SAVSNET goes live at Congress
Image: Alan Radford, SAVSNET, Steve Burden Photography
A unique health surveillance project for companion animals has been launched at BSAVA Congress.
The Small Animal Veterinary Surveillance Network (SAVSNET) aims to fill the gap in health surveillance of the UK's pet population. Addressing a press meeting yesterday, the team announced the project is now ready to be launched nationwide.
A new initiative from the BSAVA and the University of Liverpool, SAVSNET will collaborate with diagnostic laboratories and veterinary surgeons in practice. Through ethical collection and analysis of health information, the project aims to improve knowledge and understanding of disease in companion animals.
The project is conscious of the time constraints of veterinary professionals, and therefore minimises the time pressures on participating practices.
Professor Susan Dawson, epidemiologist and head of population health at the University of Liverpool, explained that posters will be displayed in practices to explain SAVSNET to clients.
A post-consultation questionnaire will then be filled out by the client, where they can choose to "opt out" of SAVSNET. From there the process is automated, and to preserve anonymity, only the client's post code is recorded.
SAVSNET is currently seeing around 200 participating consultations a day, a figure which head of the project Alan Radford hopes will rise to 2000 in the next three years. In fact, he says: "I'd be very surprised if we don't beat that."
It is possible, Dr Radford adds, that the project could even be extended overseas, though first there is "a lot to do now in the UK to prove it works."
The surveillance aims to achieve "significant improvements in knowledge", looking at diseases, their prevalence, risk factors and treatment success.
In the hour before the press meeting, the SAVSNET website went live and can be found by clicking here.
Veterinary practices are being urged to help owners safely dispose of any unused and expired pet medicines - not just antibiotics - during November's Animal Medicines Amnesty. 
