Embargoed until: Tuesday 4 February 2025
A new initiative that aims to create a ‘roadmap’ of support for the veterinary sector to deliver contextualised care is set to launch this week. The pan-professional initiative led by veterinary charity RCVS Knowledge seeks to understand the barriers and enablers to delivering contextualised care in companion animal practices, and to set out what contextualised care looks like when done well.
The work aims to draw together perspectives from across the veterinary community and pet owners to co-design a ‘roadmap’ for what needs to happen to support veterinary teams to deliver contextualised care and shared decision-making as part of good quality veterinary care.
The work launches today at the National Forum for Contextualised Care in London, which is bringing together more than 60 people from across the veterinary sector, including leaders from veterinary associations, veterinary educators, students, practice staff, veterinary charities and rescues, pet insurers, regulators, representatives from corporate and independent practices and animal owners. They will discuss the ‘problem’ that contextualised care is trying to address, explore what is getting in the way of this happening, and share a range of perspectives on what could be done to support widespread delivery of contextualised care.
Following the event, RCVS Knowledge will be working with an independent research partner to conduct focus groups, surveys and interviews to gather a representative range of views from across the sector and pet owners. The work will culminate in a summit in the summer that will use the findings of the research to co-design recommendations on:
- How veterinary professionals’ and pet owners’ perspectives and circumstances can be better brought together in reaching decisions about the most appropriate care for the individual animal.
- The barriers and enablers to implementing contextualised care in practice.
- What needs to be done, and by whom, to support veterinary teams to deliver contextualised care and shared decision-making as part of good-quality veterinary care.
Sally Everitt, Clinical Lead – Evidence at RCVS Knowledge said: “Contextualised care is the way of delivering veterinary care that acknowledges that there are different ways to approach the diagnosis and treatment of an animal, depending on the circumstances of the individual animal and their caregivers and the context in which the care is delivered. The term has been used increasingly over the past year, and is now the subject of much debate, alongside other aligned terms such as ‘spectrum of care’ and ‘pragmatic medicine’. However, we need to better understand what constitutes good-quality contextualised care, and the barriers and enablers to its delivery in practice.”
Katie Mantell, Chief Executive of RCVS Knowledge, said: “As an independent charity with a mission to advance the quality of veterinary care, we believe RCVS Knowledge is well-placed to bring together all parts of the veterinary community to seek consensus on what good-quality contextualised care looks like and how it can be delivered in practice. Our aim is to take a collaborative, robust approach to co-producing a roadmap for contextualised care that will support its widespread delivery for the benefit of animals, the veterinary professions and animal owners.”
To be updated about the progress of this work, and to hear about opportunities to take part in the focus groups, interviews and surveys to follow, sign up to receive RCVS Knowledge’s monthly email newsletter intheKNOW.
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