More than 600 veterinary professionals from 12 countries around the world have come together for a global conference on emergency and critical care.

Internationally-renowned vets Søren Boysen, Gregory Lisciandro and Sophie Adamantos (right) were among the keynote speakers taking part in the ECC Congress at the Majestic Hotel in Harrogate, North Yorkshire.

The annual event was hosted by Vets Now.

Several of our own senior clinicians, including Amanda Boag, Louise O’Dwyer and Aoife Reid, also delivered talks.

Lectures and workshops covered a range of topics from ultrasound and radiology to flexible leadership and managing team performance.

“Our mission is to bring the world’s leading ECC specialists together”

Wendy Busby, head of clinical development at Vets Now, said: “This event was the biggest of its kind in Europe and was incredibly important in providing innovative and accessible training to the veterinary profession.

“Our mission was to bring some of the world’s leading ECC specialists together with veterinary professionals from the UK and beyond to debate and discuss the latest developments in the discipline.”

The ECC Congress was established in 2004 with the aim of providing affordable, innovative and inclusive CPD to veterinary professionals. This year’s event featured three lecture streams as well as practical workshops.

The list of delegates included veterinary professionals from countries including Australia, Canada, Spain, Italy, Romania, Poland and the US.

 

Wendy added: “We had a fantastic list of speakers this year and there was something for everyone in the lecture programme. ECC is a discipline that’s constantly evolving and we’re committed to developing our programme to meet the needs of our growing audience.”

Among the highlights was a joint lecture by Boysen (right), a professor and diplomate in small animal emergency and critical care at the University of Calgary, and Lisciandro (bottom right), a diplomate of the American College of Veterinary Emergency and Critical Care, on emergency cage-side ultrasound. Both are internationally-renowned speakers on ECC.

Another were the talks on blood delivered by Kenichiro Yagi, a veterinary technician specialist in ECC who practices at the Adobe Animal Hospital in California as an ICU and blood bank manager.

Other well attended lectures were the discussion forums hosted by experts including Jennifer Devey, also a diplomate of the American College of Veterinary Emergency and Critical Care, Ava Firth and Amanda Boag.

“We’re confident there is something for everyone in the programme”

Complementing the clinical programme was a busy social programme. This year’s ECC Congress was supported by main sponsor Woodley Equipment Company Ltd, and other sponsors, Idexx Laboratories, Boehringer Ingelheim, Zoetis and Vet Times.