Veterinary surgeons have a new tool in their armoury against antibiotic resistance in livestock with the launch of an app to support on-farm clinical decision-making.
The Arwain DGC Veterinary Prescribing Champions (VPC) App is a specifically designed platform to support vets “at the point of care for consistent, evidence-based decision making”.
Funded by the Welsh Government, the award-winning Arwain DGC programme supports farmers and vets in the fight against AMR through data-driven decisions, innovative technologies, and promoting best practices.
The VPC App is novel in its ability to integrate clinical guidance on antimicrobial use (AMU) and peer collaboration for use directly on-farm, with the ability to produce tailored, farmer-ready outputs.
The app allows vets to create on-the-spot treatment plans and export them directly to the vet practice and the farmer, reducing administration and ensuring efficiency.
Arwain DGC's Veterinary Development Manager, Dr Amelia Sidwell MRCVS, said:
“The majority of livestock veterinary work in Wales is conducted in an ambulatory setting – vets travel to farms to provide a service. However, relevant, structured AMU guidance is often scattered across websites, and many practice management systems lack a truly functional mobile platform for instant on-site clinical recordkeeping. Our aim was to provide VPCs with a single, on-farm tool to access clinical guidelines, generate tailored treatment plans, and share clear instructions around best-practice disease treatments with farm clients whilst embedding antimicrobial stewardship (AMS) into decision-making.”
The VPC App also includes access to the Arwain DGC Clinical Guidelines, a series of evidence-based, practice-informed guidelines produced by and for vets in Wales to support consistent, responsible AMU. It also offers the latest AMS-related ‘news' and access to VPC webinars, supporting vets' continuous professional development (CPD), while its chat function builds on the VPC Network's strengths in fostering a supportive, collaborative professional community.
Dr Sidwell said:
“Their inclusion within the app means VPCs can access this guidance instantly at the point of care, without searching, switching platforms, or relying on memory. This information can then be incorporated into the vet's on-farm clinical evaluation to help tailor treatment plans to the clinical scenario. Overall, this helps make consultations faster and more consistent by turning guidance into actionable decisions rather than passing reference material.”
Farmers also benefit by receiving clear, structured outputs from the app that help them implement advice following on-farm consultations. This strengthens vet-farmer communication, avoids ambiguity, and allows advice to be easily exported from the app as a PDF for attachment to practice management systems, aiding on-farm implementation.
The app was launched at a VPC forum day in Llandrindod Wells. Among those taking part was Brecon farmer's son Morley Jones, who is a vet at Belmont Farm and Equine Vets
He said:
“Arwain DGC's new veterinary app has the potential to become a genuinely valuable tool for the livestock industry by improving communication, supporting evidence-based decision making, and helping vets and farmers access important information quickly and efficiently.”
Dr Sidwell said the tailored treatment plans may help embed best-practice protocols and highlight the benefits of non-antibiotic interventions for certain diseases.
She said:
“They also define clear thresholds for action, provide on-farm decision trees that prioritise early, non-antibiotic treatment choices, and serve as benchmarks for progress. These treatment plans can be reviewed and refined over time, particularly in response to preventive herd health management.”
