Vets, nurses, receptionists — everyone needs supervision and CPD. Nobody has time between the last appointment and the emergency that just walked in.
Veterinary practices employ a diverse team: veterinary surgeons (minimum 35 hours CPD per year), registered veterinary nurses (minimum 15 hours), student veterinary nurses (supervised practice hours plus portfolio), and support staff (no mandatory CPD but PSS expects development records). The RCVS expects regular supervision and appraisal of all staff, and the PSS assesses this under the Team module. In practice, supervision sessions happen informally between consultations, appraisals are overdue, and CPD records exist in the practice manager's memory rather than a documented system. Your agent structures supervision sessions from brief clinical discussions, tracks CPD hours against RCVS requirements, and produces the documented evidence the PSS assessor expects.
What Your Agent Actually Does
Your agent structures supervision notes and tracks CPD compliance for your entire team — vets, nurses, and support staff — producing the documented evidence PSS accreditation requires.
Structures supervision from brief conversations
A 10-minute discussion between the head vet and an associate about a complex case, a nursing supervision session about wound care technique, a receptionist check-in about handling difficult calls — your agent turns these brief conversations into structured supervision records with objectives, discussion points, and agreed actions.
Tracks CPD hours against RCVS requirements
35 hours per CPD year for vets, 15 hours for RVNs — with different cycle dates for each registrant. Your agent tracks completed CPD, maps it against requirements, and warns when someone is falling behind with enough time to catch up before their cycle deadline.
Manages student veterinary nurse portfolios
SVNs need supervised practice hours logged, clinical skills signed off, and portfolio evidence compiled. Your agent tracks progress against the Nursing Progress Log requirements, ensuring SVN development stays on track for their final assessment.
Generates annual appraisal documents
Annual appraisals summarising performance, development needs, CPD completed, objectives set and reviewed — your agent drafts these from the year's supervision records rather than requiring the appraiser to reconstruct 12 months from memory.
Produces PSS Team module evidence
The PSS Team module requires evidence of staff supervision, appraisal, and development. Your agent compiles this evidence: supervision records, CPD logs, appraisal documents, training plans — organised and ready for assessment.
The real numbers.
| Practice manager/head vet time on supervision and appraisals | £2,000–£4,000/year |
| Last-minute CPD course bookings at premium rates | £500–£1,000/year |
| Risk of RCVS registration lapse (staff can't work) | Severe (operational disruption) |
| Realistic annual cost | £3,000–£6,000 |
| Agent build (one-off, configured to your team structure) | £1,500–£2,500 |
| Monthly running costs (hosting + AI usage) | £50–£100/month |
| RCVS CPD requirement updates | Included in first year |
| Realistic first-year total | £2,100–£3,700 |
Supervision and CPD tracking in veterinary practice is one of those tasks that everyone agrees is important and nobody has time for. The head vet is seeing patients. The practice manager is handling complaints. The supervision session that was scheduled for Thursday gets cancelled because an emergency came in.
Your agent captures the supervision that does happen — even if it's a 10-minute conversation between consults — and tracks the CPD that needs to happen, before anyone's registration is at risk.
Good fit / not a fit.
This works brilliantly for:
- Practices with 5+ clinical staff (vets + nurses)
- Practices with student veterinary nurses requiring portfolio supervision
- Practices where supervision records are informal or non-existent
- Practices preparing for PSS assessment of the Team module
This probably isn't for you if:
- You're a sole-practitioner practice with no employees
- You already use a dedicated HR/supervision platform you're satisfied with
- You have a dedicated practice manager who handles all supervision documentation
Let's talk.
We'll start with your team size, how you currently handle supervision and CPD, and whether anyone's CPD cycle deadline has caused a near-miss. Usually a 10-minute conversation.
hello@nimblecroft.com