Congress 2020 cancelled due to growing health concerns caused by COVID-19

13 March 2020

Due to the growing concerns caused by the continued global spread of COVID-19, BSAVA has announced the decision to cancel Congress 2020, which was due to take place in in April.

BSAVA has been in constant liaison with Birmingham Arena and the ICC Birmingham, where the event was to be hosted, and has continually monitored UK government, WHO and PHE advice during this rapidly evolving situation. As the risk to public health continues to grow, we believe it is in the best interests of all our Congress attendees to cancel this year’s event.

Sue Paterson, BSAVA President, said:

“It is with great regret that we have made the difficult decision to cancel Congress, which has taken place annually for more than 60 years. The health and wellbeing of our attendees is of utmost importance to us, and whilst we are sorry to be making this decision, we are confident it is the right one.”

Congress provides more than 450 hours of CPD over 4 days, and BSAVA are now looking at alternative routes for delivering Congress lectures.

Sue Paterson continued:

“We remain committed to supporting vets and vet nurses to access high quality CPD. Whilst we won’t be able to deliver the full Congress programme, we will be working with our speakers to capture as many lectures as we can to make content available online.”

More details will be shared as they become available. BSAVA will be notifying delegates, exhibitors and other service providers directly with more information and next steps.

BSAVA will continue to review their full programme of events and CPD as the national situation continues to develop. Updates will be shared regularly on the BSAVA website.