Julian Hoad has taken up his role as BSAVA President for 2024-25.

Taking over from Carl Gorman, Julian says his focus is to continue the work undertaken this year as part of a ‘programme of change’ for BSAVA, that will continue to promote the strong sense of community within the membership and the wider profession.

Speaking at the BSAVA AGM, Julian said: “I am very humbled as I stand here today as your 67th President. It is certainly the pinnacle of my veterinary career, and the greatest honour yet bestowed on me in life.

"We continue to live in exciting times at BSAVA, and as ever, I join a team of utterly amazing staff at Woodrow House.

“I really do believe that the BSAVA will continue to go from strength to strength and will continue to maintain its relevance and position as the indispensable voice of the small animal veterinary profession.”

Julian started volunteering for the BSAVA after his graduation within the Southeastern Regional committee, becoming Chair of the committee after a few years.

He then became part of the BSAVA Education Committee, BSAVA PetSavers Grants Awarding Committee, and was lately part of the Publications Committee.

He then joined the Presidential ladder two years ago as Junior Vice President.

Outside of his volunteering for the BSAVA, he was at Crossways Vets in West Sussex for 17 years, initially as a partner, then as an owner, and finally as a Clinical Director.

He has since stepped down from the practice to devote his time to being BSAVA President this year.

Francesca Beorby, Head Veterinary Nurse at Putlands Veterinary Centre, has performed a clinical audit which has revealed that neutering patients premedicated with medetomidine and methadone were significantly less likely to become hypotensive than when ACP and methadone were used.

Francesca's initiative was recognised with a RCVS Knowledge ‘Highly Commended’ status at its 2024 awards.

The idea for the audit came about after Francesca noticed a trend for patients to become hypotensive during anaesthesia for routine feline neutering and need additional treatment.

CVS says clinical evidence suggests a minimum value of 60mmHg for perfusion of vital organs such as the brain, heart and kidneys. 

So a clinical audit was undertaken to look at perioperative blood pressure in both cats and dogs having routine neutering procedures.

The target was for patients to maintain a mean arterial blood pressure of 60mmHg during their anaesthetic.

The animals chosen for auditing were to be classed ASA 1 and under 5 years old.

They received a pre-operative health check including a blood pressure reading to ensure they were normotensive.

A first audit looked at a standard premedication protocol of ACP at a dose rate of 0.02mg/kg combined with methadone at a dose rate of 0.3mg/kg.

A second audit initiated a change to the pre-medication drugs, using 0.005mg/kg medetomidine combined with the same dose of methadone.

Both received anaesthesia induction with Propoflo at a dose rate of 6mg/kg for cats and 4mg/kg for dogs.

All patients under anaesthetic were maintained using isoflurane and kept at a surgical plane of anaesthesia appropriate for that patient.

The patients were monitored throughout their surgical procedure using an oscilliometric monitoring machine - for systolic, diastolic and mean arterial blood pressure – and measurements recorded on an anaesthetic chart.

The collected data revealed that in the first audit, where patients received ACP and methadone, 42% (50% of cats and 38% of dogs) had a mean arterial blood pressure lower than 60mmHg after the first five blood pressure readings post induction.

In the second audit, with medetomidine combined with methadone, only 11% of patients (0% of cats and 15% of dogs) with a mean arterial blood pressure lower than 60mmHg.

In addition to the reduction in hypotensive patients during anaesthesia when the medetomidine/methadone combo was used, Francesca says the audit suggests a link to hypotension with ACP used as a premedication in anaesthetised patients.

Francesca said: “My passion in veterinary nursing is anaesthesia. And there is always room for improvement and striving to achieve gold standard care.

“These results clearly show that a change from our current premedication protocol of ACP and Methodone to Medetomidine and Methadone decreased the number of patients having hypotension during anaesthesia. The change means fewer patients were at risk of developing the side effects associated with hypoperfusion of the vital organs.

“Our quality improvement initiative has made a really positive impact in practice for both patient care and clinical team.”

Cresilon Inc., the US maker of the haemostatic gel, Vetigel, has signed a distribution agreement for the UK with Covetrus-owned Veterinary Instrumentation. 

In addition to the UK, Vetigel will be marketed and distributed to veterinary surgeons throughout Europe and elsewhere via Veterinary Instrumentation's global distribution network.

Matt Lewis, Vice President of Sales at Cresilon said: "Our partnership with Veterinary Instrumentation will help us provide more veterinary surgeons with a revolutionary hemostatic gel that significantly improves the standard of care for pets and animals.

