RCVS Knowledge is inviting applications from veterinary surgeons for this year's Knowledge Awards, which celebrate the achievements of individuals and teams who are championing the use of Quality Improvement (QI) methodology in their work.

The awards recognise individuals and teams who drive continuous improvements for better outcomes for patients, better service provision to clients, an improved business or environmental case, or better working conditions for the team. In addition, applicants will be assessed on their passion for QI, and for encouraging and championing QI.

Applications are invited from anyone who works within the veterinary industry or veterinary education, including educators and learners from under- and post-graduate education and everyone working in a practice setting, including the administration team, veterinary nurses, practice managers and surgeons at all levels.  

Individuals can nominate themselves, their team, or their colleagues.

Louise Northway RVN and RCVS Knowledge Quality Improvement Clinical Lead (pictured right), said: “QI has completely changed the way I approach my role as clinical lead RVN in practice. It has provided me with helpful tools to help me measure how we are doing and guidance on improving areas that require further work.

“QI is a continuous, reflective process that stops you doing things the way they’ve always been done and enables you to review the systems, measure the outcomes and consider how things can be improved for the benefit of your patients and team.

“I encourage anyone who is passionate about implementing QI to apply for the 2022 Knowledge Awards, or nominate a colleague who is championing QI in your workplace.”

Winners will be named ‘Knowledge Champions’ or ‘Champion Practices’ and receive a £250 prize, tickets to the awards ceremony and the chance to work with RCVS Knowledge to continue promoting their Quality Improvement work.

The winners of the 2021 Knowledge Awards were recognised for a range of QI initiatives:

• An outcome audit on peri-operative hypothermia.
• Implementation of a new course that teaches QI to veterinary nurses.
• Guidelines for performing cytology on patients presenting with ear pathology.
• Auditing small animal ear cytology on a national scale, resulting in an increase in diagnostic tests and a reduction in antibiotic use across practices.
• Embedding QI into the curriculum for undergraduate and postgraduate students.

The deadline for nominating colleagues is 18 October 2021, and the deadline for applications (whether you have applied directly or have been nominated) is 4 December 2021. Winners will be announced in early 2022.

For more information, visit: www.rcvsknowledge.org/KnowledgeAwards/ 

BEVA has launched a collection of resources for vets about equine infectious diseases.

The new resources include:

• A tool to check endemic and exotic infectious differentials for various presenting signs
• Clinical pathway tools for cases presenting with ataxia, nasal discharge, and with more to follow
• Equine Herpes Virus consensus building tool
• Biosecurity management and preparedness infographics for horse owners
• Vaccination position statements and list of those available in the UK
• Flu vaccine reckoner table of the various vaccine manufacturers and competition bodies.

Celia Marr, chair of BEVA’s infectious disease working group, said: “Equine disease prevention and management are fundamental for responsible equine health, welfare and performance.

“These resources cover the need-to-know information and are all in one easy reverence location on the newly designed infection control page on the BEVA website.”

https://www.beva.org.uk/Resources/Equine-infectious-diseases

Intervet / Schering-Plough has announced that following the success of National Vaccination Month, which targeted the owners of unvaccinated dogs, cats and rabbits, and resulted in more than 32,000 additional vaccinations, a second National Vaccination Month will run throughout March 2009.

According to the company, National Vaccination Month 2008 won strong support from vets nationwide and succeeded in increasing awareness among pet owners of the need to vaccinate their animals, with the end result of driving unvaccinated pets into practices across the country.

Just over 2,100 veterinary clinics registered to take part and following a heavyweight marketing and TV advertising campaign, the pet owning public responded in their thousands.

Almost 70,000 people visited the website www.vaccinationmonth.co.uk with over 32,000 pets vaccinated as a result.

To build on the success of this campaign and in light of data suggesting a continued escalation in the number of unvaccinated pets, Intervet / Schering Plough Animal Health is calling on veterinary practices to sign up and benefit from the massive marketing drive that will underpin the second National Vaccination Month.

As in 2008, central to the success of the campaign will be a nationally co-ordinated amnesty encouraging owners of unvaccinated dogs, cats and rabbits to have their pets fully vaccinated for the cost of a booster. The amnesty will highlight the shocking fact that only half of the nation's dogs, a quarter of cats and just 10 per cent of rabbits are up to date with their vaccinations. This is in the face of survey work, indicating the widespread and prevalent nature of certain infectious diseases.

Angus Robinson of Intervet / Schering Plough said: "The success of the 2008 campaign blew us away. Of most significance was the feedback that we had from vets, which suggested that rather than drawing from their existing client base, National Vaccination Month improved pet vaccination levels by attracting new clients into practice.

