Animal Trust Vets Dewsbury wins RCVS Knowledge Award
We’re incredibly proud to announce - Animal Trust Dewsbury has been awarded 1st place in the 2025 RCVS Knowledge Awards for Antimicrobial Stewardship. This prestigious national recognition celebrates the exceptional work of Lead Vet Tighearnan Mooney and the whole team at Animal Trust Dewsbury, who audited and successfully reduced the use of highest-priority, critically important antibiotics, promoting safer and more sustainable prescribing practices to protect both animal and human health.
On 4 July, colleagues Matt Green and Emily Bennett attended the RCVS Royal College Day ceremony in London to receive the award on behalf of the team. The award was presented by Amanda Boag MA VetMB DECVECC DACVECC DACVIM FRCVS, Chair of the RCVS Knowledge Board of Trustees.
At Animal Trust, we’re passionate about delivering safe, effective care to every patient. Our dedicated Quality & Improvement team partners with each of our practices to support this mission – through audits, outcome analysis, systems improvement, and training. By working together, we ensure great ideas and evidence-based improvements are shared and embedded across our network.
We want to say a huge thank you to Lead Vet Tigh, the entire Dewsbury team, and every colleague across Animal Trust who turns improvement ideas into everyday practice.
What is RCVS Knowledge?
RCVS Knowledge is a charity partner of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons (the Veterinary Regulator) and is concerned with advancing the quality of veterinary care, for the benefit of animals, the public and society. Their purpose is to empower and support veterinary teams to provide evidence based, quality care and improved animal health and welfare outcomes.
Why is Antimicrobial Stewardship important?
The development of resistance to antimicrobials (including antibiotics) is a significant concern for both animal and public health. Over time, inappropriate or overuse of antibiotics can result in the development of resistance to and eventually a lack of response to these very important medications. The World Health Organisation (WHO) list Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) as one of the top global public health and development threats. It is estimated that bacterial AMR was directly responsible for 1.27 million global deaths in 2019 and contributed to 4.95 million deaths (1). These numbers are expected to continue to rise in the future if we cannot address the continued development of resistance.
An evidence based antimicrobial stewardship program can ensure that antibiotics, particularly those of most concern, or that need to be reserved for treatment of certain conditions, are used responsibly and that development of resistance is limited as much as possible.
Why is this of concern in the veterinary industry? Many veterinary antibiotics are also used in humans, and use of these drugs in animals will also result in resistance in bacteria affecting humans.
Animal Trust Dewsbury’s Antimicrobial Stewardship Project
Dewsbury practice Lead Vet, Tighearnan ran an audit project of antibiotic use at Animal Trust Dewsbury, looking particularly at use of HPCIA Antibiotics (Highest Priority Critically Important Antibiotics) - those that are of most concern for prioritising use in humans, particularly in infections of high concern or with few treatment options. This was run alongside broader initiatives across Animal Trust by the Quality and Compliance Team but looked at the data in more granular depth. Using recognised Quality Improvement techniques, data on use of antibiotics and justification for use was collected, discussed with the clinical team, and then actions to reduce use were put in place. Reauditing demonstrated that we had reduced use of HPCIA antibiotic prescriptions from 3.05% of consults to just 0.46% of consults. We were even able to stop stocking one type of HPCIA Antibiotic completely!
Why is Action on Antimicrobial Resistance Important to Animal Trust?
Projects such as these are of fundamental importance to Animal Trust and relate directly to our mission as a socially conscious company. Animal Trust is a Community Interest Company, and this means that we are committed to providing access to affordable, compassionate and quality care.
A commitment to quality of care means that we strive to follow evidence-based medicine and to ensure that the care that we provide is also in the interests of the wider community. This also means that it is also important for us to work with the communities that we are part of, and that we ensure that our professional activities do not have a negative impact on those communities and the health of the people who are part of them. Limiting use of inappropriate antibiotics is part of our contribution to ensuring that we limit any negative health consequences to our activities.
Read more about the awards and the inspiring projects recognised this year: RCVS Knowledge Awards
Listen to Lead Vet Tighearnan Mooney discuss the teams approach: RCVS Knowledge Award podcast
References
Antimicrobial Resistance Collaborators. (2022). Global burden of bacterial antimicrobial resistance in 2019: a systematic analysis. The Lancet; 399(10325): P629-655. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(21)02724-0