"Vetigel has been used by thousands of veterinarians thus far and helps veterinary clinics and animal hospitals save time, reduce operating costs, and improve patient outcomes."

https://vetigel.com
https://veterinary-instrumentation.co.uk 

The RCVS has launched a consultation about how the profession should, in the future, be governed.

The consultation is open to veterinary surgeons, nurses, students, and the public.

One of the main - and most controversial - proposals in the consultation, which was unveiled by RCVS President Sue Patterson at BVA Live last week, is that the elected councils would be replaced by an independent merit-and-skills appointment-based system. 

Sue discussed the main benefits of an appointment-based system at BVA Live: 

• An appointment-based system is more accessible - anyone can apply and the process is less daunting and potentially off-putting than the 'hell' of elections by social media, which are causing the College to 'miss out on so much talent.'
• People are currently elected to Council on a bit of a false premise: that with their opinion-based manifestos, they are able to represent the electorate. They are not. They are there to be representative of the profession.
• An appointment based system allows the College to select a more representative group on Council, including people from all over the UK and people who are representative of different areas of the profession, such as new graduates, production animal vets and people from the public health centre.
• Appointed candidates, selected for their skills and experience, should be more able to hit the ground running when they start on Council, where currently it can take time to get new Council members up to speed.

Other proposed changes include:

• to have parity or near parity of laypeople and members of the profession on Council, to assure the public that the RCVS, as the regulator, is not ‘setting and marking its own homework’.
• to build in flexibility to allow veterinary paraprofessionals which have been identified as requiring regulation by the RCVS, such as veterinary technicians, musculoskeletal therapists, clinical animal behaviourists and equine dental technicians and cattle foot trimmers to be members of RCVS Council.
• to separate the Chair of RCVS Council from the presidency, so that the Chair of Council, also selected for their skills and ability, would remain in post for longer than the presidential term, offering greater continuity.
• to remove Veterinary Schools Council appointees and instead ensure there is an appropriate level of educationalist expertise on the RCVS Education Committee and on RCVS Council via the independent appointment process.
• to reduce the size of VN Council from 14 to 12 members in line with regulatory norms and to ensure that there is a focus on strategy and governance while maintaining a broad range of knowledge and experience.  

The good governance proposals are part of the College’s overall legislative reform agenda in which it is seeking to replace the 1966 Veterinary Surgeons Act with new and more modern, flexible and forward-looking legislation, which would expand the regulatory remit of the College to encompass veterinary practice premises and paraprofessionals, while empowering veterinary nurses and creating a new fitness to practise system.

Sue said: “The current governance structure of the RCVS is set by the VSA and updating our governance systems is a vital prerequisite to getting new primary legislation, as the outdated and out-of-step nature of our current arrangements will be clear to see.

“Governance may not be the most exciting topic, but it is the foundation on which all other aspects of the College’s work rests.

"As a professional regulator with animal health and welfare at our heart, the RCVS has a duty to ensure that our arrangements best serve the public on whose behalf we are entrusted to regulate and uphold veterinary standards, while still maintaining veterinary input in all our decision-making processes.

“We believe these good governance proposals help us meet this mission, ensuring that we are bringing our governance in line with regulatory norms, while still recognising our unique role as a dual regulator and royal college.

"The proposals would also help us get the best talent with the right skillsets and experience to serve on RCVS Council, VN Council and our committees, drawing on both laypeople and the broad sweep of the veterinary professions.

“We acknowledge that there has been some disquiet over the fact that, under these proposals, we would no longer be holding the annual elections to either RCVS Council or VN Council.

"However, we believe that an independent, fair and skills-based appointment process would be a superior way of selecting the membership of RCVS Council and VN Council than the elections which, unfortunately, the vast majority of the veterinary professions do not currently engage in, and which risk creating the impression that the RCVS is some sort of representative organisation.

“We look forward to hearing the considered views of the professions and public regarding our good governance proposals and will carefully review the feedback we receive.”

Belinda Andrews-Jones RVN, current Chair of VN Council, added: “In many ways VN Council is ahead of the curve in terms of governance reform with a smaller number of members and two independently-appointed veterinary nurse members – of which I am one – as well as appointed lay members.

“I can personally vouch for the robust nature of the application and independent appointment process for VN Council and how it took into account what I had to offer to the role in terms of my skills, my knowledge and my experience.

“I would like to thank my fellow members of VN Council, including my elected peers, for their positive engagement with the good governance proposals and their recognition that these reforms aren’t about reducing scrutiny of the College or the amount of challenge to its decisions, but about improving outcomes for the public, their animals and the professions at large.”

