BSAVA

Who we are

The Association was founded in 1957 as a professional body to serve veterinary surgeons who treat companion animals and now has over 11,000 members. Over the years as the profession has changed we have welcomed a broader membership which includes Registered Veterinary Nurses (RVN) and both vet and vet nurse students. 

Our culture and values

The values at the heart of BSAVA guide our decisions, actions and behaviour for the benefit of our communities, and society. 

• We nurture and support our communities 

• We aim for excellence in all that we do 

• We strive to be bold and innovative 

• We are accountable and trustworthy 

• We are rigorous and evidence led 

These headline values are underpinned by more detailed statements of intent, which give greater depth to our aspiration to be genuinely values-driven. 

We nurture and support our communities 

As an altruistic community we espouse equality of opportunity, diversity, and inclusion. We are welcoming, accessible, and respectful to all. Our style is to be collaborative and empowering, encouraging progression and development in a sharing community that is mutually supportive, inspirational, and fun. 

We aim for excellence in all that we do 

Excellence is core to our organisation’s purpose, we have a passion for quality, and professionalism. As an ambitious, expert community we are aspirational, committed, diligent, and driven. 

We strive to be bold and innovative 

We are open-minded and receptive to new ideas. We strive to be pioneering and creative while delivering sustainably and providing value for money. We work to leverage our expertise to facilitate change to benefit our communities, the professions and wider society. 

We are accountable and trustworthy 

Integrity and honesty underpin all our relationships, with staff, volunteers, members and other stakeholders. We are fair, impartial and open in our dealings and communications.  

We are rigorous and evidence led  

As a responsible, independent community, BSAVA will exercise moral courage in its decision-making. In the context of science, our approach will be rigorous, reliable, and evidence-based whilst open-minded in our consideration of pioneering and innovative concepts.  

Equality, diversity and inclusion policy

Statement of Intent

The BSAVA is committed to being an organisation that is representative of the communities we serve and the regions where we are based.  We recognise that building more diverse and inclusive workforce, volunteer and membership communities will allow us to reach and engage with people who can benefit from our work. 

We also recognise that society is not yet equal and the professions we are part of have their own challenges to be faced.  As an organisation, we operate in a wider professional context where we can complement RCVS and other organisations’ inclusion initiatives.  We recognise where BSAVA is able to make a difference within our own activities and fields of influence and where we must actively support others in tackling this matter more broadly in the professions as a whole. 

The responsibility for EDI will continue to lie with all members of staff, volunteers and BSAVA’s leaders.  The EDI working group will focus on embedding EDI into our policies, practices, procedures and behaviours to ensure that we keep making progress towards EDI excellence in all that we do.

EDI is everybody’s business, it’s the foundation for fair chances and we have a vision of professions where everyone understands how they and those around them contribute to and strengthen what we all seek to do – improve the health and welfare of small animals.