The RCVS is publishing new Covid recovery guidance for the veterinary professions in the UK.

The new guidance, which can be found at www.rcvs.org.uk/coronavirus, will gradually replace the current emergency guidance and aims to help veterinary practices begin a phased return to near-normal operations:

• Professional judgement and biosecurity
  Subject to each government’s plans remaining in place, the new guidance will enable practices to provide services to clients in accordance with their professional judgement, the ongoing requirement to maintain biosecurity and social distancing, and any other relevant government guidelines and restrictions.
• Flowcharts removed
  The College’s Covid flowcharts, which have aimed to support veterinary decision-making throughout the pandemic restrictions, will be removed, and practices will no longer be expected to provide only essential/urgent services.
• Remote prescribe if no suitable alternative
  The College is retaining its temporary guidance that permits remote prescribing of prescription-only veterinary medicines, but only where there is no suitable alternative and still subject to certain guidelines and requirements.

Alongside the College’s guidance, the BVA is also publishing guidance for practices on working safely as lockdown restrictions are eased. [www.bva.co.uk/coronavirus/]

RCVS President Mandisa Greene said: “None of us could have predicted quite what an extraordinary and extraordinarily challenging 12 months this has been for everyone.

"On behalf of the whole of RCVS Council, I would like to thank sincerely once again all our veterinary and veterinary nursing colleagues, and all those in practice teams around the UK, for their awe-inspiring commitment, adaptability, resilience and sheer hard work in continuing to provide essential veterinary services and look after the health and welfare of the nation’s animals, in what have been the most difficult of times.

“Whilst I sincerely hope that we are at last beginning to see light at the end of the tunnel, if there is one thing we have learnt, it is that things can deteriorate rapidly if we don’t all continue to play our part and follow all relevant guidelines.

“I therefore urge my colleagues to continue to use their professional judgement and think very carefully about their gradual return to more normal working patterns over the coming weeks and months, according to their individual circumstances and the best interests of their teams, clients, and the animals they care for.”

RCVS Council has also agreed that the policy and guidance changes made in response to the pandemic over the past 12 months will now be reviewed, and decisions made as to whether to retain, amend or reverse them.

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