The good governance recommendations have been drawn up on the basis of the Law Commission’s 2014 Report ‘Regulation of Health and Social Care Professionals’, the recommendations from which were adopted by the UK government as being the ‘regulatory norm’.

The College says any future appointment processes for RCVS Council and VN Council would also be based on the Professional Standards Authority’s appointment principles of merit, fairness, transparency and openness and having a process that inspires confidence.

The deadline for completing the consultation is Monday 22 July 2024.

https://www.rcvs.org.uk/news-and-views/our-consultations/ensuring-good-governance/ 

The College will also be presenting the proposals at a Zoom webinar called being chaired by Sue between 7pm and 8pm tomorrow evening, Tuesday 11 June 2024: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/ensuring-good-governance-tickets-920243973497 

SPVS has announced that its 2025 Congress, aimed at the whole practice team, will take place at the Hilton Birmingham Metropole from Thursday 30th January to Saturday 1st February 2025.

The opening speaker will be Cassie Leonard (pictured), engineer, best-selling author and executive coach, who will be talking about the value of authentic networking.

The programme, which includes a combination of lectures, panel sessions and interactive workshops, will cover: 

• Team Dynamics – growing together as a whole practice team
• Leadership – creating a winning team
• Effective Practice Management – running a happy, profitable practice
• Self-Development – boosting your career
• Business Development – overcoming the challenges of personal and practice finance in today’s economic climate

On the Saturday, there's a dedicated ‘Grow your business’ day for those thinking of starting up or expanding their business.

New for 2025 will be a Friday morning collaborative ‘Business Club Live’ speed-networking session: an opportunity to discuss a variety of issues on hosted tables.

Also new for 2025 will be a dedicated livestock stream focussing on the unique challenges faced by livestock veterinary professionals. 

The accompanying exhibition will host a selection of companies focussed on the business, management, marketing and client-facing aspects of veterinary practice and offering the latest products, services and advice.

Social events include Thursday afternoon's Happy Hour followed by a networking event and Friday night’s Presidents’ party with a reception, 3-course meal and a performance by the party band The Kings.

www.spvs-congress.co.uk 

The RCVS has published its Annual Report and Financial Statements for 2018, in which it highlights what it considers to be its major achievements over the year.

They include the successful completion of its governance review, the launch of the Graduate Outcomes consultation (the biggest in 20 years) and the Edward Jenner Leadership Programme (a massive open online course to develop leadership skills at all levels of the profession).

The College also highlights the continuation of its Mind Matters Initiative and how the initiative's aim - to encourage a compassionate and empathetic profession - is becoming a central part of the College's core strategy.

The report also covers the work done by the College to explore an outcomes-based approach to continuing professional development (CPD), review Schedule 3 and the Veterinary Surgeons Act, plan for the UK’s exit from the European Union and promote (jointly with the BVA) the benefit of registering with a vet to the public via a social media campaign.

The report includes the College’s independently-audited finances with details of income and expenditure. Whilst the College is not a charity, the accounts have been prepared in accordance with the Charities Statement of Recommended Practice – a framework for charity accounting and reporting, which allows easier comparison with the finances of similar bodies.

The report will be presented for adoption by members of the College at this year’s RCVS Day on Friday 12 July 2019 at the Royal Institute of British Architects.

The report can be downloaded from the RCVS publications webpage, or contact publications@rcvs.org.uk to request a hard copy.

Linnaeus, the Mars-owned veterinary group of 44 primary care and 12 referral veterinary practices in the UK, has launched a dedicated central team to help support and develop its nurses. 

Linnaeus says the team will focus on three priorities: student and patient care assistant experience, the professional development of nurses, and a preceptorship (Post-Registration Programme) to support the transition from ‘day one’ to ‘year one’ nurses in the company's referral hospitals.

Andrea Jeffery, Chief Nursing Officer at Linnaeus said: "We want to ensure Linnaeus has a veterinary nursing population which is supported and developed in order to reach its full potential in its ability to deliver best patient care. 

"To help achieve this, we aspire to enable the patient care and nursing team to achieve success through supportive, well managed training programmes, which our newly-established central support team will help to deliver. 

"This will ensure the structure of our nursing teams can help each individual meet their personal goals, with clear progression opportunities.

As part of the support team, Student Experience Managers Trish Scorer and Lucy Middlecote will be responsible for developing a standardised and supportive training approach for Student Veterinary Nurses, Patient Care Assistants and those clinical supervisors and mentors who support them. 

