Standards & Advice spring 2025 update

As many of you may know, the Code of Professional Conduct and supporting guidance is constantly evolving to ensure the guidance we give is up-to-date and reflective of the latest good practice.

Much of the work of the Standards Committee and the Standards & Advice Team involves helping veterinary professionals interpret the Code and guidance in the context of their everyday work and supporting them in using their own clinical judgement.

The Committee itself meets around six times a year with a wide-ranging remit to consider potential additions or amendments to the Code and supporting guidance based on, for example, external legal and regulatory changes and representations from organisations and individual members of the professions.

Previously, the Code and/or guidance would have been updated immediately upon agreement by the Committee, and the news of the update be published via the RCVS’ monthly newsletter. However, the Committee has agreed that going forward, there will instead be two scheduled updates to the Code and guidance every year, which will be published in the spring and autumn.

Unless deemed urgent, amendments to the Code/guidance will therefore come into force on publication of these updates. It is hoped that this will be a positive change which provides better visibility, as well as making the updates more accessible.

Prescription validity and ‘repeats’

The Veterinary Medicines Directorate (VMD) has recently confirmed that, in respect of written prescriptions, providing the first dispense of a repeat prescription takes place during the validity period (typically six months), the remaining repeats on the prescription may be dispensed beyond the validity period.

This position is consistent with that of instalment prescriptions for Schedule 2 and 3 controlled drugs where the first instalment must be dispensed within the 28-day validity period, with the subsequent instalments dispensed outside of this period. The VMD’s Guidance has been updated to reflect this, as has our guidance on controlled drugs, and common medicines pitfalls.

Specialists

Following on from the work undertaken in August 2024 in respect of the use of ‘specialist’ when promoting veterinary services, the Standards Committee has agreed a further minor amendment to the following paragraph in Chapter 23 of the supporting guidance.

Hitherto the guidance suggested that vets could say they had ‘a special interest in…’ an area of veterinary practice, even if they were not an RCVS Specialist. However, due to reported confusion within the professions and the obvious similarity with ‘specialising in’, the Committee decide to remove ‘special’ and replace it with ‘particular’.

The intention is to give vets who are not specialists options for describing their areas of expertise and interest, without giving the impression that they are specialists. As a result of this change, both ‘specialising in’ and ‘having a special interest in’ should now only be used by, or in relation to, those on the RCVS Specialist list. The updated guidance reads as follows:

23.26 Veterinary surgeons who are not on the specialist list should not use the title ‘specialist’ or imply they are a specialist, for example, they should not use such terms as ‘specialising in’. They may however use terms such as ‘having a particular interest in…’, ‘experienced in…’, or ‘practice limited to…’, when promoting their services.

Maintaining professional boundaries

Following its meeting in April 2025, the Standards Committee agreed to add guidance into Chapter 2 of the supporting guidance on the topic of maintaining professional boundaries.

The Committee discussed how many veterinary surgeons and registered veterinary nurses are integrated into their communities, and so it can be hard to separate their social and professional lives.

However, it agreed that veterinary surgeons and registered veterinary nurses should be aware of situations where either one of the parties could potentially be exploited and take active steps to avoid these situations.

The new guidance covers the following points:

2.36 Veterinary surgeons and registered veterinary nurses should take a proactive approach to both safeguarding and maintaining appropriate boundaries with clients. The nature of the professional relationship with clients inherently carries a power imbalance, and whilst personal or social relationships with clients are not prohibited, veterinary surgeons and veterinary nurses should prioritise mutual protection for all parties involved.

2.37 Veterinary surgeons and registered veterinary nurses are permitted to provide veterinary services to animals belonging to family members and friends; however, the animals’ interests must remain the priority, and obligations such as maintaining clinical records and obtaining informed consent apply.

2.38 If a conflict of interest arises, or the veterinary surgeon or registered veterinary nurse feels that their professional boundaries or impartiality are at risk, they should cease providing veterinary services and may end the professional relationship with the client.