Your data on MRCVSonline
The nature of the services provided by Vision Media means that we might obtain certain information about you.
Please read our Data Protection and Privacy Policy for details.

In addition, (with your consent) some parts of our website may store a 'cookie' in your browser for the purposes of
functionality or performance monitoring.
Click here to manage your settings.
EmailIphone Application    Posted: 13th December 2024
If you would like to forward this story on to a friend, simply fill in the form below and click send.
Your friend's email:
Your email:
Your name:
 
 
Send Cancel

Changes made to Stat Exam process
Changes have been made following feedback from candidates.
RCVS says the changes will make the exam “more accessible”.

Changes to the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons (RCVS) Statutory Examination for Membership (Stat Exam) are set to come into effect from 1 January 2025 after a Statutory Instrument to make the changes was approved by the Privy Council.

The Stat Exam is taken by veterinary surgeons who want to practise in the UK but hold a degree that is not recognised by the RCVS. Most of the changes have been made following feedback from candidates.

The changes allow candidates to take resits of the written exam papers for each of the three clinical subjects in the same year, rather than waiting a year, and make it possible for candidates to pay for the written exam stage and the objective structured clinical exam (OSCE) separately.

Candidates who fail one or more of the clinical domains of the OSCE, but have passed the written exam, will be able to proceed directly the next year to the clinical domains they failed instead of needing to resit all the written papers and clinical domains. The RCVS will also be able to update the cost of the exam in line with inflation.

This year saw a record number of candidates pass the Stat Exam, including two candidates with refugee status.

Dr Linda Prescott-Clements, RCVS director of education, said: “We have been listening to the concerns of various stakeholders, including those who have undertaken the Stat Exam previously and veterinary employers, and we used this feedback to work with the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra) to come up with a set of practical, deliverable changes that improve the experience of Stat Exam for all candidates, and hopefully alleviate some of the stress involved around timescales, opportunity and finance.

“These changes will make the exam more accessible, as it will allow candidates to have two attempts at the written papers within the same diet, which need to be passed before being allowed to proceed to the practical exam and it will also help improve accessibility to the exam from the perspective of candidate finances.”

Image © Shutterstock

Become a member or log in to add this story to your CPD history

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...
News Shorts
RCVS pays tribute to well-loved equine vet

The RCVS and the Riding Establishments Subcommittee has paid tribute to well-loved veterinary surgeon and riding establishment inspector, Rebecca Hamilton-Fletcher MRCVS.

Linda Belton MRCVS, RCVS President, said: "I, along with my colleagues on the RESC, RCVS Council, RCVS Standards Committee, as well as RCVS staff, was very saddened to hear of the sudden death of Rebecca, or Becca as we knew her, last week.

"She was a true advocate for equine welfare and in her many years on the RESC worked to continually improve the quality and consistency of riding establishment inspections, all in the interests of enhanced horse welfare and rider safety."