Meanwhile, Post-Registration Programme Managers Sam Thompson and Sophie Venables are responsible for supporting early career nurses to develop their skills in referral nursing and will support the development of ‘day one’ RVN post-registration training within the group’s referral practices. 

Lastly, professional Development Managers Claire Roberts (primary care) and Vicky Ford-Fennah (referral) have been given responsibility for supporting nurses who join the group, along with the co-ordination, development and implementation of professional development for RVNs and patient care assistants who want to progress their skills and knowledge in specific areas of patient care. 

RCVS Knowledge has launched a new initiative to support the veterinary sector in delivering contextualised care.

The initiative seeks to understand the barriers and enablers to delivering contextualised care in companion animal practices, and to set out what contextualised care looks like when done well.

As part of the initiative, RCVS Knowledge is gathering perspectives from across the veterinary community and from pet owners to design a roadmap for the profession.

The work started last week at the National Forum for Contextualised Care in London, which brought together more than 60 people from across the veterinary sector, including leaders from veterinary associations, veterinary educators, students, practice staff, veterinary charities and rescues, pet insurers, regulators, representatives from corporate and independent practices and animal owners.

RCVS Knowledge will now be working with an independent research partner to conduct focus groups, surveys and interviews to gather a representative range of views from across the sector and pet owners.

The work will culminate in a summit in the summer that will use the findings of the research to design recommendations on:

• How veterinary professionals’ and pet owners’ perspectives and circumstances can be better brought together in reaching decisions about the most appropriate care for the individual animal.
• The barriers and enablers to implementing contextualised care in practice. 
• What needs to be done, and by whom, to support veterinary teams to deliver contextualised care and shared decision-making as part of good-quality veterinary care.

Sally Everitt, Clinical Lead – Evidence at RCVS Knowledge said: “Contextualised care is the way of delivering veterinary care that acknowledges that there are different ways to approach the diagnosis and treatment of an animal, depending on the circumstances of the individual animal and their caregivers and the context in which the care is delivered.

"The term has been used increasingly over the past year, and is now the subject of much debate, alongside other aligned terms such as ‘spectrum of care’ and ‘pragmatic medicine’.

"However, we need to better understand what constitutes good-quality contextualised care, and the barriers and enablers to its delivery in practice.”

Katie Mantell, Chief Executive of RCVS Knowledge, said: “As an independent charity with a mission to advance the quality of veterinary care, we believe RCVS Knowledge is well-placed to bring together all parts of the veterinary community to seek consensus on what good-quality contextualised care looks like and how it can be delivered in practice.

"Our aim is to take a collaborative, robust approach to co-producing a roadmap for contextualised care that will support its widespread delivery for the benefit of animals, the veterinary professions and animal owners.”

To be updated about the progress of this work, and to hear about opportunities to take part in the focus groups, interviews and surveys to follow, sign up to receive RCVS Knowledge’s monthly email newsletter intheKNOW.

There has been a notable change to the RCVS council elections this year: candidates are now required to answer a number of insightful questions so that voters can better understand what they would bring to the party if elected. 

In previous years, candidates were only asked to provide manifestos, which often contained information that wasn't especially relevant to whether or not they should be elected to Council. 

Now, they are asked to share their reasons for wanting to be elected, what they can bring to Council and what experience they have. 

This year’s candidates are:

Bethan Pinhey RVN
Hannah Welsman RVN
Lauren Whittaker RVN

The full biographies and election statements for each candidate are available to read at: https://www.rcvs.org.uk/vnvote25 

The two candidates who get the most votes will take up their three-year terms on RCVS Council at the College’s Annual General Meeting on Friday 4 July 2025.

Simon Wiklund, Assistant Registrar and Returning Officer for both elections, said: “We are glad to see such a large number of veterinary professionals putting themselves forward as candidates for this year’s elections.

"It is worth noting that any future governance changes, including RCVS and VN Councils becoming all-appointed bodies, are contingent on new legislation and, until that happens, we will continue to hold our annual elections.

“You may have also noticed some differences with this year’s elections, particularly in terms of the candidate statements.

"This is thanks to a change to our election scheme, which provides greater flexibility about how we run our elections, and the information that we can ask the candidates to submit.

“This means that, rather than asking candidates for a broad manifesto statement, we’ve asked them to answer key questions that are relevant to the role of a Council member, including what skills and experiences they can bring to the table.”

Ahead of the elections, RCVS will be running its ‘Quiz the candidates’ initiative in which veterinary surgeons can submit questions to the candidates standing in their respective elections, in order to better understand them and their views.

