Any facility in South Australia operating as a veterinary hospital or animal hospital must be accredited as a veterinary hospital by the Veterinary Surgeons Board of South Australia (VSBSA).

In South Australia, the titles of ‘veterinary hospital’ and ‘animal hospital’ are protected by the Veterinary Practice Act 2003. It is illegal for a person to lead others to believe that a facility is a veterinary hospital or animal hospital if it is not accredited by the VSBSA.

A complete listing of all facilities accredited as veterinary hospitals by the VSBSA can be accessed here.

Accreditation process

The process for applying for accreditation of a facility as a veterinary hospital by the VSBSA is set out in the below application forms:

Downloads

Accreditation requirements

The VSBSA’s accreditation requirements are set out in the below links:

Downloads

Working to ensure those in the profession achieve and maintain high professional standards of competence and conduct in their provision of veterinary treatment.

Correspondence Policy

We recommend using our postal address if your correspondence is sensitive and/or includes hard copy or confidential attachments (such as photos or documents). Please ensure you include a return postal address.

Our approach
When we perform our work, we aim to be fair, impartial, consistent, respectful, courteous.

How you can help us
To allow us to perform our work effectively and efficiently, we expect that you will familiarise yourself with our correspondence policy, give us accurate and complete information, treat us with respect and courtesy.

We aim to respond to correspondence, where required, within 20 working days of receipt.

Sometimes the matters raised in correspondence are complex and require detailed investigation in which case our response time will be longer.

There may be occasions where the issues you raise are outside our responsibilities. In this case we will refer you to the appropriate organisation or government department/agency. We encourage you to check to see if your issue is within our jurisdiction before you correspond with us. For example, if your enquiry relates to the ability of a veterinary surgeon to obtain, possess, prescribe or dispense Schedule 4 drugs, please direct your enquiry to the Office of the Chief Pharmacist: SAPharmacy@health.sa.gov.au. If your enquiry relates to the ability of a veterinary surgeon to obtain, possess, prescribe or dispense Schedule 8 drugs, please direct your enquiry to SA Health: HealthDrugsofDependenceUnit@sa.gov.au

We do not provide legal advice or personal advisory services to members of the community, veterinary services providers or veterinary surgeons.

We will only respond to items where we are the primary recipient. We will not respond to correspondence where we have been included as a carbon copy.

We will delete unsolicited advertisements without response.

We will not respond to correspondence containing offensive language or content.

We will forward any correspondence containing threatening content or advocating illegal activities to South Australia Police.

Your correspondence, once received, will become an official record of the Veterinary Surgeons Board of South Australia.