Under RCVS guidelines veterinary professionals have a responsibility to maintain and advance professional skills and knowledge whilst in active practice. The recommended minimum for CPD is 105 hours over 3 years.

What is CPD and why is it so important?
CPD is a form of ongoing training and education throughout a career in order to improve the skills and knowledge used to perform a role or succession of roles. CPD is founded on the belief that the development of professionals should not finish after initial qualification. It is the professional’s responsibility to keep a concise record of any categories of development undertaken.

What is classed as CPD?
CPD should be a planned, structured process, involving the assessment of development needs and the tailoring of training to meet those needs. Self-directed or private learning can be logged as CPD. Although there is no restriction of what percentage of CPD hours can take the form of private learning, a detailed diary of all regular subject matter undertaken must be kept in order to improve your competence, profiling the outcomes of your learning. It is important to note that under RCVS guidelines, undocumented private studies can only account for up to 10 hours per year of CPD.

If studying towards a further veterinary qualification, this in itself can be allocated as CPD hours. CPD requirements should be reviewed continually on an individual basis and should be planned in advance so that professionals can analyse relevant courses/materials as they arise and can plan CPD allowance.

Your BSAVA CPD Record Log does not need to be submitted
Your CPD record log does not need to be sent to the BSAVA for CPD allocation. The intention of this log is that you can use it to keep track of CPD undertaken to assist in completing RCVS CPD record cards. In conjunction with your BSAVA CPD record log, you should also keep a separate file of certificates of attendance, accreditations, diaries, lecture notes, or other documents that serve as evidence of completed CPD.

BSAVA CPD
A full range of CPD can be found in the below CPD pages through the form of regionally run CPD courses, head office-run courses, including seminars, lectures and workshops, as well as BSAVA Congress. BSAVA membership is an excellent way to ensure regular CPD is undertaken; members are sent monthly publications including companion and JSAP, as well as quarterly editions of EJCAP. BSAVA members can also experience sizable discounts of up to 30% off the cost of BSAVA Manuals and can access over 800 hours of archived Congress lecture recordings.

Recording CPD on your BSAVA CPD Record Log
Follow the headings on the log to give descriptions and dates of CPD undertaken. Where CPD has not been done in conjunction with a specific provider and/or is based on private study, this can be logged in the column entitled ‘CPD Awarding Body’. It is thought that the simplest way to measure CPD is by time spent on activities undertaken; this is not always an easy measure to obtain and where this is the case an estimation of time should be shown in the appropriate column.