Eligibility criteria: specialist status

Membership requirement

You must:

• Be a Member of the RCVS or on the Temporary Register
• Not be on the Non-Practising Register

Qualifications

Your qualification must fall into one of the following categories:

Automatically Recognised Qualifications

• RCVS Diploma
• Diplomate of an EBVS®-approved European specialist college
• Diplomate of an AVMA®-recognised American specialist college. See the full list of approved colleges.
• Fellowship of the Australian and New Zealand College of Veterinary Scientists (in a relevant speciality)

RCVS Diploma of Fellowship

Accepted if achieved by Examination or Meritorious Contributions to Learning (MCL).

Other Postgraduate Qualifications

You may present other relevant postgraduate degrees (for example, PhD, FRCPath) for consideration. Additional evidence will be required.

Holding one of these qualifications confers eligibility but does not guarantee recognition; you must also meet all other criteria.

If you're applying with a Diploma of Fellowship by Thesis, you'll need a postgraduate qualification and evidence of a substantial number of publications in refereed journals.

If you’re applying with an MSc or other one-year qualifications, you’ll need to be able to demonstrate a substantial amount of evidence of your expertise.

Active EBVS® European Veterinary Specialists are accepted for RCVS Specialist Status. To see the full list of approved colleges, please check the EBVS website.

CPD requirements

You must complete at least:

• 250 hours of CPD over the previous five calendar years, including
• 125 hours related directly to your speciality.

CPD must be recorded in 1CPD, clearly labelled and in English, so assessors can identify:

• Total hours completed
• Hours relevant to your speciality
• Evidence supporting reading or self-directed study

If you are a veterinary surgeon working overseas, you’re not required to use 1CPD for recording and reflecting; however, this platform is advised.

CPD records may be rejected, or part of your CPD activities disallowed, if it's not possible to:

• Assess how many hours of CPD you've undertaken
• Decide which of those hours are relevant to the designation being applied for and which have an external focus
• See clear evidence to support the hours being claimed, for example for documented reading

When filling in the ‘Topic’ you should preface any CPD activities that relate to your designated area with a heading such as ‘Cardiology’ or ‘SAM specific’ or some similar marker to differentiate this CPD from more general activities.

For guidance on how to reflect, please visit the short course Record & Reflect.

If you’re unable to amend your CPD activities for the previous year’s, please email [email protected].

Professional key skills requirements

You must confirm that you are able to:

• Apply evidence-based reasoning in complex specialist cases
• Protect human and animal health
• Apply specialist practice with awareness of welfare, ethics and professional standards
• Promote continuous improvement within your specialty
• Communicate effectively with the public and colleagues

Experience

You must demonstrate that you remain clinically active and current within your specialist area.

Publications and professional contribution

You should provide evidence of:

• Recent publications in refereed journals
• Presentations at local, national and international meetings
• Teaching, examining or reviewing
• Work with specialist boards or organisations
• Expert reports

If you do not hold an RCVS Diploma or aren’t an active EBVS® specialist, you must additionally demonstrate:

• At least five recent principal-author papers, plus further contributions

Some applicants may be asked to sit an additional postgraduate qualification.

Other requirements

• You may only be listed in one area of specialisation.
• You cannot be an Advanced Practitioner in the same subject.
• You are expected to contribute to examinations within your speciality.

Self-assessment

All applicants must complete a self-assessment against set criteria within the application form.