Clinical Excellence

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We recommend and provide the best clinical care every time.
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We provide the highest quality end-to-end healthcare for animals. As a large corporate, we can be across all of the latest developments in veterinary care and ensure best practice is disseminated throughout the company.
Clinical Governance Framework

CVS Group has adopted a new Clinical Governance Framework, a system through which we will hold ourselves accountable for improving the quality of our services and cultivate a culture in which clinical care will continue to improve. Unlike previous veterinary approaches to clinical governance, our new framework focuses on creating the environment in which high standards of care can thrive.

It represents the first dedicated veterinary clinical governance framework for those involved in animal healthcare in the UK. Similar frameworks have been adopted in human healthcare, including by the NHS, but a different approach has been required for the veterinary profession.

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View our Clinical Governance Framework 2024 PDF
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Quality of Care
Contextualised
Using a patient and owner centred approach, respecting the importance of an animal owner's perspective. Prioritising individualised care plans that account for the complex interaction of all costs. Recognising that cost includes but is not limited to social, cultural, accessible. emotional, environmental, ethical and financial aspects.
Equitable
Ensuring that quality of the veterinary care available and offered is consistent irrespective of geographic location, gender, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status of owners and staff. Accounting for the contextualised care approach in which veterinary care is available but may not be accessible in the context of an individual patient.
Efficient
Reducing waste associated with inefficient provision of healthcare. Optimising efficient use of all resources available in the provision of veterinary care without impacting on patient safety. Acknowledging that resources include but are not limited to time. equipment, facilities, wellbeing. funds, support structures.
Timely
Identifying that veterinary care should be provided in a prioritised way that ensures animals can receive essential care (diagnosis, treatment or preventative care) without harmful delay. Accounting for the consideration on care providers in overcoming the barriers that delay or prevent treatment.
Effective
Providing veterinary care using an evidence-based medicine approach. Supporting veterinary staff to access current evidence and guidelines. Ensuring that veterinary services are effective in treating animals whilst avoiding overuse, underuse or misuse of treatments.
Welfare Centred
Recognising our professional oath that the health and welfare of animals committed to our care is our principal duty. Understanding that patient-safety is critical to protecting an animal's welfare by identifying, preventing and mitigating risks, errors and harm that can occur during the provision of care. Acknowledging the importance of care-giver welfare and satisfaction in the standards of care provided.
The components of our Clinical Governance Framework are:
  • A definition of what is meant by the term “Quality of Care” within animal healthcare in a way that can be individualised to every situation.
  • A description of the six pillars that represent our organisation’s clinical priorities, namely Clinical Effectiveness; Research and Development; Ethical Integrity and Sustainability; Information Sharing and Collaboration; Education and Training; Quality Improvement and Patient Safety.
  • The five values central to our culture of clinical improvement that CVS colleagues will aspire to, namely: a just culture, accountability, inclusive leadership, teamwork, and systems thinking.
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Our Clinical Governance Framework will act as a guiding light to our clinicians as they give the best possible care to animals. It is the outcome of 12 months’ work involving subject matter experts from across CVS.

We will be rolling out learning materials on our Knowledge Hub learning platform that will support a network of Clinical Improvement Advocates who will work with the clinicians providing care in our 500 practices.

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A new governance structure will also ensure that our company delivers on our six pillar priorities including:

  • An Integrated Care Council – responsible for the review and oversight of the clinical governance framework.
  • Clinical Advisory Committees involving frontline staff in the company’s main areas of activity that will evaluate new and existing knowledge, identify education and training needs; and ensure standards take into account clinical and ethical considerations.

Altogether 150 colleagues are already involved in that structure.

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Embedding Excellence

OurRegional Clinical Leads support all of our practices in achieving the highest clinical standards and help them to implement clinical quality improvements.

Our Advanced Clinical Services Network of over 30 peripatetic practitioners (both vets and veterinary nurses) supports colleagues in primary care practices to make advanced treatments available to clients that would otherwise necessitate referral elsewhere. Our ACSN clinicians hold advanced qualifications and are available across each of our practice regions. We plan to further expand this network in the coming years.

Our vet-to-vet telemedicine service Vet Oracle (our virtual vet hospital) has continued to grow to offer specialist interpretation of results and practical virtual assistance to our vets on a global scale. It now has six specialisms: cardiology, dermatology, medicine, neurology, oncology, radiology. Vet Oracleallows our practices to have specialist input into their cases. These specialists guide our practitioners to the next advanced level of their skills. The service considered 13,000 cases in 2022.

We have 9 specialist referral hospitals to provide multi-disciplinary care for the more complex and urgent cases. They have exceptional facilities and exceptional diagnositics. The sites allow our specialists colleagues to focus in on their specialist area and offer a higher level of specialist care to our clients. They also allow the development of new specialist treatments and cutting edge clinical advances. We continue to invest in advances at these sites

Quality Improvement

We are committed to evidence-based medicine and have a robust quality improvement programme.

In order to provide the best possible clinical care, we continue to focus on helping to drive a standard of excellence in the profession.

We are the only veterinary company to publish an annual Quality Improvement Report which outlines our approach to further enhancing clinical standards, underpinned by evidence-based medicine. It highlights what we can learn from and where we can make improvements.

In addition we have practice led Q.I. initiatives, supported by our network of over 500 Clinical Improvement Advocates, who receive dedicated training on designing, supporting and leading clinical improvement initiatives.

We continuously monitor our clinical standards against our quality improvement frameworks for clinicians and practices. We utilise the RCVS Practice Standard Scheme as an improvement tool, and clinical data is provided to front-line teams to help them achieve their improvement goals within the context of their practice.

View our Quality Improvement Report 2023