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- Code of Professional Conduct for Veterinary Surgeons
- Code of Professional Conduct for Veterinary Nurses
- Contact the Advice Team
- XL Bully dog ban
- 'Under care' - new guidance
- Advice on Schedule 3
- Controlled Drugs Guidance – A to Z
- Dealing with Difficult Situations webinar recordings
- FAQs – Common medicines pitfalls
- FAQs – Routine veterinary practice and clinical veterinary research
- FAQs – Advertising of practice names
- GDPR – RCVS information and Q&As
Areas of particular concern
Areas of particular concern might include:
Breaches of the RCVS Code of Professional Conduct (Code)
- Dishonesty, for example, in the context of certification or about radiographs/clinical records of an animal;
- Misleading a client, colleague or the wider public (about, for example, a swab left in an animal after a surgical procedure);
- Recklessness in his/her conduct;
- Failure to obtain informed consent to treatment or to discuss treatment options and possible complications;
- Inappropriate or unwarranted physical force against an animal;
- Aggression or violence towards a client;
- Inappropriate storage, use or supply of veterinary medicinal products;
- Failure to take adequate steps to provide 24-hour emergency cover;
- Unreasonable refusal to provide immediate first-aid and pain relief;
- Failure to maintain adequate clinical records; and/or
- Failure to maintain the equivalent of Core Standards (the RCVS Practice Standards Scheme).
Not all breaches of the Code will give rise to a realistic prospect that the conduct is far short of that which is expected.
Clinical Matters
- Treatment that falls far short of that expected might include:
- Discharging an animal too soon post-operatively;
- Reckless administration of a medicine;
- Failure to keep appropriate clinical records;
- Negligence which may be gross;
- Other very poor clinical care and skill short of the standard expected; and/or
- Repeated errors.
Other Issues
- Failure to adhere to previous advice from the RCVS;
- Concerns relating to criminal cautions or convictions of a serious nature may, on the authorisation of the PIC Chairman and/or Head of Professional Conduct be referred directly to the Stage two PIC; and/or
- Concerns relating to serious Health issues may on the authorisation of the PIC Chairman and/or Head of Professional Conduct be referred directly to the PIC.