How we assess and investigate concerns raised about a veterinary nurse

If your case falls within our remit it will be subject to our investigation procedure, which is set out below. If your concern does not fall within our remit, the Veterinary Client Mediation Service (VCMS) may be able to help you.

For more information about the types of cases we can deal with, and about VCMS, please go to I want to raise a concern about a veterinary nurse.

Collating information

We will disclose your concerns and all the information you provide to the veterinary nurse.

We may ask the veterinary nurse to write to us and comment on the concerns you have raised. We will send a copy of this letter to you so that you can tell us if you disagree with anything they have written.

It may not be necessary for us to contact the veterinary nurse if we have received enough information from you to allow us to assess the concern, or on the other hand, we may need to gather additional information so that we can decide what action we can take.

Your Case Manager may therefore seek information over the telephone, by email, or in writing, for example:

• from you;
• from the veterinary nurse about whom you have concerns;
• from others at the veterinary practice (such as the veterinary nurse’s employers or veterinary/non-veterinary colleagues at their practice);
• from anyone who you have told us may have witnessed or have knowledge about any of the incidents you are concerned about; and/or
• from any other veterinary nurse or veterinary surgeon who may have treated your animal.

Your Case Manager may also ask for copies of the clinical records relating to your animal’s treatment.

Additional investigations

Our investigations could also involve:

• instructing our Veterinary Investigators to visit the veterinary nurse who you are concerned about, and/or to visit you and anyone else who may have knowledge about the incidents, and to report back to the Case Manager;
• obtaining formal witness statements (from you and others); and/or
• obtaining expert reports.

Your Case Manager may, at any time, seek guidance about an investigation from the Chair of the RVN Preliminary investigation Committee or the Head of Professional Conduct at the RCVS.

Consideration by the Stage 1 RVN Preliminary Investigation Committee (Stage 1 RVN PIC)

Once your Case Manager considers that sufficient information has been obtained to enable your concerns to be assessed (and this may be on the basis of your information alone), they will be considered by a Stage 1 RVNPIC.

The Stage 1 RVNPIC will ordinarily be a quorum of three members, either one veterinary nurse, one veterinary surgeon and one lay member, or two veterinary nurses and one lay member.

The Stage 1 RVNPIC makes its decisions in private, so neither you, nor the veterinary nurse, will attend any of its meetings.

The Stage 1 RVNPIC will decide whether it can close the case at this stage, on the basis that there is no realistic prospect of the concerns raised being proved and of them amounting to serious professional misconduct.

The Stage 1 RVNPIC can:

• close the matter with no further action;
• close the matter and issue advice to the veterinary nurse; or,
• decide that it has insufficient information to conclude the matter and that the case should be referred to a Stage 2 RVNPIC. That RVNPIC's role it is to decide if a case should proceed to a Stage 3 RVN Disciplinary Committee (RVNDC) hearing.

Upon the authorisation of the RVNPIC Chair and/or the Head of Professional Conduct, concerns and/or convictions/cautions that are identified as being of a potentially serious nature may be referred directly to the Stage 2 RVNPIC for investigations to be carried out.

We will write to both you and the veterinary nurse concerned about the decision made by the Stage 1 RVNPIC and the reasons for this decision. We aim to complete stage one within 6 months of the concern being raised with us.

The Stage 2 RVN Preliminary Investigation Committee (Stage 2 RVNPIC) meets to consider whether there is a realistic prospect that what the veterinary nurse has done, or not done, could amount to serious professional misconduct, and whether the case should therefore be referred to a RVNDC hearing, or referred to the Charter Case Committee.

The Stage 2 RVNPIC meetings are in private, so neither you, nor the veterinary nurse concerned, will attend any of the meetings.

The Stage 2 RVNPIC will receive all the information and documents previously made available to the Stage 1 RVNPIC.

The time taken to investigate a matter at Stage 2 varies depending on the complexity of the case. 

Additional information

Both you and the veterinary nurse will be notified if a matter is going forward to the Stage 2 RVNPIC and will have the opportunity to provide any additional comments and information that you would like it to consider.

When the Stage 2 RVNPIC considers matters, it may require more information before making a decision (see above for the sort of information that it may ask for).

What the Stage 2 RVNPIC can do

The Stage 2 RVNPIC may decide to:

• close the case with no further action;
• close the case and issue advice to the veterinary nurse;
• refer a case to the Charter Case Committee.  It will do this where it considers that there is a realistic prospect that the veterinary surgeon’s conduct falls far short of the standard expected of a reasonably competent veterinary surgeon, but that it is not in the public interest for the case to proceed to a hearing of the Disciplinary Committee (for example, because it is at the lower end of the scale of seriousness).  Decisions of the Charter Case Committee may be made public, and you can see decisions from the last six months here.

• refer a complaint to the RVNDC for a hearing. It will do this where it considers that there is a realistic prospect of the RVNDC finding that the veterinary nurse’s alleged conduct falls far short of the standard expected of a reasonably competent veterinary nurse, and it considers that it is in the public interest to do so. The Stage 2 RVNPIC will do so in particular when it takes the view that the behaviour, if proved, is fundamentally incompatible with their being a veterinary nurse and this may include any behaviours in the following (non-exhaustive) list:

  • Very poor professional performance where there has been a serious departure from the standards set out in the RCVS Code of Professional Conduct;
  • Causing, or causing risk of, serious harm to animals or the public, particularly where there is a breach of trust;
  • Offences of a sexual nature;
  • Offences involving violence and/or loss of human life;
  • Evidence of a harmful or deep-seated personality or attitude problem; and/or
  • Dishonesty, particularly where persistent or concealed;

• retain a case for ongoing monitoring under the RCVS Health Protocol; or,

• retain a case for ongoing monitoring under the RCVS Performance Protocol.

Stage 3 RVN Disciplinary Committee hearing

If a case is referred to the RVN Disciplinary Committee, there will be a formal hearing.

A RVNDC hearing is like a court hearing and you will probably be asked to attend to give evidence under oath or affirmation (a solemn promise to tell the truth). Other witnesses will also usually be called to give evidence.

Generally, a RVNDC hearing date will be offered within 15 months of the date we received your concerns form.

Appeals from decisions of the RVNDC to suspend or remove a veterinary nurse are made to a senior barrister (King's Counsel).

For detailed information about the RVN Disciplinary Committee and what it can do, see www.rcvs.org.uk/dcguidance.