The RVC has picked up three of the twenty Wellcome Image Awards 2015.

The awards are internationally renowned for showcasing the best in science imaging talent and techniques.

Two of the images (below) were taken at the Lanyon Museum of Comparative Anatomy at the RVC by photographer, Michael Frank. One picture depicts a goat's oesophagus and reticulum, which is the second of four stomach chambers found in cattle, goats and sheep. Michael's second image is called 'Pregnant uterus, equine' and shows a detailed and unique view of a pony foal in its mother's womb.

Nick Short, Head of the eMedia Unit at the RVC, said: "These stunning photographs were taken by Michael Frank to help digitise the extensive collection of anatomical specimens displayed in the Royal Veterinary College museums. As well as providing a unique artistic resource, these digital images are now being actively used to enhance the teaching of anatomy at the College."

Michael added: "I feel immensely proud to be shortlisted with two photographs alongside the RVC in the Wellcome Image Award 2015. I am very pleased that we managed to combine a unique artistic vision with academic necessities and that such an outcome has been valued by the judges."

The third image comes from Structure and Motion Lab PhD student, Sophie Regnault. Sophie's entry is a digital 3D construction of the skull, shoulders and front legs of a Tuatara (pictured top right; click to enlarge).

The Tuatara is a species of rare reptile native to New Zealand, and is all that remains of an ancient group of animals called Rhynchocephalia. These animals shared the Earth with dinosaurs and are now all extinct apart from the Tuatara. 

Sophie created the digital 3D model by using virtual X-ray 'slices' of a preserved specimen of the reptile. Using Micro-computed tomography (micro-CT), she scanned the whole animal before digitally re-constructing it and separating the skull and front legs from the rest of the body.

Sophie said: "It is a great feeling to even be recognised this year, as some of the images are outstanding. I didn't expect to get through at all as I'm still relatively new to the techniques I used for my image. It is just fantastic to be nominated; there are some really unique and fantastic pictures in the competition."

Images in this year's competition include everything from a micrograph of a greenfly's eye to a picture showing drug-carrying particles in the lungs of a mouse.

The 20 winning images were chosen by nine judges from the Wellcome Images picture library in the past year. They will be awarded at a ceremony on Wednesday 18 March, 2015 where the overall winner will also be revealed. Sophie's image will also be on display at 11 science centres, museums and galleries around the UK and in America.

Catherine Draycott, Head of Wellcome Images and a member of the judging panel said: "This year's selection of winning images is not only beautiful; they bring to life an incredible array of innovative imaging techniques, and hint at stories and ideas that go beyond the visual. We are thrilled that they will be displayed in so many venues, and look forward to seeing the range of exhibitions, as diverse as the images themselves."

Goat's oesophagus and reticulum - photo credit: Michael Frank

Pregnant uterus, equine - photo credit: Michael Frank

MSD Animal Heath has launched a new dispensing pack to help veterinary practices develop retail sales for Cosequin DS, the joint supplement for pets.

The new dispensing pack, which doubles up as a display pack, contains 300 chews foil-wrapped for extra freshness in 30 packs of 10 strips, allowing Cosequin to stand in the waiting room or on reception.

The new pack, available now in wholesalers, replaces the previous 90, 120 and 180 DS chewable tablet pack sizes.

H5N8 avian flu has been confirmed in a backyard flock of chickens and ducks near Thornton, Wyre, Lancashire.

A 3 km Protection Zone and a 10 km Surveillance Zone have been put in place around the infected premises to limit the risk of the disease spreading.

The infected flock contains nine birds. Defra says a number had died and the remaining live birds at the premises are being humanely culled. A full investigation is under way to determine the source of the infection.

Full details of the control measures in place can be found here.

Christopher Butterworth MRCVS and Melissa Bexon MRCVS have been reprimanded by the RCVS Disciplinary Committee for dishonestly signing reports relating to non-existent tuberculosis advisory service (TBAS) visits to a farm.

Dr Butterworth’s practice was a member of TBAS, a Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs-funded (Defra) project administered by Farmcare Solutions Ltd which provides advice to eligible farmers via its veterinary partners. 

The farm to which the charges relate to was owned by Dr Bexon’s partner. It had no cattle on-site (though was still eligible for the TBAS).

Dr Butterworth was charged with signing a TBAS visit report, in which he was named as the TBAS advisor, relating to a visit to the farm in February 2023 which had, in fact, not taken place and then subsequently signed a report about a follow-up visit in July 2023 which also hadn’t taken place.

