VMD Register – sign-up in autumn

Further to the article in the 14 July issue of Veterinary Times (‘VMD in ‘register now’ plea to vet practices’) we would like to point out that we are not able to take registrations from practices handling Prescription-Only Veterinary Medicines until we have the necessary legal authority – that is, once the new Veterinary Medicines Regulations have been brought in to force. This is likely to be from November 2008.

Practices will then have until 1 April 2009 to sign up if they wish to continue to handle such medicines.

In the meantime, practices not in the Practice Standards Scheme might consider joining, as practices accredited under the Scheme (at any level) can transfer automatically to the medicines Register, do not have to pay the £40 annual fee and will not be subject to inspections carried out by the VMD (at a cost of £250 each). Joining the Practice Standards Scheme currently costs £425, plus £230 per year in annual fees for a main practice (£53 for an affiliated branch practice).

More information about the new practice premises register is available in an article on page 6 of the June issue of RCVS News (PDF 2Mb).