June 26, 2026
Vets Now and Kingston Vets have been named Champions in this year’s RCVS Knowledge Awards, with three further inspiring vet care practices Highly Commended in the Quality Improvement (QI) in Practice category.
The RCVS Knowledge Awards is an annual celebration of veterinary teams that have advanced the quality of veterinary care through clinical audit and QI methods.
This year’s Champions and Highly Commended practices have introduced exceptional ideas across antimicrobial stewardship, local practice, and organisational change, ultimately working to enhance patient outcomes and lead the way in continuous improvement.
We’re especially proud of our five practice teams who have been recognised for creating innovative projects that have successfully reduced antimicrobial use, decreased surgery complications, improved vaccination rates and enhanced infection prevention and control standards.
This award celebrates organisations making a wide-reaching impact in veterinary care by implementing evidence-backed changes that lead to better outcomes, improved care, and an improved culture of continuous learning.
After auditing their emergency practices, Vets Now found that the monitoring of fluid therapy for dogs with acute haemorrhagic diarrhoea syndrome (AHDS) was inconsistent. In response, Lucy Leicester, Internal Auditor, Racheal Marshall, Head of Clinical Nursing, and Monica Guzman, Area Clinical Manager helped develop a structured care framework, an integrated fluid therapy calculator and enhanced monitoring tools.
These measures successfully increased tailored fluid therapy use and monitoring in AHDS cases from 8.7% to 40%, while also leading to a decrease in fluid-related complications and reducing unjustified antimicrobial use from 37% to 28%.
This award shines a spotlight on teams using clinical audit and QI to make real, measurable progress in minimising antibiotic use in veterinary care.
The Kingston team aimed to improve responsible antibiotics prescribing in dogs with acute diarrhoea. They focused on providing alternative, appropriate treatments tailored to the patients, focusing on supportive care and disease severity. Their efforts ultimately helped lower antibiotics use in these cases from 4.2% to zero.
The Quality Improvement in Practice award celebrates veterinary teams using clinical audit and QI techniques to enable better patient outcomes and safer care at a local practice level.
Highcliff Vets in Brantham were highly commended in this category for their improved reporting and risk reduction in dog castrations. Through optimising surgical preparation and enhancing post-operative guidance for clients, complications arising from dog castrates reduced from 25% to 13%, meanwhile reporting was improved from 75% to 83%.
Alexandra Harris-Dean, Receptionist at Scarsdale Vets worked to increase the practice’s rate of future appointments booked. By reviewing and optimising their follow up system and strengthening client continuity of care, Alexandra helped increase the number of patients with weekly or monthly follow-up appointments and future vaccinations booked.
Rachel Tring, Diagnostic Lab Technician at Pride Veterinary Centre helped strengthen infection control and monitoring activities throughout the practice. She encouraged better communication and targeted high-touch areas, increasing environmental swabbing by 57%.
Congratulations to the RCVS Knowledge Champions, Vets Now and Kingston Veterinary Group, and a huge well done to Highcliff, Scarsdale and Pride in achieving Highly Commended for QI.