5 Mar 2020
College says in the “exceptional circumstances” it accepts vet personnel may have to make clinical and professional judgements to safeguard themselves, their colleagues and public health.
David Woodmansey
Job Title
The RCVS has written to all vets and vet nurses offering guidance in the face of the growing coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak.
RCVS president Niall Connell made it clear that “…our priority is the health and safety of those we regulate”.
The document said: “We understand that animal health and welfare will always be your first concern when attending to animals. However, we appreciate that you will also have concerns about the clinical and professional decisions you need to make in these difficult and changeable circumstances.
“To this end, we encourage you to work together to coordinate the care of animals and the delivery of services, and to use your clinical and professional judgement when assessing risk and making decisions, informed by the code [RCVS Code of Professional Conduct] and guidance.”
The document continued: “Our guidance is designed to be workable and applicable to wide-ranging scenarios, and is there to support you to effectively risk assess, and make clinical and professional judgements relevant to the context before you.
“However, we acknowledge that in these exceptional circumstances, you may need to depart from the best practice advice set out in the guidance in order to safeguard yourself and your colleagues, as well as public health.”
The document added: “We understand that you may feel anxious about how your decision-making in such circumstances might be viewed if a concern is raised with us about you.
“We always consider concerns on the specific facts, taking into account the context in which any decisions were made together with any other relevant factors.
“We also consider any additional advice outside of the code and guidance, such as this letter, in place at the time.”
The document concluded: “We therefore wish to reassure you that if you act reasonably in the light of all available information and evidence, and are able to justify the decisions you have made, it is hard to see circumstances where we would find you had acted in any way that would be a major cause for concern.
“To this end, we would advise you to include a detailed note of the decisions you make, and the reasons for them, within your clinical notes.”