"However survey results show we have a long way to go. Too many cases of serious infectious disease are still seen in practice and wider vaccination uptake would reduce the number of animals susceptible to these serious and preventable diseases.

"In 2009, given the prevailing economic climate, pet owners will be particularly alive to the fact that there is a cost benefit to them and this may give even greater impetus to the campaign."

During National Vaccination Month, participating vets will provide a free healthcheck and discounted vaccination saving owners up to £30 per pet.

As well as TV advertising, a radio campaign, PR editorial across a range of media and marketing support, this year's campaign will be backed by a leading TV wildlife broadcaster and celebrity who will be unveiled at the consumer launch.

As in 2008, the website www.vaccinationmonth.co.uk will give pet owners the chance to search for their nearest participating vet.

For more information on how to register your practice to take part in the campaign, please contact your Intervet account manager or call Intervet's Veterinary Support Group on 01908 685685.

Animus Surgical has launched Vetlog, a new temperature data logger designed to be used by the veterinary market.

Vetlog will enable practices to prove their temperature compliance to the VMD and RCVS Practice Standards Scheme. Steve Beddall of Animus Surgical said: "data loggers can be easily placed in a fridge and then simply attached to a PC to download data in report or chart format".

The company claims that the product is easy-to-use, cost-effective and will provide practices with a permanent record of temperature readings from the day practices start using them.For more information visit http://www.animussurgical.com/ or telephone 01449 775330.

Elanco is calling on vets to engage with sheep farmers about effective worm control programmes as significant shifts in farming subsidies squeeze farm profitability.

With 2024 support payments for farmers in England now at half former levels and significant changes to subsidies for farmers in Scotland and Wales set to come into play next year, Elanco says effective flock health management to maximise efficiency and performance within flocks has become increasingly important.

Elanco's Ruminant Technical Consultant, Matt Colston MRCVS said: “Policymakers recognise the importance of animal health and welfare for better productivity and are putting an increasing onus on vets to deliver improvements, for example via the Animal Health and Welfare Pathway (AHWP).”

“Its crucial vets have the knowledge and confidence to support sheep clients on important flock health issues, with worming programmes high up on this agenda.”

"By developing farm-specific worm control strategies and working closely with clients to better monitor worm burdens, you can help achieve immediate flock performance benefits and manage the longer term risks of anthelmintic resistance on that farm.”

Elanco says that by dosing lambs with its newer Group 4 wormer, Zolvix, at the right time during the mid to late grazing season, farmers can clear out any resistant worms that have survived previous treatments and see an uplift in daily liveweight gain as a result.

Matt added: “We shouldn’t wait for problems to manifest.

"By the time wormer groups have stopped working, or clinical signs of worms are visible, damage is already done; regular monitoring and early intervention is a better option.

“More farmers are Faecal Egg Counting (FEC) but many are unsure how best to go about it.

“A practical demonstration of how to collect samples, and what to collect from which animals, is often the best way to show how easy FEC can be.”

“Farmers can be cautious about change, but by taking small steps and consistently offering sound, practical advice, vets can help farmers adopt more sustainable worm control strategies and improve margins in sheep production.”

Here’s a gadget I’d love to get my hands on: the Zoombak advanced GPS pet locator, launched in the UK today.

The locator attaches to any dog collar, or indeed your car, husband, wife or teenager, and allows you to get a real time fix of their location by telephone, or on your computer. It costs £99.99 from pet retailers, with an additional £9.99 per month service subscription (£99.99 if paid annually upfront), which allows for an unlimited number of ‘locates’.
Hot on its heels comes the Pawtrack, which will also cost £99.99 with a similar monthly subscription which allows for 1200 locates per month.

Pawtrack is being aimed at both cats and dogs, and whilst it is marginally smaller and lighter than the Zoombak, there isn’t a lot in it. Both are still probably too cumbersome for a cat, which is why Zoombak more pragmatically recommends its product for dogs over 7 kg.

Doubtless it won’t be long before they miniaturise the technology so that it’ll be the width of a nostril hair, thereby solving the problem of pet theft and loss completely. Meantime, these look like a practical and fun gadget for the owners of larger breeds that regularly go AWOL.

For more information on stocking Zoombak please contact Zoombak on 08708 033095.

Boehringer Ingelheim has launched Bitesize (www.bi-bitesize.co.uk), an educational website about canine epilepsy for veterinary surgeons.

Boehringer’s Brand Manager Craig Roxburgh said: "We have teamed up with eight neurology experts working in referral centres across the UK. These experts have covered the questions most commonly encountered when managing epilepsy cases in first opinion practice, which we hope will assist vets in their epilepsy case management."

Answers to questions are delivered as short video clips of between one and three minutes, optimised for use on smartphones and tablet devices to make them available in the practice or on the move.

