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Findings from vet mental health symposium published
“The fourth Mind Matters Mental Health Research Symposium was a massively inspiring and insightful day” – Angharad Belcher.
Report and videos have been made available online.

The Mind Matters Initiative (MMI) has released a report of the findings from its most recent mental health research symposium alongside videos of the talks given at the event.

Researchers from across Europe attended the symposium, which took place in Manchester on 10 October 2023. A variety of veterinary mental health topics were covered on the day, including suicide and suicide prevention, moral injury, the impact of racism, workplace stressors for autistic veterinary professionals, and veterinary nurse mental health.

The speakers included Helene Seljenes Dalum from the Institute for Studies of the Medical Profession, Oslo, Vanessa Ashall, a senior research fellow at the Wellcome Trust, and the University of Manchester’s Dr Leah Quinlivan, who delivered the plenary address.

The report provides summaries of each of the talks given as well as information about the speakers. Both the report and the videos can be accessed on the MMI website.

Funded and run by the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons, MMI works to improve the mental health and wellbeing of veterinary professionals through training and research.

Angharad Belcher said: “The fourth Mind Matters Mental Health Research Symposium was a massively inspiring and insightful day. The field of veterinary mental health research is still relatively small so it remains of utmost importance that we continue to band together to share our knowledge on this subject, so that we can continue to learn and grow together and put these important learnings into practice.

“For us, it is vital that these new ground-breaking research projects are made available to all who want to learn more about helping to improve the mental health and wellbeing of those working within the veterinary professions. There is some truly fantastic work going on which provides us with hope that we can all continue to work together towards a brighter future.”

Image © Shutterstock

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Practices urged to audit neutering data

News Story 1
 RCVS Knowledge has called on vet practices to audit their post-operative neutering outcomes.

It follows the release of the 2024 NASAN benchmarking report, which collates data from neutering procedures performed on dogs, cats and rabbits.

The benchmarking report enables practices in the UK and Ireland to compare their post-operative outcomes to the national average. This includes the rate of patients lost to follow-up, which in 2024 increased to 23 per cent.

Anyone from the practice can submit the data using a free template. The deadline for next report is February 2026.

Visit the RCVS Knowledge website to complete an audit. 

Click here for more...
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