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RCVS approves proposals for Certification Support Officers
CSOs are non-veterinarians who would support the work of Official Veterinarians (OVs) in the signing of export health certificates.
Council members agree to make changes to the RCVS requirements

Government plans for non-vets to support animal product certification have been approved by the RCVS.

Developed by the APHA, the plans involved the creation of a new role of Certification Support Officers (CSOs). These are non-veterinarians who would support the work of Official Veterinarians (OVs) in the signing of export health certificates for products of animal origin.

The plans arose after concerns were raised about the growth of exports in recent years and the potential for a 300 per cent increase in products requiring OV certification once the UK leaves the EU.

Under the proposals, CSOs will work under the direction of veterinary surgeons and support their certification work. Final certification will always need to be signed by OVs, however, and the role will not involve certification relating to live animals or germinal products.

At the RCVS Council meeting on Thursday (1 November), Council members agreed to facilitate APHA’s proposals and to make changes to the RCVS requirements to allow CSOs to support OVs in their certification work.
 
RCVS president Amanda Boag said: “As we have stated in our recent statement on ‘no-deal’ Brexit, it has been estimated that there would be 325 per cent increase in veterinary certification requirements if the UK leaves the EU without a deal, and with these proposals Defra and APHA are preparing for this by increasing the support available for Official Veterinarians.

“Furthermore the proposal is in line with the concept of a vet-led team, with veterinary surgeons focusing on tasks only vets can do, whilst delegating some tasks to suitably trained and quality-assured members of our teams."
 
She continued: “We appreciate that there were some concerns over the level of education and training required by CSOs and are glad that the APHA has accommodated those views by increasing the level of education to three A-Levels (or equivalent in Scotland) and clarifying the nature of the training required by CSOs.
 
“By signalling its support for the proposals, RCVS Council has been assured that the integrity and value of the veterinary signature will be upheld and we are glad that we can play a key role in helping the veterinary profession prepare the UK for leaving the EU.”

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RCVS Knowledge appoints Veterinary Evidence editor-in-chief

News Story 1
 RCVS Knowledge has welcomed Professor Peter Cockcroft as editor-in-chief for Veterinary Evidence.

A world-renowned expert in evidence-based veterinary medicine, Prof Cockcroft will lead the strategic development and editorial quality of the open-access journal. He was previously in the role from 2017-2020.

Katie Mantell, CEO of RCVS Knowledge, said: "We are excited about the extensive knowledge of evidence-based veterinary medicine and clinical veterinary research that Peter brings, and we look forward to working with him over this next phase of the journal's development." 

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News Shorts
CVS Group hit by cyber attack

CVS Group, which owns more than 450 veterinary practices in the UK, has been hit by a cyber attack.

In a statement, the group said the incident involved unauthorised external access to a limited number of its IT systems. As soon as the attack was discovered, the group took its IT systems temporarily offline, causing 'considerable operational disruption'.

It has warned that the security steps taken and ongoing plans to move its operational systems and IT infrastructure to the Cloud are likely to have an ongoing impact over a number of weeks.

Due to the risk that personal information was accessed, CVS has informed the Information Commissioner's Office. The company is working with third party consultants to investigate the incident.