Dr Bexon was charged with signing the same two false reports as a representative of the farm in question.

Both faced a secondary charge that their actions were dishonest, misleading and risked undermining procedures relating to public health and animal welfare.

Dr Butterworth and Dr Bexon admitted all the charges against them and that these charges amounted to serious professional misconduct.

The Committee also found that their actions amounted to serious professional misconduct in that they had breached three of the five key principles in the Code of Professional Conduct relating to: honesty and integrity; client confidentiality and trust; and professional accountability.

The Committee also found that the actions of both veterinary surgeons had breached the ’10 principles of certification’ outlined in the supporting guidance to the Code.

Considering Mr Butterworth’s conduct, the Committee found that there were a number of aggravating factors including: the premeditated nature of the conduct as he was the driving force behind the deceit, the fact there was financial gain as his practice would have been paid for the non-existent visits, breach of confidentiality for the farmer, breach of client trust for Farmcare Solutions Ltd, and abuse of professional position as a TBAS advisor.

For Dr Bexon the aggravating factors were breach of confidentiality for the farmer, breach of client trust for Farmcare Solutions Ltd, and the fact that, as a TBAS advisor, she should have known that physical visits to farms within the scheme were mandatory.

Paul Morris, chairing the Disciplinary Committee and speaking on its behalf, said: “The Committee considered both respondents’ conduct was liable to have a seriously detrimental effect on the reputation of the profession and undermined public confidence in the profession and the TBAS process.

"The Committee considered that members of the public would be deeply troubled that registered veterinary surgeons had behaved in this way.”

At the hearing the Committee received a large number of positive testimonials for Dr Butterworth, including three given directly to the Committee – one from a veterinary surgeon colleague and two from farmer clients.

The Committee also considered his lack of previous disciplinary history and otherwise unblemished career, open and frank admissions at an early stage, insight into his misconduct, genuine remorse and positive reflection, efforts to avoid a repetition of behaviours and evidence of a more mature approach to management, lapse of time since the incident.

Taking everything into account the Committee decided reprimanding Dr Butterworth and warning him with regard to future conduct was the most appropriate and proportionate response.

Paul added: “The Committee did give serious consideration to suspending Dr Butterworth’s registration with the College.

"Such a sanction would have sent out a clear message that this sort of behaviour is absolutely not to be tolerated.

"However, in light of the extensive mitigation, his honesty and significant insight throughout these proceedings and the unlikeliness of behaviour of this type ever being repeated, the Committee considered the public would not be best served by suspending an otherwise exemplary veterinary surgeon and that such a sanction would be disproportionate and punitive.”

"In such circumstances, the Committee was satisfied that a reprimand and warning not to behave in this way again, would provide adequate protection to animals and would satisfy the public interest.

"The Committee was persuaded that Dr Butterworth would be most unlikely to make such a flawed set of decisions again.

"Notwithstanding the serious nature of Dr Butterworth’s conduct, the Committee was satisfied that a fully informed member of the public would not be shocked if he were allowed to continue to practise.”

The Committee also received a significant number of positive testimonials for Dr Bexon, with three veterinary surgeon colleagues giving oral evidence to the Committee.

The Committee also considered her lack of disciplinary history and hitherto unblemished career, her open and frank admissions, her insight, remorse and positive reflections, her efforts to avoid repetition of the behaviours and the lapse of time since the event.

Taking everything into account, the Committee decided to reprimand Dr Bexon.

Paul said: “This was not a case where she had been motivated by any financial gain.

"Indeed, everything the Committee had read and heard about her indicated the opposite and furthermore, it was apparent that she had nothing to gain by her actions beyond satisfying Dr Butterworth.

"As already stated, the Committee acknowledged that the role played by Dr Bexon was less than that played by Dr Butterworth.

"Moreover, there was a power imbalance at play and Dr Butterworth was able to take advantage of, albeit unknowingly, Dr Bexon’s lack of self-confidence.”

"The Committee has already indicated that it believed the likelihood of her repeating such behaviour to be non-existent.

"Her significant insight, together with the reflection and remedial work she has undertaken are as much as any person could do.

"She had truly learnt her lesson in the harshest of ways.

