New veterinary graduates - don't forget the PDP!

Over 480 newly-qualified veterinary surgeons have signed up for the Professional Development Phase (PDP), which supports new graduates during their first year in practice, but that leaves some 200 still to join, according to recent figures.

The PDP is mandatory for all veterinary surgeons in their first year of clinical practice, regardless of whether they qualified at home or overseas. It aims to help new veterinary surgeons adjust to life in practice by offering them an online tool via which to record and monitor the development of their skills and experience.

The process takes an average of 12 months by the end of which the new graduate’s Day One Competences they acquired at university should have developed into Year One Competences.

“We have been heartened by the positive uptake of the PDP but it is important that those who have yet to join, and their employers, remember its significance in the longer term,” according to Stephen Ware, one of two RCVS Postgraduate Deans with responsibility for supporting those on the PDP.

“If completed properly, the PDP accounts for the first year of mandatory continuing professional development. The PDP-completion certificate is a prerequisite for enrolment on to an RCVS Certificate and it is also audited as part of Practice Standards inspections,” he adds.

New graduates who have yet to register to use the PDP system can email RCVS at [email protected] to receive a password.

View more information about the PDP