Does it take longer to complete if you choose more EPAs?

If your VetGDP Adviser isn’t on the drop-down list, please ask them to make sure that they have set up a relationship in their RCVS My Account, with the same practice as you and have made their own VetGDP declaration.

If the practice is not in the drop-down list, please ask them to make sure that they have completed the practice declaration in the practice My Account. If they need help in accessing the practice My Account, they should contact [email protected] with the practice postcode.

You can find step by step guides for each party here.

You do not need to participate in the VetGDP if you are going to work abroad and you can still maintain your MRCVS. If/when you return to the UK, you will only need to participate if you have less than 18 months experience in a role similar to the one you will be undertaking on your return. If you have more than 18 months experience, you may participate in the VetGDP if you wish.

This will be individual for each veterinary graduate, you all have different experiences from vet school, different strengths and weaknesses, you have different roles, different team support, different cases.

You need to record enough reflection and activities to show that you are competent to perform the activities in your chosen EPAs and to meet the success criteria. You need to record enough to give evidence of breadth and depth of experience in each EPA set against the relevant success criteria.

If you can find the time to record your activities and reflections regularly, they will be a more accurate and  helpful record allowing you to make swifter progress.

Look carefully at the EPA booklet and each of the EPAs that you have selected to be in your e-portfolio. Look at the description of the EPA - are you competent to perform those activities? Does your e-portfolio show a breadth and depth of examples? Does your e-portfolio give examples of where you meet the relevant success criteria?

Does your portfolio show evidence of progress? Have you set goals, with the assistance of your VetGDP Adviser, and shown evidence of achieving them? Are you a competent and confident Veterinary Surgeon who can perform all activities within your role without support?

Have you checked that your e-portfolio does not contain any personal/identifiable for yourself, the clients or the practice?

Your e-portfolio can only reflect your role, for example, if you are a dairy farm vet, you may only see cows. You are not expected to seek out experience at other practices to widen your experience.

When you feel that you are ready to submit your e-portfolio, you should sit down with your VetGDP Adviser to check that they agree that you are ready to submit or whether they feel have some areas where they feel you should record further evidence that you have achieved your EPAs.

Once you have both agreed, click on 'manage e-portfolio' and then 'submit'.

Your VetGDP Adviser will receive an email saying that you have submitted and they will be asked to sign in and approve the submission.

The e-portfolio will then be checked by the RCVS to see that there is content for each EPA and allocated to a peer reviewer.

The peer reviewer has 2 weeks to agree to review the e-portfolio and then a further two weeks to do the actual review.

You will then receive confirmation that your peer reviewer agrees that your e-portfolio is complete or feedback on which areas need further additions.

If you do need to make additions to your e-portfolio, you may do so and then follow the submission process again.

There is a progress bar within your e-portfolio to let you show you where you are in the sequence.

The EPA focuses on evidence-based veterinary medicine, looking at wider information resources, and asking you to reflect on the quality of the evidence given and if it is applicable to the clinical situation that you are dealing with.

It is asking you to show that you know when and how to get further evidence or assistance and what questions to ask, and encourages a habit of lifelong learning and reflection.

New members who have less than 18 months of significant work experience as a veterinary graduate will be expected to enrol in the VetGDP. 

Whilst perhaps small, your role does have a clinical aspect. Here are some suggestions of which EPAs may be appropriate for your role. It is not an exhaustive list. Relevant EPAs will differ depending on role and should be discussed with the employer.

EPA 11 – Welfare assessments of animals arriving for slaughter are a common scenario to which this could be applied

EPA 12 – A veterinary risk assessment could be performed in a number of different aspects of the role relating to food safety/public health/animal welfare

EPA 13 – Audit activities in terms of the daily supervision of a factory are a requirement of the role. The OV may not be performing the annual FSA audit of the whole premises but their activities monitoring compliance through supervision contribute to that process

EPA 14 - OV may be asked to do export activities as part of their role

EPA 9 - OV would be expected to perform a Post Mortem Investigation following sudden deaths at an abattoir and may be expected to collect samples. This would only require a minor adjustment since collection of samples would only be required in certain cases.

EPA 10 - An OV is likely to be involved in, even if not lead epidemiological investigations of diseases which are identified at an abattoir. They have an important front-line role to play in identifying notifiable diseases. Beyond their initial training, they are more likely to take a leading role

Click on the cog in the top right-hand corner of the e-portfolio and click re-set. You will not lose your records. You can then choose a practice and an Adviser from the drop-down list.

Please make sure that you have updated your relationship to a new practice, where necessary, in your My Account and that your Adviser has completed the training and made the relevant declarations.