We encourage veterinary teams to make positive steps on antimicrobial resistance using our free resources

We are encouraging veterinary teams across the UK to make positive steps to improve their antimicrobial stewardship and start making a difference on antibiotic resistance.

We’re proud to reiterate our commitment to supporting you on antimicrobial stewardship this November, a month that marks World Antibiotic Awareness Week (18-24 November) and the Animal Medicines Amnesty (1-30 November).

Ready to make a difference? Here’s how we can support you to improve your antimicrobial stewardship.

Access our free resources

RCVS Knowledge offers a variety of antimicrobial stewardship resources, all available for free. 

By engaging with our resources, any member of the veterinary team can start making tangible steps towards improving their antimicrobial stewardship in practice. 

All veterinary teams can: 

• Access species-specific online CPD for farm, companion, and equine animals and pick modules to suit your needs.  
• Read our award-winning case examples from our Antimicrobial Stewardship Awards and get inspired to make changes in your practice. 
• Already started making positive changes? Apply for an Antimicrobial Stewardship Award and celebrate your own achievements. 

Companion Animal and Equine Teams can:  

• Become an Antibiotic Guardian by completing online CPD.  Go for Gold to champion stewardship practices within your veterinary practice. 

Farm Vet teams can:  

• Join the Farm Vet Champions Community. Engage with like-minded professionals and access free CPD. 

 Be inspired by your peers

The RCVS Knowledge Awards category for Antimicrobial Stewardship recognises veterinary teams that can demonstrate recognised quality improvement techniques that drive improvement in the prescription and administration of antibiotics. You can read about them here.

Some recent winners include:

• Animal Trust Dewsbury CIC: this clinician-led project reduced the overall use of HPCIAs from 3% to 0.46% of all consultations.
• Cockburn Vets: the team audited to reduce inappropriate antibiotic use in dental procedures, bringing down overall usage from 35% of cases in 2023 to 6% in 2024.
• CVS South 4 Region: the team reduced inappropriate use of long-acting antibiotics in the treatment of bite wounds and skin infections in cats, which reduced their overall use by 70%. 

Hear from our expert Clinical Leads:

• “World antimicrobial resistance awareness week is an opportunity to reflect on the individual contributions we can all make towards improving antimicrobial stewardship. Visit the RCVS Knowledge pages to advance your understanding of this issue and become part of the solution!” Companion animal vet Fergus Allerton
• “I am delighted that this year our cattle and sheep sectors are stepping back to consolidate and ruminate:  via the UK Antibiotic Stewardship Ruminant Roadmap we are going to work together to celebrate and build on our successes and equip ourselves to work together to tackle our ongoing challenges ahead.” Farm vet Fiona Lovatt
• “It is essential that antibiotics are used carefully and appropriately in every case, since every time we prescribe antibiotics we are risking the development of resistance”. Equine vet Tim Mair