Advancing standards at BSAVA Congress

Visitors to this year’s British Small Animal Veterinary Association (BSAVA) Congress will have the opportunity to talk to staff from the College and learn more about our plans for a veterinary consumer disputes resolution service.

A team from the RCVS will be at stand 104 at the Congress, which takes place at the ICC/NIA in Birmingham from 3 to 6 April, ready to answer any queries from delegates.

Staff will be providing further information about the College’s new Advanced Practitioner accreditation – which is set to launch this autumn – and there will also be the opportunity to play a related ‘Advance to Go’ game and have a chance of winning a Kindle Fire e-reader.

Furthermore, delegates can pick up a free aluminium water bottle created especially for the event.

On Saturday 5 April, RCVS Chief Executive and Secretary Nick Stace and Registrar Gordon Hockey will be giving a talk in Hall 7 regarding the College’s plans for a consumer disputes resolution service.

The talk, entitled ‘What’s good for consumers is good for the profession – how resolving disputes quickly is the road to success’, will take place from 9am to 10.15am with coffee and pastries available beforehand from 8.30am.

We are also hosting a series of Practice Standards Scheme surgeries with Lorna Francis, a Senior Inspector for the Scheme, on Friday 4 April in the Exhibition arena.

The free 45-minute, private surgeries will give members of the profession the opportunity to find out more about the Scheme and how they can prepare for inspections, for example.

To find out about availability and book a session, please contact Fiona Harcourt, Communications Officer, on 020 7202 0773 or [email protected].

Also in Hall 7, on the same day between 11.05am and 12.45pm, a clinical standards workshop will be held featuring RCVS Vice-President Jacqui Molyneux and Pam Mosedale who represents the BSAVA on the Practice Standards Group - the coordinating body for the Practice Standards Scheme.

The event will begin with a presentation by Dr Sally Everitt, Scientific Policy Officer for the BSAVA, giving an introduction and overview of clinical standards. Jacqui Molyneux will then speak about the proposed changes to the PSS, followed by a talk from Pam Mosedale about how clinical standards will be inspected through the Scheme.

Each presentation will be followed by a 15-minute discussion with a 45-minute general discussion about clinical standards to end the session.