Award winners – Page 2 – RCVS Knowledge

2025Highly commended

The Ralph Veterinary Referral Centre

Quality Improvement in Practice

This team sought to reduce medication errors by ensuring medications were checked and signed by two people when dispensed, and have achieved an increase from 19% to 95% of medications being countersigned.

Quality improvementMedicine

2025Highly commended

Westmoor Vets, CVS

Quality Improvement in Practice

Westmoor Vets implemented changes to improve prescribing practices, achieving a significant improvement in prescriptions following the recommended twice-daily dose frequency.

Quality improvementSmall animalsMedicine

2025Highly commended

Yew Tree Veterinary Surgery, CVS

Quality Improvement in Practice

Bethan Panter RVN led this audit to improve pain scoring, and achieved an increase in the number of patients having scores recorded from 24% to 94.2%, by implementing training, a buddy system, and changes to forms.

Quality improvementPatient careSurgery and anaesthesia

2025One to watch

Blue Cross

Antimicrobial Stewardship

Blue Cross used ‘Plan, Prevent, Protect’ to reduce the inappropriate use of metronidazole in cats and dogs and achieved a 30.28% reduction in metronidazole dispensing.

Quality improvementSmall animalsAntimicrobial stewardship

2025One to watch

Medivet

Antimicrobial Stewardship

Medivet successfully reduced antibiotic prescribing in dental procedures from 48% to 27%, but noted an increase in non-evidence-based prescriptions which they are continuing to monitor.

Quality improvementAntimicrobial stewardship

2025One to watch

Highcliff Veterinary Practice

Quality Improvement in Practice

Highcliffe started an audit into post-operative complications in dog castrate patient and found a 36% complication rate. They have implemented a number of changes to processes and will reaudit to assess the effectiveness of the changes.

Quality improvementSmall animalsSurgery and anaesthesia

2025One to watch

The Ralph Veterinary Referral Centre

Quality Improvement in Practice

The Ralph have begun an audit to assess workflows and efficiency and the data they have collected over a five-week period will be used as a baseline to inform future activities.

Quality improvement

2025Highly commended

Blue Cross Hospital Victoria

Quality Improvement in Practice

Blue Cross Hospital Victoria implementing training and guidelines for staging dental procedures, which reduced dental procedure times to an average of 76 minutes.

Quality improvement

2025Highly commended

Dalehead Veterinary Group

Quality Improvement in Practice

Dalehead Veterinary Group addressed thermoregulation issues by conducting an audit and implementing new guidelines, which significantly improved patient care.

Quality improvementAudits and benchmarks

2025Champion

Animal Trust Dewsbury CIC

Antimicrobial Stewardship

Animal Trust Dewsbury CIC significantly cut use of highest-priority, critically important antibiotics (HPCIAs) by focusing on culture/sensitivity testing. Prescription rates fell from 3% to just 0.46%.

Quality improvementAudits and benchmarksAntimicrobial stewardship

2025Champion

Burghfield Veterinary Surgery

Antimicrobial Stewardship

Burghfield Veterinary Surgery reduced their use of antibiotics by 24% in November, by focusing on education, preventative techniques and regular discussion.

Quality improvementAntimicrobial stewardship

2025Champion

Linnaeus Medical Quality Team

Quality Improvement to Lead Organisational Change

Linnaeus Quality Medical Team embedded a culture of psychological safety through the reporting of safety incidents and near misses, significantly improving patient outcomes.

Quality improvementCommunication and teamwork