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Entries open for SPVS Veterinary Business Awards 2026
"We’d encourage any practice proud of its culture to enter.” - Amy Owens, PetPeople Vets.
The initiative celebrates excellence in the veterinary sector.

The Society of Practising Veterinary Surgeons (SPVS) has officially opened entries for this year’s Veterinary Business Excellence Awards.

Members and non-members are invited to submit their entry for the awards before the deadline at 5pm on 9 October 2026.

The initiative is intended to ‘celebrate and honour’ veterinary practices which are able to demonstrate exceptional performance and innovation in key areas. SPVS hopes applicants will showcase how they are using SPVS resources.

The awards will be presented across three different categories:

•    Leadership and Management Skills – practices exhibiting visionary leadership, strategic planning, management and practice development
•    Team and Self-Development – practices demonstrating excellent morale, collaborative team working and effective communication.
•    Veterinary Start-ups – honouring practice, started in the past 2.5 years, which have developed quickly and achieved a profitable and sustainable business model.

Practices are only permitted to submit an application for one category.  The SPVS Board will then choose five practices from each category to submit a 90-second video to showcase their achievements.

The five shortlisted practices for each category will each receive a book of their choice, courtesy of 5M Books.

From there, the three category winners will be presented with full day and evening tickets to SPVS Congress 2027 at the Hilton Birmingham Metropole, plus overnight accommodation. The overall winner will announced at the event.

Last year’s winner was PetPeople Vets, an independent practice with two clinics in London.

Amy Owens, a veterinary surgeon at the practice, said: “We entered the SPVS Business Excellence Awards to celebrate the culture our team has worked hard to build. The awards recognise the people and values behind successful practices, and the process gave us a chance to reflect on our journey and achievements.

“Winning was a fantastic honour and a real boost for the whole team. We’d encourage any practice proud of its culture to enter.”

For more information or to submit a nomination, visit the SPVS website.

Image © SPVS

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Annual submission deadline small pet animal exemptions

News Story 1
 Companies marketing medicines for small pets exempt from authorisation must submit their annual return to the Veterinary Medicines Directorate (VMD) by 30 November 2026.

Submitting this annual return ensures continued compliance with regulatory requirements for products marketed without a full Marketing Authorisation. The exemption specifically applies to products intended for animals, cage birds, terrarium animals, small rodents, ferrets and rabbits.

For further details and submission guidelines, visit the gov.uk website.  

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News Shorts
Bluetongue RZ extended across Scotland

The Scottish Government has announced an extension to a Bluetongue Restricted Zone that is in place in south-west Scotland.

From 3 October, the Restricted Zone will be extended to cover the whole of Scotland. The Animal, Plant and Health Agency (APHA) says this is in response to further disease spread, as well as simplify trading conditions ahead of the autumn.

Since the whole country will share a disease status, it will no longer be necessary to have a movement license to move susceptible livestock around the country. Restrictions on germinal products remain.

As of 1 October 2026, there were 1,979 cases of BTV-3 in England, 389 cases in Wales and 40 cases in Scotland.