training videos, which will support veterinary clinicians everywhere in providing pioneering stem cell treatment to improve the quality of life of dogs suffering from osteoarthritis.  

“We have been using mesenchymal stem cell therapy for dogs with osteoarthritis, as part of a multimodal approach, for many years.

"The availability of an off-the-shelf stem cell product, namely DogStem, for the first time promises to greatly widen the applicability of stem cell therapy to these kinds of patients in veterinary practices.

“The early responses to treatment that we have seen with DogStem have been very encouraging. 

"I look forward to following up these cases as they progress through their osteoarthritis journey. 

"DogStem is simple to administer, once you have the skills to inject joints, and the support from the UK suppliers, TVM, has been excellent."  

https://dogstem.co.uk/resources

The RCVS has collaborated with the VMD to answer the most frequently asked questions about prescribing, following the 'Under Care' review.

Of particular note is the guidance that prescriptions should no longer be written in mg/kg, as it may lead to errors when the dose is calculated.

The Standards and Advice update also answers questions about:

• What needs to be written in the notes when prescribing POM-Vs and controlled drugs.
• Accounting for weight change when prescribing long term medication
• What to do if there is a manufacturer-level supply problem with a prescribed medication
• What to do if there is a practice level stock issue with a prescribed medication
• What to do in the event of an adverse reaction to a prescribed medication
• The requirements for prescribing controlled drugs for either a chronic or acute condition

https://www.rcvs.org.uk/news-and-views/features/prescribing-pom-vs-joint-guidance-from-the-rcvs-and-vmd/

The RCVS has published its Annual Report and Financial Statements for 2022, in which it details its strategic achievements for the year.

They include the launch of the RCVS Academy, reforms to the RCVS concerns investigation process, the publication of the Workforce Action Plan and guidance for universities on supporting Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic veterinary students, ongoing work on new under care guidance, the development of new sustainability standards for the Practice Standards Scheme, and the purchase of the future headquarters for the RCVS.

The report also contains an update from the College’s charity partner RCVS Knowledge, details of RCVS financial management policies, and an independent auditor’s report on the College.

The Annual Report and Financial Statements will be formally adopted by RCVS Council at its Annual General Meeting on Friday 7th July at One Great George Street.

Veterinary surgeons and veterinary nurses are able to submit questions about the Annual Report.

The College says that subject to time, submitted questions will be answered by the College on the day, or followed up in writing after the event.

Questions should be emailed to Deborah Rowlanes, RCVS Events Manager, on d.rowlanes@rcvs.org.uk no later than 5pm on Tuesday 4th July.

If you want to attend, register at: www.rcvs.org.uk/events.