The rate of compliance with requirements on Continuing Professional Development (CPD) has seen a “significant increase”, according to the latest audit from RCVS.
The annual audit investigates whether veterinary surgeons and nurses are undertaking the number of hours required by their Codes of Professional Conduct, which is 35 hours per year for vets and 15 hours per year for vet nurses.
The audit found that 81% of veterinary surgeons met the annual requirement, which marked a 13% increase from the year prior. This followed a decline in compliance rates from 82% in 2014 to 68% in 2018.
Meanwhile, the audit for veterinary nurses found that 79% of respondents were compliant with the annual CPD requirement, which was a 7% increase from the previous compliance rate, and the highest compliance rate yet from a veterinary nursing CPD audit.
Dr Linda Prescott-Clements, director of education at RCVS, said: “It is fantastic to see that this year’s results demonstrate a significant increase in CPD compliance rates after a number of years in decline for vets and a largely static rate for veterinary nurses and I hope that it is part of a long-term trend towards the professions recognising the value of keeping their clinical and non-clinical skills up-to-date.
“This year we have made a number of changes that should make CPD compliance even easier now, including a clearer and simpler annual CPD requirement of 35 hours for vets and 15 hours for vet nurses, and the 1CPD platform and app which can be signed into through the My Account area and provides the professions with the ability to record, plan and reflect on their CPD.”