Craig added: "Canine epilepsy can be a complex condition to manage. We hope therefore that when cases present, Bitesize will prove a useful and handy ‘go-to’ resource for vets to access information at the time they need it."

There's a chance to win an iPad if you visit the new site before 29^th February 2016.

The Royal Veterinary College has identified a number of ways that canine health and welfare research in the UK could be improved, by making grant applications more efficient, fostering stronger collaboration between funders and research institutions and by prioritising research that has direct welfare benefits for dogs.

The RVC’s UK Canine Research Funding Analysis Project was structured in three phases to assess the state of canine health and welfare research funding in the UK.

Phase one identified that animal-directed funders provided nearly 90% of all canine-specific research funding, with wide-scope funders contributing larger grants but primarily focused on One Health research.

Phase two then revealed research gaps, such as the underfunding of studies on responsible breeding, canine behavioural issues and the impact of human lifestyle on canine welfare.

The third and final phase explored the challenges in research design, processes and sector infrastructure.

The third phase was led by the RVC’s Dr Alison Skipper, Postdoctoral Researcher into Canine Research Funding; Dr Rowena Packer, Lecturer in Companion Animal Behaviour and Welfare Science; and Dr Dan O’Neill, Associate Professor of Companion Animal Epidemiology.

The findings revealed a number of common challenges researchers face in securing funding and delivering effective research.

The research team then provided a set of recommendations to help improve canine research in the UK.

These challenges and proposed solutions include:

1. Grant applications for canine health and welfare research are often burdensome and inconsistent, requiring researchers to rewrite and reformat proposals for different funders. The report recommends introducing a standardised, two-stage application process to reduce administrative barriers.
2. Lack of feedback on rejected grant applications prevents researchers from improving proposals, limiting their chances of securing future funding. The report suggests offering brief, structured feedback to unsuccessful applicants to enhance transparency and proposal quality.
3. Greater collaboration between funders and research institutions is needed to support large-scale, high-impact projects, particularly for complex canine health issues such as obesity, arthritis and breed-related diseases.
4. Early career researchers said they struggle to secure funding, as few grants provide postdoctoral salaries or structured career development opportunities. The report calls for dedicated funding and mentorship initiatives to support new researchers in the sector.
5. There is no centralised database tracking past canine health research funding, making it difficult for researchers and funders to identify gaps and opportunities. The report highlights the need for a publicly accessible platform to improve visibility and coordination across funders.
6. Stakeholders, including funders, researchers and practitioners, need a structured way to set research priorities to ensure funding addresses the most urgent canine welfare concerns. The report suggests adopting a model similar to the James Lind Alliance, which successfully prioritises human medical research.
7. Future research should prioritise projects that directly benefit canine welfare, with funders assessing proposals based on clear impact metrics such as ‘Benefit for the Dog’ and ‘Pathway to Impact’.

Dr Alison Skipper, Researcher in Canine Health Research at the RVC and lead author of the paper, said: “This extensive project highlights the need for significant improvements in how we fund and conduct research on canine health and welfare.

"While UK funders have made valuable contributions, our findings show that inefficiencies in funding processes, a lack of collaboration and limited support for early-career researchers are preventing research from having its full impact.

"By streamlining applications, increasing transparency and fostering strategic partnerships, we can ensure that future research is both effective and directly beneficial to dogs.”

Dechra is hosting ‘The three things about Cushing’s I wish I’d known sooner’, a free one-hour webinar at 7pm on Wednesday 4th June.

The company says the webinar, presented by Dechra veterinary technical advisor, Emily Casey BVM&S MRCVS (pictured), will save vets' time and enhance their canine patients’ quality of life.

Emily said: “Canine Cushing’s syndrome can seem over-complicated, and we receive about 200 calls a month on the disease, so we’ve seen it all.

"Our new webinar will provide vets with a straightforward, no-nonsense approach to Cushing’s that will transform how they manage their next canine Cushing’s case.”

Delegates who join the webinar live will be entered into a prize draw to win a Littman Classic III Stethoscope.

https://go.dechra.co.uk/3-things-about-cushings

The Society of Practising Veterinary Surgeons (SPVS) has inaugurated its new President Iain Richards BVSc CertVA Cert SHP MRCVS, who has outlined the key issues he would like to address during his presidency: 

"The reform of the Veterinary Surgeons Act will be a big part of the SPVS year. Any changes of the VSA are likely to hit practitioners hardest of all. It was to ensure public confidence that the RCVS was formed, and it is with the public that we have our daily interactions. It is satisfying to note, despite what some of the EFRACOM committee felt, that the proportion of actual complaints in comparison to public interactions is very small indeed. This point must not be lost on the RCVS or government. The profession is already held in high esteem by the public and any new act has to reinforce that.

