16 September 2026
We have launched a new podcast series to support veterinary teams in the delivery of contextualised care, with 12 episodes planned for release over the next year.
The first episode, titled ‘Contextualised care: why now and what next?’ is available to listen to now, with episodes on topics including communication skills, referral practice and teamwork to be released in the coming months.
In the first episode, the panel discuss why a focus on contextualised care is needed now, and what needs to happen to support veterinary teams to deliver it, drawing on findings from the contextualised care research report and roadmap published by RCVS Knowledge.
The series aims to bring together expertise and perspectives from across the veterinary sector – as well as animal owners – to provide informed and lively conversations on practical ways that care can be adapted to each individual animal, its owner and the broader context.
Upcoming episodes of the podcast include:
- Communication skills for contextualised care, including inclusive communication for neurodiverse members of the practice team and clients
- Contextualising care in referral practice, with perspectives on how to adapt care in specialist and referral practice
- A team-based approach to contextualised care, exploring how vets, veterinary nurses, receptionists, practice managers and allied veterinary professionals can work together to contextualise care.
The first episode – which features RCVS Knowledge Clinical Lead Sally Everitt, RCVS Knowledge trustee and former RCVS President Sue Paterson, and human healthcare researcher and pet owner Andrea Taylor – is available now by searching for RCVS Knowledge wherever you get your podcasts, in the embedded player on this page or you can access it directly here.
Katie Mantell, Chief Executive Officer at RCVS Knowledge and host of the first podcast episode, said: “In this podcast series we’ll be asking a wide range of people with different roles in the veterinary sector, in the UK and abroad, to share their perspectives and practical insights on how to adapt veterinary care to each animal and its owner. We hope that convening and sharing these conversations will help support veterinary teams to embed a contextualised approach to care for all animals, with benefits for client trust, quality of care and team wellbeing.”
Sally Everitt, Clinical Lead for Evidence at RCVS Knowledge, said: “Our research into contextualised care made it clear that a team-based approach is needed to deliver contextualised care. This podcast series provides the opportunity to explore contextualised care in veterinary practice from different perspectives and I hope people enjoy listening to these conversations.”
The podcast series is part of a wider initiative by RCVS Knowledge to support veterinary teams and animal owners in achieving contextualised care, following the findings of the first major research project on the topic. The research report, which contained insights from more than 1,000 veterinary professionals and pet owners, found that there is broad support for a contextualised care approach but that veterinary teams feel they need more support to implement it. The report also highlighted veterinary education as a key method by which contextualised care in veterinary practice can be supported.
RCVS Knowledge would like to thank SPVS Educational Trust, who have provided a grant to support the production of five episodes in this series.
You can listen to the podcast here: www.rcvsknowledge.org/CCpod
