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BVA renews call to 'respect your vet' during lockdowns
Lady holding a white cat with a vet in front of her
BVA urges animal owners to respect the clinical judgement of their veterinary team when deciding if their pet needs to be seen in person.
“Veterinary care is still available but it’s not business as usual” - James Russell. 

The British Veterinary Association (BVA) has renewed its call to the public to respect their veterinary teams during the national COVID-19 lockdowns.

Across England, Scotland and Northern Ireland, veterinary practices are being urged to only carry out work that is essential for animal health and welfare. This requirement means that some practices may need to postpone routine work and cancel appointments, so long as it is safe. 

In light of the recent lockdowns, BVA is once again calling on animal owners to respect the clinical judgement of veterinary surgeons and veterinary nurses when deciding whether their animals need a face-to-face examination. Clients who do visit their vet must abide by the social distancing and biosecurity measures that have been put in place, the organisation said.

BVA president James Russell commented: “This is a serious public health crisis and it’s vital that we all play a role in stopping the spread of Covid. Veterinary care is still available but it’s not business as usual. Vets are being asked to restrict the range of services they can provide during these new lockdown periods to support the strong ‘stay at home’ message.

“Vets and nurses may need to cancel some routine appointments or they may need to deliver services remotely, for example, phone or video consultations. Some practices may ask you to stay outside the building. This is to keep you and the veterinary team safe.”

“During the first lockdown we heard worrying reports of clients being abusive to veterinary teams when new measures were put in place. This behaviour cannot be tolerated. I’m incredibly proud of our veterinary teams across the UK, who have been working under difficult circumstances throughout the pandemic. 

“Our message to animal owners is please respect your vet, listen to their clinical judgement, and follow the Covid-safe measures they put in place.

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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.