Advanced Practitioner criteria amended

The criteria for applying or reaccrediting as an RCVS Advanced Practitioner have recently been changed by our Education Committee following a review of the criteria and guidance by an RCVS working group. A consultation with current Advanced Practitioners then took place towards the end of last year.

Via the consultation we presented the proposals made by the working group. Here is a rundown of the proposals we made and the changes we have implemented:

• We will be adding a self-certification box on the application form for applicants to confirm that they see on average 100 cases a year in their designated area, although we will not be asking for specific evidence of this.
• We will ask that applicants demonstrate that 10 hours a year of their designation-specific continuing professional development (CPD) has been undertaken with an ‘external focus’ and we have provided a definition of what externally focused CPD means with some examples.
• Using the online Professional Development Record (PDR) to provide CPD records will now be mandatory.
• Applicants will need to provide a statement with examples on how they have been involved with clinical governance and the impact this has had on their practice. This will need to be done every 5 years for re-accreditation and applicants will be expected to write around 200 to 300 words.
• The designation of ‘General Small Animal Surgery’ will be removed and those currently listed under this designation will now be listed under ‘Small Animal Surgery’.
• The designation of ‘Equine Medicine’ will be removed and those currently listed under this designation will now be listed under ‘Equine Internal Medicine’.
• The designation ‘Veterinary Dentistry’ will be renamed ‘Small Animal Dentistry’. A separate designation of ‘Equine Dentistry’ already exists.

Applications for re-listing as an Advanced Practitioner need to be submitted by the end of October 2019 and the changes have been published now in order to give current Advanced Practitioners sufficient time to prepare for these changes. For prospective applicants the window for applying to join the next tranche of Advanced Practitioner is open until Wednesday 31 October this year.

Those who have any questions about either applying for or reaccrediting as an Advanced Practitioner should contact our Education Department on [email protected] or 020 7202 0736.