Congress 2025 - Saturday

There’s an apocryphal Chinese curse - may you live in interesting times. Working in the veterinary sector might just qualify, with a CMA investigation, a generational shift in expectations of careers and working conditions, disruption in practice ownership, redundancies and unionisation, not to mention cost of living crises, changes to client expectations, AI and more.

This lecture will explore the origins of many dental dogmas and myths and try to identify if there is empirical evidence or simply opinion underpinning these "facts". Topics to be considered will include: "Scaling causes bacteremia so all patients need antibiotics", "this tooth isn’t wobbly - it doesn’t need to be extracted", "Maxillary nerve blocks are too risky" and many more... The lecture will be partly interactive and delegate participation encouraged!

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In this session we cover the following topics:

• How to set reasonable and clear expectations from the get-go
• Simple tools for effective feedback
• Give the gift of confidence

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As the sayings go, ‘a video speak a million words’ and ‘once you’ve seen it once you never forget’! These sayings could not be more appropriate to these sessions run by Mark and I. While finding information of pretty much any neurological conditions can be done on the internet, seeing them on a video and having an expert analysing them with you can be priceless especially when dealing with conditions which are episodic. Often these patients can be totally normal when presented to you and many of the conditions we will cover are functional disorder. When faces with a discrepancy between a pet owner who is clearly worried about what they have witnessed and a pet who does not give any clinical clue on examination, the temptation can be high to (re-)act by running lots of tests which are often prescribed ‘blindly’ hoping to find these clues. Many of the episodic conditions we will cover often do not ‘show up’ on any tests making their diagnosis even more challenging. The take home message is if you are not sure ask for the owner to obtain a video before embarking on any diagnostic procedure especially if the animal is normal on examination.

In this lecture the topics covered are as follows:

• Learning to assess video footage of paroxysmal event provided by cat owner.
• Understanding how to differentiate epileptic seizures from dyskinesia.

Oral inflammatory diseases are frequently encountered in both dogs and cats, often presenting unique challenges for veterinarians due to their complex nature and, at times, poorly understood underlying causes. These conditions can be frustrating to manage in practice, particularly as new insights and treatment approaches continue to emerge in this rapidly evolving field. This lecture aims to provide a comprehensive overview of the latest research and advancements in the study of oral inflammatory diseases in companion animals. It will cover the most commonly encountered conditions, including their aetiology, clinical presentation, diagnostic techniques, and evidence-based treatment and management strategies. Particular emphasis will be placed on a practical, hands-on approach to diagnosing and managing prevalent conditions such as Periodontitis, Feline Chronic Gingivostomatitis, Feline Eosinophilic Granuloma, and Canine Chronic Ulcerative Stomatitis which are collectively known to affect over 90% of dogs and cats within their lifetime

In this session we cover the following topics:

• Details of the new RCVS strategic plan
• RCVS response to challenges and opportunities facing the profession, such as the CMA review, Artificial Intelligence
• RCVS legislative reform proposals - details and progress.

When Sch 3 is used optimally by veterinary surgeons to delegate to veterinary nurses, it improves clinically efficiency, access to affordable veterinary care and ultimately animal health and welfare and this in turn reduces the stress levels for the veterinary surgeons and also often improves practice profitability.

Understanding of how delegation works is sadly still lacking within the veterinary professions, when compared to human health care, everyone knows what a human nurse can do, we need this same level of clarity for veterinary nurses . In this session we will do much need myth busting and discuss what we can all do to improve this area of veterinary care for all parties involved

This session will use data and insights from the RCVS Surveys of the Professions 2024, the IES workforce modelling report and wider employment insights from outside of the veterinary sphere. The data will be used as a foundation for a discussion on building workplaces that promote retention as well as recruitment. With a focus on the challenges facing vets in different age groups and career stages, it is a chance to cast a data-driven light on potential developments in the veterinary workplace. Understanding the needs and concerns of the workforce at different life and career stages can help build a veterinary workplace that fits the needs of the workforce in a positive setting for all, including the animals and their owners.

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