However, due to the additional information now included in each of their statements, this year candidates will only answer one question of their choice each.

Before submitting questions to the candidates, please note the RCVS will only accept one question per person. Offensive, defamatory and inaccurate questions will be rejected by the Returning Officer and not be passed on to candidates.

Veterinary nurses can submit a question to the VN Council candidates by emailing vnvote25@rcvs.org.uk.

Animalcare is offering veterinary practices free pots of Procanicare, its GI support product for dogs.

Procanicare contains three canine-specific strains of Lactobacillus bacteria, which the company says are proven to improve stool consistency, accelerate recovery following acute episodes of diarrhoea and improve well-being.¹

The company also points to a number of studies which it says are evidence of the importance of supporting puppies' intestinal microbiomes.

'New puppy diarrhoea' is, it says, typically due to exposure to factors that are known to risk microbiome disturbance, such as diet change and going to a new home, at a time when the microbial population is at its more sensitive.²

Animalcare says other studies show that microbiome disturbances in early life can have a significant impact on health in adulthood.^2,3

James Beaumont, Marketing Manager at Animalcare said: “We often hear from breeders, new puppy owners and vets that puppies which have had Procanicare seem brighter, have firmer stools and less flatulence. With the evidence mounting that the adult intestinal microbiome is shaped in early life and knowing the important and varied role that it has in wider health throughout life, we want to help vets proactively support the GI health of their youngest patients by providing Procanicare for them to trial, with no risk.”

References

1. Gomez-Gallego.C .et al (2016) A canine-specific probiotic product in treating acute or intermittent diarrhea in dogs: A double-blind placebo-controlled efficacy study. Vet Microbial. 197:122-128.
2. Gensollen, T., et al. (2016) How colonization by microbiota in early life shapes the immune system. Science 352 (6285), 539-544.
3. Rodríguez, J.M., et al. (2015) The composition of the gut microbiota throughout life, with an emphasis on early life. Microbial Ecology in Health & Disease, 26:26050

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 RCVS has launched a consultation on its Certificate in Advanced Veterinary Nursing (CertAVN) framework and is asking veterinary nurses to take part.

The CertAVN was launched in May 2019 as a modular, advanced professional qualification allowing veterinary nurses at all stages of their careers to develop their professional skills and knowledge.

The CertAVN framework sets out the professional values, skills and behaviours required of the higher education institutions responsible for providing the training and support for CertAVN students.

There are currently five accredited course providers in the UK:

• Harper Adams University
• University of Glasgow
• Royal Veterinary College
• Hartpury University and Hartpury College
• University of Central Lancashire

The proposed standards for accreditation are set under three areas: curricula and assessment, educators and assessors, and learning culture.

Julie Dugmore, RCVS Director of Veterinary Nursing, said: “In order to make sure that the CertAVN remains up to date and fit for purpose, it is important that we consult on the accreditation standards at regular intervals.

"We welcome constructive and specific feedback from veterinary nurses at all stages of their careers – whether you have already undertaken the CertAVN or are perhaps considering doing so in the future – as well as the wider veterinary team, educators, and employers of current and potential CertAVN holders.

“Your insights will help us ensure that the standards continue to enable veterinary nurse educators to deliver the best training and support possible for CertAVN students."

The consultation runs until 5pm on Monday 3 March 2025.

https://www.rcvs.org.uk/news-and-views/our-consultations/review-of-the-certavn-framework 

Dechra is holding ‘Preventive strategies for strangles: linking research to action’, a free one-hour webinar to help veterinary professionals translate the latest equine strangles surveillance data and research into everyday veterinary practice, at 7:00pm on Thursday 12 December.

The webinar will be presented by Dr Abigail McGlennon from the Equine Infectious Disease Surveillance (EIDS) team at the University of Cambridge who will present data from the Surveillance of Equine Strangles (SES) network to provide a detailed overview of strangles diagnoses across the UK.

Abigail will explore recent trends in outbreak reports, the genetic makeup of recent circulating strains and transmission links between UK outbreaks.

By linking research from her own PhD work on S. equi genomics and transmission with preventative strategies, Abigail show how to suggest and implement evidence-based prevention measures to clients. 

The webinar will also offer advice on ‘the ates’ preventative measures – vaccinate, isolate, investigate and communicate – and will include information on when horse owners should be vaccinating with Strangvac and an outbreak management vaccination plan using the traffic light ‘green, amber and red’ system.

https://go.dechra.co.uk/preventative_strategies_for_strangles