2025 Reflections

Stephen Dawson, 11 December 2025

It’s been a very busy year and I wanted take a moment to reflect on some of the highlights in the final blog of 2025.

We carried out our biggest industry survey to date earlier this year which has provided some important insights to help shape how we can support SQPs and the wider profession. If you haven’t read the report, it is well worth a read: AMTRA Industry Survey. The overarching results from the survey are very positive and highlight that the SQP / Animal Medicines Advisor role continues to be highly valued and is recognised as having a positive impact on animal health and welfare across a broad spectrum of stakeholders. Awareness of the SQP role is better across some stakeholder groups than others, but there is a clear need for better understanding in order maximise the impact SQPs can provide to those seeking their expertise. Equally, awareness could be better around the level of training, qualification and CPD that SQPs undertake and that they are part of a highly regulated profession. Since one of the biggest headlines from the survey relates to the need to raise more awareness and understanding about the role of SQPs in supporting animal health, this has led to the creation of the first National SQP Week which will take place 5-12 June next year. We’ll be reaching out to SQPs, Retailers, Employers, Trainers and Manufacturers to support this important initiative and will be creating a helpful toolkit to make taking part as easy as possible.

Our summer event, held at Harper Adams University back in June, saw us gather industry stakeholders to discuss important industry topics as well as celebrate the incredible work of our SQPs with our annual AMTRA SQP Awards - well done to all our winners.

We’ve also contributed to a number of industry consultations this year including the Competitions and Markets Authority review and the VMD consultation on regulation of veterinary medicines within the overarching piece of legislation. We look forward to continuing to ensure the voice of the SQP profession is heard when it matters.

Our CPD Academy continues to go from strength-to-strength. We now have over 50 pieces of independent online CPD available and more than 270 CPD points currently attainable including lots of choices for farm SQPs to gain their compulsory points. If you haven’t visited yet here is the link: CPD Academy from AMTRA

As we say farewell to 2025 there is much to celebrate from the past year and the great work that SQPs continue to deliver right across the UK to support the health and wellbeing of animals. As we look ahead to welcoming 2026, our work as the UK’s leading regulator of SQPs continues at pace and we are looking forward to delivering even more CPD for you and working hard to raise the profile of SQPs and National SQP Week will be a key campaign to help drive more recognition – we hope every reader of this blog joins with us in making it a success.