FAVSNET for veterinary practices

The Farm Animal Veterinary Surveillance Network (FAVSNET) collects data from the electronic health records of farm animals. This data is de-identified and used for surveillance and research.

How does FAVSNET work with veterinary practices?

We collect electronic health data from many Welsh veterinary practices. Extracts are used by scientists to help improve the health of the farm animal population in Wales. 

Why take part in FAVSNET?

FAVSNET relies on the valuable contributions of participating veterinary practices in Wales. By sharing clinical data, your practice will be directly supporting research aimed at understanding the causes, patterns and risk factors of farm animal diseases.

This information is essential for identifying emerging health threats, reducing disease risk, and improving clinical advice, treatment protocols and outcomes for farm animals. The data will help drive evidence-based improvements in farm animal health and welfare.

Benchmarking and clinical data research provide a tangible benefit to UK veterinary practice. Participating practices can gain access to new insights through their free dashboard - explore dashboard functionality here. In recognition of this, the RCVS Practice Standards Scheme awards points to practices that contribute clinical data to FAVSNET.

What do we collect?

We collect a subset of the information already recorded in the practices management software including animal information (species, breed, age, sex), treatment information as products sold, any clinical freetext and the owners postcode. We do not purposefully collect owners or vets names and addresses. Sometimes names are written in text and the majority of these are automatically removed by our bespoke deidentifier software"petharbour". Any that remain are never used in our research thereby ensuring the anonymity of participants. 

How can farmers opt out of FAVSNET?

Farmers can request for data to be removed from FAVSNET retrospectively by completing our opt-out form. Veterinary practice staff can also complete this form on a farmer’s behalf when requested. All requests to remove data will be actioned, unless data has been included in an active research dataset or already published, in which case the data will be used for no further research.