FAQs

Premises likely to be considered as ‘veterinary practice premises’ by the RCVS and the VMD are those

• from which the veterinary surgeons of a practice provide veterinary services; and/or, 
• advertised or promoted as premises of a veterinary practice; and/or, 
• open to members of the public to bring animals for veterinary treatment and care; and/or, 
• not open to the public, but which are the base from which a veterinary surgeon practises or provides veterinary services to more than one client; and/or, 
• to which medicines are delivered wholesale, on the authority of one or more veterinary surgeons in practice.

This is not an exhaustive list of premises that may be considered as veterinary practice premises.

The charity/business premises may be veterinary practice premises, if, for example:

1. the premises are open to members of the public to bring animals for veterinary treatment and care (i.e. the animals are not owned by the charity/business)
2. the premises are used as a base to provide veterinary services to other clients
3. drugs are delivered and/or supplied from the premises and stored there overnight.

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

The PDP is not simply a matter of filling in case numbers, it is much more than this. To get the most out of the PDP, the graduate should review their progress continually, making a conscious effort to fine-tune their skills, reflect and learn from experience. The PDP system is there to encourage them to think about what they are doing so they can build on their successes and learn from their mistakes.

Employers can help graduates by encouraging them to keep their records up to date. Reference to their skills log can be used to structure any appraisal discussion, and can provide an idea of the balance of the experience they are getting. (The graduate can share a non-editable page of any part of their PDP and CPD record with a third party by sending them a link by email.) If they are short on experience in some areas, employers could look at switching rotas to provide exposure to a different range of cases.

Employers may also want to consider letting them see practice elsewhere for a short period if this would help to broaden the range of cases they see. This could be a valuable adjunct to their CPD. If graduates are having difficulty with some procedures, employers should try to be supportive and provide opportunities for more practice in carrying these out. One approach might be for them to have additional supervision until they are confident in these procedures. The list of  PDP Competences provides a guide to areas where graduates may need further training, perhaps by attending some external courses, or by further reading. General professional competences such as communication skills, or practice and business management, are also important and should not be overlooked. 

1CPD has been developed in consultation with the profession to support your CPD in the most intuitive way possible. It includes features such as voice recording and image uploads which helps support planning and reflecting on your CPD.

We strongly encourage you to use it; it will become mandatory from January 2022. 

1CPD data is secured using industry-standard mechanisms. All data is encrypted at rest and in transit. Access to RCVS servers and databases is restricted to specific members of staff, and firewalls restrict traffic appropriately.

Overseas vets coming to work in the UK should participate in the VetGDP if they have less than 18 months experience in a role similar to that which they will be undertaking when starting work in the UK. This includes all roles for which the graduate needs to be MRCVS.

No. The practice and VetGDP Adviser will need to commit their time but there is no direct cost. The online learning for VetGDP Advisers will be provided by the RCVS free of charge. 

The programme is jointly led by the graduate and their VetGDP Adviser who has agreed to be the primary person providing support to the graduate(s) enrolled in the VetGDP in their workplace. Both the graduate and the VetGDP Adviser have a responsibility to engage with the programme, as indicated in the RCVS Code of Professional Conduct. In addition, the practice/workplace also has a responsibility for allowing the graduate and VetGDP Adviser protected time for support activities as declared in their application to become an RCVS Approved Graduate Development Practice/Workplace

If you practise from your home and supply medicines from there, your home must be registered with the RCVS as a veterinary practice premises. Even if you store only small quantities of medicines at your home, you will need to register your home as a veterinary practice premises if you supply those medicines to others (supply includes administering medicines to other people’s animals).

However, if you keep a small quantity of medicines at your home, for example, for on-call purposes, and that store of medicines is recorded at a registered veterinary practice premises, the home premises need not be registered.