Veterinary orthopaedic courses: Our options for vet CPD in 2025

Whether you’re a new graduate or an experienced vet, planning your veterinary CPD can help you choose courses that support your interests or patch up gaps in your knowledge or skills. Veterinary orthopaedic courses are perfect for vets who want to work towards becoming an RCVS Advanced Practitioner in Orthopaedics, or who do a lot of orthopaedic work and want to brush up on a particular skill.
Our veterinary orthopaedic certificate courses for 2025
PgC/GPCert in Small Animal Surgery
Although this programme is general small animal surgery, 9 of the 23 modules in this veterinary postgraduate certificate programme cover orthopaedics, with a further 2 modules covering spinal surgery. If you successfully complete the assessments you get a globally recognised ISVPS GPCert in Small Animal Surgery, and you can convert this to a PgC from Harper Adams University with an additional module, which allows you to apply for RCVS Advanced Practitioner status. Even better, this small animal surgery certificate can confer credits towards a Professional Master’s Degree (MProf) – a learn-while-you-earn veterinary Master’s – for those who want to continue their study with us.
On this small animal surgery course, you’ll be learning everything from urinary surgery to thoracic surgery in the soft tissue modules, and the orthopaedic modules include fracture repairs, internal fixation, and bone grafting. The next course runs from February 2025 to July 2026 and is blended, with online modules interspersed with practical sessions in Sheffield. To minimise travel time and the time spent away from practice, the practical sessions are grouped together into week-long practical blocks. We also offer a face-to-face option.
Find out more about the blended small animal surgery certificate or the face-to-face certificate in small animal surgery.
Small animal surgery certificate – consolidated learning
If you like the sound of the PgC/GPCert in Small Animal Surgery above but don’t want to study for two years, we also offer the same programme in an intense 5-month block. The modules are held in four-day blocks each month at our Clinical Excellence Centre in Swindon. It’s an intense programme, but if you can get the time away from work to study it it’s a great way to get your veterinary surgery certificate quickly! The next course starts at the end of March, so you’ll need to make a fast decision if this certificate is what you’re looking for!
Find out more about the consolidated small animal surgery certificate.
Advanced Certificate in Small Animal Orthopaedic Surgery
This advanced orthopaedics CPD is a practical certificate programme designed to help vets excel in orthopaedic surgery. It consists of 14 modules covering everything from TPLOs and CCWOs to neurosurgery and is taught by orthopaedic specialists in three one-week blocks at our Clinical Excellence Centre in Swindon.
On successful completion of the assessments, you’ll be rewarded with the General Practitioner Advanced Certificate from ISVPS – a globally recognised certificate allowing you to use the postnominals GPAdvCert (Ortho). This certificate also grants 40 credits towards the Professional Master’s Degree – our new qualification which allows you to achieve a Master’s qualification while working in practice.
Find out more about the veterinary orthopaedic surgery advanced certificate.
Foundation Certificate in Arthroscopy Techniques in Small Animal Practice
This standalone CPD course is one of our innovative ‘Focus 20’ range. You’ll get 40 hours of CPD and 20 ISVPS credits as well as a Foundation Certificate (FCert) and postnominals too. Whether you already have a surgery certificate and need the CPD to maintain your RCVS Advanced Practitioner status, or you want detailed CPD in veterinary arthroscopy to support other vets in your practice, this is a great veterinary certificate course.
Find out more about the foundation certificate in arthroscopy.
Our short, practical veterinary orthopaedic courses for 2025
Ultrasound-Guided Regional Anaesthesia
This is one of our most popular short courses – a practical, 1-day course that provides 6 hours of CPD for vets and experienced nurses. Delegates will learn the benefits and contraindications for local blocks, as well as practice performing them in our amazing wet-lab environment at the Clinical Excellence Centre. It’s a superb course for those regularly performing orthopaedic operations, but you will need to have experience with ultrasound to get the most out of the course. The next course will be held in July, but book soon as it’s a popular one!
Find out more about the practical regional anaesthesia course.
Introduction to Orthopaedic Surgery
For those looking for an introductory veterinary orthopaedic course that’s very practical, this short course is perfect. Over two days, you’ll get 12 hours of veterinary CPD in a combination of lectures and practicals. You’ll cover fracture planning, cruciate disease, and patella luxation, as well as the correct use of plates, screws, pins, and cerclage wires, making it the perfect introduction to veterinary orthopaedic surgery skills. We’ve got dates available in April and October and, for those interested, you can also book the Next Steps in Orthopaedic Surgery practical course (see below) to advance your new skills further.
Find out more about the introductory veterinary orthopaedic surgery practical course.
Next Steps in Orthopaedic Surgery
This orthopaedic CPD course is aimed at vets with some orthopaedic experience who want to advance their skills to the next level. Over two days, you’ll get 12 hours of CPD made up of lectures, group discussions, and practical CPD using cadavers. The course focuses on fracture planning, increasing your confidence and success handling complex fractures. We’re holding this practical CPD course in our Clinical Excellence Centre in Swindon in June and November.
Find out more about the ‘Next Steps’ veterinary orthopaedic course.
TPLO Masterclass
The TPLO masterclass provides 12 hours of CPD for vets on orthopaedic techniques. Over two days, you’ll cover cruciate disease, surgical planning, and the TPLO technique. The second day is entirely cadaver-based practice, allowing you to perfect your TPLO surgical techniques, along with some radiography to help assess your success. We’re holding this one in March (Sheffield) and September (Swindon). It’s recommended that you’re already familiar with bone plates and screws – if you’re a little rusty, why not take the Introduction to Orthopaedic Surgery course (above) first?
Find out more about the TPLO Masterclass practical course for vets.
Arthrodesis Masterclass
Another fantastic masterclass in veterinary orthopaedics, this is a two-day CPD course focussing on arthrodesis. You’ll learn how to identify cases that need pancarpal and pantarsal arthrodesis and how to plan, operate, and manage them post-surgically. It’s perfect for orthopaedic vets needing some discipline-related CPD, or vets developing an orthopaedic interest who might move onto our Small Animal Surgery Certificate next year. We’re holding this course in May at our Clinical Excellence Centre in Swindon – don’t miss out!
Find out more about our vet Arthrodesis Masterclass course.
Neurosurgery Three-Day Masterclass
While not strictly orthopaedics, we thought we’d mention our veterinary neurosurgery masterclass here as well. It’s a practical advanced small animal surgery CPD course for those already familiar with surgical principles and who already assist or perform some neurosurgery. On this course, you’ll learn to perform a hemilaminectomy, ventral slot procedure, or other surgery on the spine, as well as discuss case choice, imaging, and intra-operative complications.
Find out more about the practical course in neurosurgery.
Feline Trauma
This is a 2-day practical course for vets providing 12 hours of CPD in feline orthopaedic trauma. This is an advanced course for vets who already understand fracture fixation, lag screw fixation, and orthopaedic surgical techniques, with the course focussing on the differences between dogs and cats. You’ll learn how to repair common feline fractures and take pre- and post-operative radiographs. The next course is running 15th-16th April, but if that doesn’t suit you can Register Your Interest to find out about similar upcoming courses.
Find out more about the practical course in feline trauma for vets.
Summary – a veterinary orthopaedic course for everyone!
At Improve Veterinary Education, we strive to provide valuable CPD courses for modern veterinary professionals. As you can see, our range of veterinary orthopaedic courses is huge, providing you with exceptional choice to help you fulfil your potential. However, if you need more help choosing a course to suit you, why not request a callback from our fantastic team of veterinary CPD advisors.
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