Alongside the VSA are the closely related aspects of 24hr cover and the Working Time Regulations. Indeed, it is no coincidence that our high public esteem is in part due to the willingness of the practicing arm of the profession to make itself available at all times. The WTR has a long way to go, but has the potential to make this aspect of our work untenable.

Farm practice continues to have its own challenges. Despite opinion suggesting that farms do well in a recession, the challenges are still out there. It is a rapidly changing field with issues of medicines supply still causing problems. TB will spread and more practices will have to look hard at the return LVI work provides. By adopting SPVS advice on fee construction and cost centre analysis, practices can accurately assess the true impact of this and any other revenue stream.               

Small animal and many equine practices will potentially feel the recession the most, as both operate in a luxury market. The 2009 Congress theme, and that of the SPVS stream at the BVA Congress in Cardiff, is "Surviving the Recession".

The Society will be at the forefront in providing solid advice to practices to enable them to thrive in such circumstances. Recessions have come and gone and we have a wealth of experience from previous SPVS members to draw upon. One thing is clear, providing a quality service is vital. To the client, this has to be a value for money service as well. Marrying these two is key to business success and SPVS council will be working towards these objectives. It is likely that those practices that adapt and survive a recession will be in a strong position in the future.

Quality and value apply to practices, regardless of their species grouping. At home in Kendal, my practice is pushing standards forwards in equine, farm and small animal work. Because of this I am lucky to be able to indulge in being a mixed practitioner who has a keen interest in all aspects of veterinary work. This places me in a good position to represent the Society of Practising Veterinary Surgeons at all levels and to all bodies. SPVS is a great society; it is a pleasure to be picked for the team.

My vision goes beyond the year, however, and would encapsulate a desire that SPVS works with the other divisions of BVA to ensure that the veterinary profession provides the foremost view of all aspects of animal welfare and disease."

Vétoquinol has announced that Zylkène, a complementary feed used to help pets cope with unpredictable situations, is now available in a 20 capsule pack. 

The new packs have been designed to have more 'stand out appeal' on the shelves. Veterinary practices will now be able to display the new packs in waiting rooms and reception areas in a custom-made display unit to generate interest from pet owners and increase revenue for the practice.

Krystyna Joyce, Product Manager at Vétoquinol, said: "This has a huge benefit for the vet practice. As well as increased revenue, pet owners are much more likely to initiate a discussion about behaviour if they can see that there is a product to help their pet adjust to unusual circumstances or environmental changes."

Krystyna added: "With a number of behaviour products on the market, it can be confusing for pet owners to know which ones can be used when. We want to make it easier for pet owners: now when they come to their vets, they can see Zylkène, know what it's for, understand which strength will be right for their pet and pick it up."

As well as increasing product awareness, the packs will work alongside Vétoquinol's ongoing series of pet owner guides which offer advice on how best to help an animal deal with an unusual situation or life change.

Zylkène retail packs are available now from any veterinary wholesaler. 

CVS and the University of Bristol are collaborating on a new antimicrobial stewardship clinical research project to increase the responsible use of antimicrobials in in acute (haemorrhagic) diarrhoea, cat bite abscess and otitis externa.

It will compare current prescription levels with two-year retrospective data to gain an understanding of prescribing behaviour.

It will also look at the proportion of prescriptions that are Highest Priority Critically Important Antimicrobials (HPCIAs). 

Individual practice data will then be given to a dedicated AMS representative at each surgery who will be responsible for sharing it with their team - to gain an understanding of their prescribing for these conditions and to review actions which can be taken at practice level.

CPD on antimicrobial stewardship will be given to all practices to encourage responsible antimicrobial usage. 

The research project will then capture ongoing data - from August 2024 until July 2025 - to show changes in antimicrobial prescribing. 

The research is expected to provide an opportunity to build upon ongoing veterinary antimicrobial stewardship strategies.

This could include: using diagnostics to ensure accurate diagnoses and appropriate treatment plans, informing a change in prescribing behaviour, selecting antimicrobials responsibly, educating pet owners on antimicrobial resistance and using evidence-based guidance.

The clinical research project is being run by Kezia Wareham, Doctor of Philosophy student at Bristol Veterinary School (supervised by Dr Fernando Sanchez-Vizcaino, Dr Emi Barker, Dr Nicola Rooney and Dr Irene Bueno Padilla) and Deb Komianos, Regional Clinical Lead at CVS.

Deb said: “Antimicrobial resistance is one of the top ten global health threats and the figures projected by the WHO for attributable deaths are truly startling.

"To address the development of drug-resistant pathogens requires a One Health approach.

"It is not enough to pay lip service to AMS, we need to be leading the change."