"In the Committee’s view she did not represent any risk to animals or the public, indeed quite the contrary as she is a very able vet, in high demand by her clients.”

www.rcvs.org.uk/disciplinary

Pfizer has announced the results of research carried out as part of its Vet Support+ initiative, which shows that the three most important factors in engaging a veterinary team are: leadership, employee performance management and team effectiveness. Of the three, performance management is the most important.

The employee engagement survey was carried out to provide an insight to the veterinary market specifically. According to Pfizer more than 4,000 responses were received, providing insights from 749 practice owners, partners and practice managers and almost 3,500 individual veterinary practice employees. Analysis and modelling from an independent expert and the Vet Support+ team led to the identification of three drivers for an actively engaged team within a veterinary practice, and the creation of a national benchmark for employee engagement. Pfizer says Vet Support+ is committing to running the research on a regular basis so that employee engagement amongst all veterinary staff can be monitored on an ongoing basis.

Pfizer says that although recognised as the most important factor in generating good employee engagement, performance management was identified as an area of weakness in many practices. There were contradictory responses from management and staff regarding both formal appraisals and informal feedback taking place. In both cases, management tended to believe this was happening while staff disagreed. Of further frustration for staff was the management of poor performers, with 52% of staff stating that poor performers were not managed effectively.

Leadership is critical for any successful business, however the survey showed that while personal relationships between management and staff are good (79% of vets and 76% of staff agreed that the relationship between management and teams are generally good), there is a lack of trust between leadership and staff (80% of vets said they believe there is trust in the team, while only 62% of staff agreed).

Practice owners were more upbeat about team effectiveness: 76% said they believe the team was willing to put in more effort, while only 63% of staff agreed. There was another inconsistency regarding communication within the team, with only 49% of staff thinking that communication in practice is good versus 65% of practice owners.

Ned Flaxman, Director Business Innovation at Pfizer Animal Health said: "At face value this data makes for very interesting reading and the identification of the key drivers of engagement in practice is the practical benefit for practices to prioritise their focus of activity on staff management."

He added: "This research will enable us to work with practices to do their own employee engagement survey to be benchmarked against the national study. This will provide an evidence-based approach to identify the biggest gaps for improvement, and our Vet Support+ team can work with practices to deliver solutions for those challenges whether leadership, team effectiveness or performance management."

Practice owners and managers wishing to understand the data in more detail and measure levels of engagement within their own team against the evidence-based benchmarks the study provides should contact the Vet Support+ team at http://www.vetsupportplus.co.uk/

Key findings from the Employee Engagement Survey:

• 80% of practice owners believe there is a great deal of trust in the team
• 43% of staff state they do not receive a formal appraisal meeting
• 32% of practice owners admit their teams do not receive a formal appraisal meeting
• 23% of employees believe their management team are not accessible
• 31% of staff admit they are not willing to put in effort beyond the norm
• 30% of staff do not believe communication is good in their practice
• 52% of staff do not believe they receive on-going communications about their performance
• 52% of staff believe poor performers are not managed effectively
• 53% of both staff and vets believe they/their teams would be happy to spend the rest of their career with their practice
• 43% of staff do not believe everyone is treated equally
• 85% of practice owners believe everyone in their team is treated equally
• 17% of staff admit to actively looking for a new position
• 20% of nurses believe they are not given sufficient freedom to provide a personal service to their customers
• 51% of staff do not have a personal development plan
• 69% of employed vets do not believe their pay and performance are linked
• 17% of staff are actively looking for a new position
• 15% are unsure about their intentions to stay

The RCVS is inviting nominations for its 2025 Honours & Awards, to recognise veterinary surgeons, veterinary nurses and laypeople, both in the UK and overseas, who are doing their utmost for animal health and welfare, the professions and society at large.

The awards fall into two categories, those which you need to be nominated for by other people and those which are also open to self-nomination: 

Requiring nomination by another person:

• The Queen’s Medal – an award for a veterinary surgeon who has achieved a highly distinguished career with sustained and outstanding achievements throughout.
• The Veterinary Nursing Golden Jubilee Award - awarded to a veterinary nurse who has had a sustained and distinguished career, who can demonstrate a leadership role within the profession and who can act as an ambassador for the value of veterinary nurses and their work.
• Honorary Associateship - awarded to laypeople who have made a special contribution to the veterinary sphere and could include, for example, scientists, lecturers, journalists, charity-workers, farriers, farmers and those involved in the commercial field.

