Do you need registered premises to work as a home visit vet?

Short answer: it depends entirely on medicines, not on where you see the animal.

The RCVS maintains the register of veterinary premises on behalf of the Veterinary Medicines Directorate. What triggers registration is not consulting, examining or treating animals. It is storing or supplying veterinary medicines. The RCVS puts it plainly: locations "are considered veterinary premises if medical products are to be stored or supplied from them", and "in order to supply medicines, veterinary practices must be registered".

So a vet who visits a client's home, examines an animal and supplies no medicines is not, by that act, operating registered premises. The moment you want to dispense, the question changes.

Does the vehicle need to be registered?

No. A mobile or ambulatory unit is not registered in its own right.

Instead, the RCVS requires it to be attached to a fixed address: "to provide medicines from the mobile or ambulatory unit, it must be linked to a registered bricks and mortar premises". The guidance gives two examples of what that fixed address can be, and the second one is the important one for independent practitioners: "such as a veterinary practice or a home address".

That is the sentence that makes a home visit practice workable without renting a building.

What if I work from home?

If you supply medicines to clients from your home, the home becomes veterinary premises and must be registered. The RCVS: "If you practise from your home and supply medicines to others, your home must be registered as a veterinary premises." If you hold controlled drugs there, the storage and record rules in our controlled drugs guide apply too.

There is a narrower case that does not require registration. If you only keep a small stock at home, the RCVS says it "doesn't need to be registered if you store small quantities of medicines, for example for on-call purposes". But that stock is not invisible: "this store of medicines must be recorded at a registered veterinary premises."

In practice this gives three workable models:

Does the Practice Standards Scheme apply?

The Practice Standards Scheme is voluntary. It is an accreditation, not a licence, and not accrediting your practice does not stop you working. It is worth considering on its own merits, not because you must.

Three things worth checking before you commit

1. Registering your home address has consequences beyond the RCVS. Check your mortgage or tenancy terms, your home insurance, and whether your local authority treats it as a change of use. None of these are RCVS matters and none of them are usually blockers, but finding out afterwards is unpleasant.
2. Registered premises are inspectable. The VMD inspects registered veterinary premises. A home that is registered is a premises.
3. Your medicines records follow the premises. Dispensing from home means keeping records as a practice does.

Where to confirm

This page summarises published RCVS guidance. Before you register anything, speak to the RCVS Registration team directly on 020 7202 0707. They answer this question regularly and your circumstances may differ from the general case.