Vet employers reminded on issues relating to consumer choice and professional autonomy

On Wednesday 20 November, RCVS President Linda Belton wrote to veterinary employers to remind them of the RCVS guidance around consumer rights and professional autonomy and highlighted the role that employers have in ensuring and supporting compliance with the professional obligations of their employees.

The letter was written in light of concerns expressed by employed veterinary professionals that, due to commercial factors, they feel pressured to act in a way that conflicts with their obligations to animal health and welfare and transparency with clients.

We want to raise awareness amongst all veterinary professionals that employers have been given this advice by the RCVS. The letter, which can be found in full below, sets out the importance of professional judgement and compliance with the Code of Professional Conduct, providing references to relevant parts of the Code and its supporting guidance.

Updated guidance on consumer rights and professional autonomy

Dear employers,

Following recent updates to our guidance, we wish to remind employers of our expectations in terms of supporting veterinary surgeons and veterinary nurses to fulfil their professional obligations.

Veterinary surgeons’ and veterinary nurses’ ability to provide appropriate and adequate care to animals under their care should not be compromised by commercial pressures. Professional obligations to the health and welfare of animals should always remain paramount, and employers should not pressure veterinary surgeons and veterinary nurses to act in a way that may be contrary to these obligations, for example, by requiring certain diagnostic protocols or courses of treatment.

Although targets are sometimes part of normal employment relationships, they should not compromise or remove professional judgement.

Whilst veterinary surgeons and veterinary nurses have an individual responsibility to comply with the RCVS Code of Professional Conduct, employers have a vital role to play in ensuring and facilitating compliance with employees’ professional obligations.

In order to support veterinary professionals to navigate any potential conflicts with their professional obligations and employment considerations, the RCVS Standards Committee has agreed a number of changes to the supporting guidance to the Code of Professional Conduct on the topic of consumer rights and professional autonomy. These are as follows:

- Chapter 2 of the supporting guidance now includes more information on contextualised care and exercising professional judgement. This guidance was added to help clarify the position on contextualised care and address situations where veterinary surgeons may feel under pressure to treat animals in a particular way under their practice policy. On agreeing the guidance, the Committee was looking to offer support for veterinary surgeons in exercising their autonomy in deciding appropriate care, particularly in settings where they may be encouraged to follow organisational protocols that prescribe testing and treatment routes. The new guidance is in Chapter 2, paras 2.2 c/d.

- Chapter 10 of the supporting guidance now consolidates the existing guidance on consumer rights and freedom of choice in order to make the obligations easier to navigate for the veterinary professions. This chapter includes general guidance around consumer rights and freedom of choice, as well as more specific guidance focusing on how this topic applies to veterinary medicines, fees, referrals and incentives, advertising and recommendations, and informed consent.

- All practices are expected to have an appointed senior veterinary surgeon who has overall responsibility for professional matters within the practice such as clinical policy guidelines, complaints policies, and procedures relating to medicines. Chapter 17 of the guidance outlines the expectations of the appointed senior veterinary surgeon and the Committee has approved additional responsibilities for this role. The appointed senior veterinary surgeon is now also expected to ‘have overall responsibility within the organisation for ensuring that the RCVS supporting guidance and legislation relating to consumer obligations, such as consumer choice, are being adhered to’ (paragraph 17.15(e)), and ‘have overall responsibility within the organisation for ensuring that the clinical freedom and professional autonomy of veterinary surgeons and veterinary nurses is not impeded or eroded by external factors, such as the commercial interests of the practice’ (paragraph 17.15(f)).

We therefore recommend that, as an employer of veterinary surgeons and veterinary nurses, you become familiar with this guidance and urge you to consider how best to support them in meeting their professional responsibilities.

Thank you for your cooperation. If you have any queries about the new guidance, or the Code of Professional Conduct for veterinary surgeons and veterinary nurses in general, please contact our advice team at [email protected] who will be happy to help.

Kind regards,

Linda Belton MRCVS
RCVS President