Self-nominations allowed:

• The RCVS International Award - awarded to vets, vet nurses or laypeople who have made an outstanding contribution on issues that are in line with the RCVS mission. 
• The RCVS Impact Award - awarded to vets or vet nurses who have recently, or are currently undertaking a project or initiative that has a significant impact on the profession at large, animal health or welfare, or public health.
• The RCVS Inspiration Award - awarded to vets or vet nurses who have demonstrated the ability to inspire and enthuse others consistently throughout their careers.
• The RCVS Compassion Award - awarded to a vet or vet nurse who has demonstrated compassion towards fellow professionals and/or members of the animal-owning public.
• The RCVS Student Community Award – awarded to a vet or vet nursing student who has made a real effort to support their fellow students and the wider veterinary/veterinary nursing school community.

The deadline for the 2025 awards is Friday, 13 December 2024.

https://www.rcvs.org.uk/how-we-work/rcvs-honours-awards 

A new diagnostic blood test has been developed to combat the virulent horse disease Strangles.

The breakthrough has come after four years of research by scientists at the Animal Health Trust in Newmarket.

The blood test identifies horses that have recently been exposed to Strangles, enabling it to be nipped in the bud.

Oliver Wilson, campaign director at The British Horse Society, said: "It is fantastic news. This big breakthrough is a real boon to horse owners and I believe will lead to a significant drop in Strangles outbreaks. But there is still much to be done.

"The AHT's work to develop and test a fully effective vaccine against Strangles is ongoing. To support it we need to raise another £120,000 by the end of this year to reach the campaign target of £250,000."

For more information about the Strangles campaign, visit http://www.strangles.org/

President of the RCVS and Principal of the Royal Veterinary College (RVC), Professor Stuart Reid has raised a very impressive £13,000 for mental health and animal welfare charities by running the Virgin Money London Marathon.

Stuart completed the 26 mile and 385 yard run in four hours and 51 minutes and, in the process, raised money for three charities with a particular focus on mental health and wellbeing, beating his target of £10,000.

The money will be split between his three nominated charities - the RVC Animal Care Trust which will use the funds to assist the student bodies at the UK vet schools; the Veterinary Benevolent Fund which, through its 24/7 Helpline and Health Support Programme, provides support directly to the profession; and, mental health charity Mind.

Stuart said: "To be perfectly honest it was probably a bit daft to run a marathon in my presidential year but when I see how much we have raised I know it was the right thing to do.

"I have been utterly humbled by the generosity and the words of encouragement on my Virgin Money Giving website and via text and Twitter and it is clear my chosen charities have touched a chord with many. I am so very grateful to everybody who chipped in. There's plenty to do so let's get on with addressing our mental health issues."

Donations can still be made to these charities via Stuart's Virgin Money Giving website - http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/StuartReid

Novartis Animal Health is launching a new in-practice healthcare initiative designed to raise owner awareness about the importance of regularly treating their pet for fleas and ticks. The Flea & Tick Patrol is supported by a range of eye-catching marketing materials to create a talking point with owners.

Rolling out from August 2008, practices can decide when they wish to run their Flea & Tick Patrol campaign. Interested parties should contact their local Novartis territory manager to find out how.

"Our Flea & Tick Patrol initiative focuses on educating owners about the importance of regularly treating their dog for fleas and ticks and raising awareness of the risks to canine and human health if they don't," said Verity Page, brand manager at Novartis. "We're providing practices with the tools to ensure they engage with clients on this subject. This campaign is about responsible pet ownership - reinforcing the benefits about the health and welfare of their dog and family.

Owners should leave the practice with a positive message about flea and tick control and have a greater understanding of the hidden dangers."

The Flea & Tick Patrol campaign could help to increase business and practice revenue. "Previous campaigns we have implemented in practice have shown that these types of awareness initiatives do add value to a practice's existing services as well as establish good client relationships," added Verity.

Marketing materials include a waiting room poster & display kit, window banner, badges, stickers and a public relations tool kit for use in the practice's communications. For more information about the Flea & Tick Patrol campaign, practices should contact their local Novartis Animal Health territory manager or call the Practice Support Line on 0800 854100.

Hill's Pet Nutrition has decided to make its library of symposia proceedings freely available to all vets. It's part of Hill's drive to support vets with training during tough times.

The library, which has been built up over 13 years, is made up of the proceedings and supporting articles from lectures covering topics as diverse as inflammatory bowel disease in the feline and nutrigenomics.

