External Accreditations & Awards at Animal Trust Vets
At Animal Trust Vets we care about Quality of Care. To support our provision of high-quality care, we always aim, where possible, to become accredited with independent external bodies, which can assess us and provide standards and benchmarks for us to meet.
Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons Practice Standards Scheme
To ensure that we maintain our professional standards, all of our established branches are accredited by the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons (RCVS) Practice Standards Scheme. This is a voluntary scheme for UK Veterinary practices and less than 70% of UK Veterinary practices are currently accredited.
What is the RCVS Practice Standards Scheme?
The RCVS Practice Standards Scheme is a system of external assessment by the UK Veterinary Regulator (RCVS). The Scheme ensures that veterinary practices meet a minimum level of standards in several areas, including:
clinical standards
level of equipment available
maintenance of facilities
compliance with legal regulations
management of staff and client experience
Levels of RCVS Accreditation
Much like standards accreditation in other professions, the RCVS PSS requires all our branches to undergo a rigorous inspection by an independent RCVS inspector, at least every 4 years, and they may also undergo periodic spot checks.
Several standard levels of accreditation are available:
At Animal Trust: we aspire to always achieve more than a basic minimum standard; therefore, all our established practices are accredited to the General Practice level as a minimum. Our 24/7 hospital sites are accredited to the Hospital standard, and in addition, those sites that provide our Pet A&E service also have a separate Emergency Services Clinic accreditation, also awarded by the RCVS PSS. To check your local branch accreditation level, please see our ‘Find a Practice’ webpage.
Please note: Animal Trust branches that are newly opened may not yet have gone through the accreditation process, but we will always aim to apply to the RCVS PSS for accreditation at the earliest possible opportunity.
Award Winning Animal Trust Practice: RCVS Knowledge Antibiotic Stewardship Champions 2025
Animal Trust Dewsbury won the RCVS Knowledge award for Antibiotic Stewardship in 2025 for their project to reduce use of high priority antibiotics in practice. See here to read more.