MAVIS Hub Edition 119

The VMD is supporting RCVS Knowledge’s Farm Vet Champions initiative on AMR, which has recently been launched. The project promotes the appointment of Farm Vet Champions (FVCs) within practices throughout the UK to unite and empower UK farm animal veterinary practitioners as they establish good antimicrobial stewardship in practices and on farms. The VMD is also supporting the Farm Vet Champions promotional campaign to raise awareness of the project.

3.2 Defra Antimicrobial Resistance Co-ordination (DARC) group

The DARC group met virtually on 8 June 2021 to discuss the recent findings in antibiotic resistance (AMR) in bacteria of importance to animal and public health. The meeting included updates from the VMD on the delivery of the National Action Plan. Guest speakers from Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland also provided updates on farm level usage in their respective areas and an update was provided on the Arwain Vet Cymru and Farm Vet Champions schemes. Additionally, guest speaker Alison Mather from the Quadram Institute provided a presentation on the genomic epidemiology and mobility of AMR across species. Minutes from previous meetings are available on GOV.UK.

3.3 Policy

The UK’s hosting of the G7 Presidency has seen commitments on AMR made in the health ministers’ declaration, the climate and environment ministers’ declaration and the finance ministers’ declaration These include commitments on AMR in the environment stemming from antimicrobial drug manufacturing, consideration of options for strengthening supply chains, and exploration of antimicrobial valuation principles and market incentives. The VMD will contribute to cross-government efforts to implement these commitments, where relevant to our work area, over the coming months.

Question 4

4. Inspections

Accepted Answer

During the period from 01/04/21 to 30/06/21 the Distribution and Supply Chain Inspection Section carried out a total of 215 inspections of retail and feed business premises to assess their compliance with the Veterinary Medicines Regulations 2013. Due to the current pandemic, most of these inspections were conducted as remote assessments. However, on-site routine inspections have now re-started.

4.1 Retail Premises

We inspected 161 retail premises (veterinary practice premises and SQP retailers) and the compliance ratings for these inspections were as follows (5 being the highest, 1 being the lowest):

Rating	No. of premises	Percentage
5	74	46.0%
4	71	44.1%
3	15	9.3%
2	-	0%
1	1	0.6%

The most common deficiencies that required corrective action were:

Controlled Drug (CD) Registers not maintained as required
Broach dates exceeded or not recorded
Cascade labels either missing or missing required information

The requirements for retailers are published on Gov.UK

4.2 Feed Business Operator premises

We inspected 54 Feed Business Operator (FeBO) premises and the compliance ratings for these inspections were as follows (5 being the highest, 1 being the lowest):

Rating	No. of premises	Percentage
5	20	37.0%
4	25	46.3%
3	8	14.8%
2	0	-
1	1	1.9%

The most common deficiencies that required corrective action were:

Supply against incomplete Medicated Feedingstuffs Prescriptions /invalid prescriptions
HACCP plan not documented/implemented/maintained as required
Feed stability issues