Adrian Pratt, Veterinary Affairs Manager, said: "These proceedings contain definitive texts on conditions that are commonly seen in practice, described at an advanced level but in an easy to assimilate format. We do have a number of proceedings still in stock and I would much rather see them being used and all that valuable knowledge put into practice."

Anyone in practice with an interest in a particular area can apply to receive a copy of their preferred symposium.

According to Hill's, these booklets are excellent tools for those seeking to fill their CPD requirement through self-directed learning and provide advanced material that can be difficult to access elsewhere (note that undocumented self learning can only account for up to 10 hours on the RCVS record card).

The service is completely free of charge and orders can be placed by calling 01923 814454. As copies of some seminars are available only in limited numbers, applicants are asked to select only those proceedings in which they have a genuine area of interest.  Only one copy of each symposium proceeding will be supplied to each individual, although multiple topics can be selected.

Symposia Proceedings Titles
Hill's European Symposium on Chronic Renal Disease 2004
Hill's European Speaker Tour on Canine Joint Health- Advances in clinical management and Nutrigenomics 2005
Hill's European Symposium on Advances in Feline Medicine 2006
Hill's Symposium on Dermatology Palm Springs 2006
Hill's European Symposium on 'Moving on with mobility' 2007

Those who wish to supplement their learning further may wish to visit The Vet Nutrition Academy which also provides a number of free and subsidised courses to members of the veterinary healthcare team. Registration is free at www.myhillspet/vna. To complete registration the practice U number will be required and this is available by contacting Jane Quail at Hill's on 01923 814454.

The BSAVA has today launched Rover, an AI-powered information retrieval tool which allows vets to put natural language questions to the association's vast knowledge base, which includes the Formularies, Companion magazine, position statements and more.

The answers you get are all linked to their original sources in the BSAVA Library and website.

All BSAVA members get 25 free queries per month, whilst non-members get five. 

Queries can also be bought in packs of 25, 50 and 100 searches which have no expiry, priced between £10 and £25 for members.

Alternatively, Rover Unleashed gives unlimited access.

Ian Mellor, Head of Publications at BSAVA said: “In a fast-paced clinical environment, we know that time is precious.

"Rover is a fantastic leap forward in how we support our members, combining innovation with reliability.

"All backed by our trusted resources, we’re confident that Rover will help you to easily cut through the noise and get straight to the information that matters.”

https://rover.bsava.com/pages/about 

Vets are being asked to help pig producers assess their health status and biosecurity measures, as part of BPEX's new National Pig Health Improvement Project (PHIP).

The national programme is currently running alongside existing programmes in East Anglia, Yorkshire and the East Midlands and will cover all the remaining regions. BPEX will now start to combine all programmes into the National PHIP. So all English pig producers and vets can join the industry-wide drive to improve pig health and reduce costs.

BPEX says the national Pig Health Improvement Project (PHIP) project will need the support of veterinary surgeons to:

1. encourage clients to take advantage of the free scheme
2. complete and submit surveys of disease prevalence on farms
3. complete the biosecurity audit, designed by pig vets, to help producers assess how they can improve defence against infections

BPEX regional health coordinator Helen Clarke said: "The surveys are filled in by vets during quarterly farm visits to gather information on prevalence of four key diseases - swine dysentery, PRRS, enzootic pneumonia and mange. This is then used to populate a confidential online mapping service, which PHIP members can use to keep informed of health challenges in their area.

"The biosecurity audit is a series of simple to answer questions about current biosecurity practice of a unit. This then forms the basis for biosecurity planning and discussions to help clients make improvements and review their impact."

A further benefit when producers sign up to the PHIP is free-of-charge post-mortem information from the BPEX Pig Health Scheme (BPHS). The BPHS provides producers with detailed post-mortem health reports when they submit pigs to participating abattoirs.

Clients who are:

• members of the regional programmes in Yorkshire and East Anglia will now need to register with the National PHIP to continue their membership and receive the additional benefits
• members of the East Midlands programme are already aligned with the new National project.

Practices can claim £50 per unit for completing the survey and biosecurity audits. This still needs to be claimed through specific regional systems because of current funding contracts.

Contact Helen Clarke for details:  helen.clarke@bpex.ahdb.org.uk or 07973 701369. Visit http://www.pighealth.org.uk/