The RCVS Compassion Award

This is a new award to be bestowed for the first time in 2021, to reflect the focus of the RCVS on compassion, as part of the 2020-2024 Strategic Plan.

It will be awarded to a veterinary surgeon or veterinary nurse at any stage of their career who has demonstrated compassion towards fellow professionals and/or members of the animal-owning public. This may be as part of a one-off initiative or sustained over a longer period of time, but the individual needs to have made a significant impact and shown genuine compassion above and beyond what might have been expected of them as part of their day-to-day work.

Although showing compassion to animals is a key part of a veterinary professional’s role, this award is to recognise compassion towards our fellow human beings.

Nominations can be made by any MRCVS or RVN, excluding current RCVS Council and VN Council members. Nominees must be MsRCVS or RVNs, also excluding current RCVS Council and VN Council members.

The nomination period for the 2024 RCVS Honours & Awards is now finished. 

Successful nominees for RCVS Honours & Awards will be announced in March 2024 and invited to attend Royal College Day in July 2024. 

Previous Compassion Award winners

2022: Glen Cousquer MRCVS, was recognised for his role as a founding member of the Campus Mental Health and Wellbeing Committee at the University of Edinburgh where he works as an MSc Programme Coordinator in Conservation Medicine. In his role as Chair of the Committee he has led and supported a team that provides a regular programme of events to promote staff and student mental health and wellbeing and has also helped to promote a culture of compassion across the wider university. 

2022: Katie Moore VN MRCVS, was recognised for her role as a Trustee of the Vetlife charity, which provides mental health and emotional support to the veterinary professions, and particularly as Chair of the charity's Vetlife Health Support Programme and Vetlife Helpline, for which she provides strategic leadership and governance. Among Katie's key achievements has been the commissioning and development of the Vetlife Health Support Service which offers bespoke professional mental health support to vets, veterinary nurses and students. 

2021: Dr David Martin MRCVS, a veterinary surgeon and partner at the Brownlow Veterinary Group in Shropshire who has been described as a consistent advocate for pet, client and team welfare within the non-accidental injury (NAI) field for many years, helping practitioners to identify the signs of NAI. His nominator Dr Jacqueline Seymour MRCVS, a VetsNow district veterinary surgeon who sits with Dr Martin on the IVC UK Welfare group, says he contributed his knowledge and personal time during the pandemic to provide direct support to veterinary teams in his own time on recognising NAI, as well as leading parliamentary discussion, online webinar training and production of additional resources to aid teams in these situations.

2021: Olivia Wassell RVN, has worked at the Blue Cross Animal Hospital in Hammersmith, London, since late 2019 and has been praised by her colleagues for her professionalism, positive attitude and dedication to animal health and welfare as a relatively new member of staff working under difficult conditions during the pandemic. Her nominator Dominique Mitchell RVN said Olivia faced the challenges of the pandemic with a completely open mind and flexibility and that she had been a great support to numerous team members familiar and unfamiliar.