AT its meeting on 4th November,
the Royal College Council approved
a new “strategy plan” for the next
three to five years.
This stated at the beginning that the
overall aim is “to confirm the Royal
College of Veterinary Surgeons as an
effective regulator and to develop its
role as an influential scientific body –
trusted equally by the public and the
profession to be impartial and
authoritative – and to ensure that the
veterinary profession makes a positive
contribution to society”.
Further on, under the heading
“Framework”, the
document called for the
Royal Charter to be updated “to establish a
clear Royal College role
as a scientific body
complementary to, but
distinct from, the
regulatory role, to
provide a research and
evidence base for
veterinary medicine and
surgery and to provide more positive
support for members”.
Discussion on these matters took
place after an announcement by the
president, Peter Jinman, that the RCVS
had been invited by
DEFRA to prepare a
draft Bill for the
regulation of veterinary
service providers as
there was a possibility of
moves towards a new
Act within the lifetime
of this Parliament (i.e.
by 2015).
David Catlow (a
former BVA president)
said a new Veterinary
Surgeons Act had the
potential to significantly change the role of the RCVS and it was
necessary to define a clear role for the College.
The chief veterinary
office at DEFRA, Nigel Gibbens (a Privy
Council appointee to
the Council), said the
RCVS had to ask some
fundamental questions,
such as: What is it
trying to achieve? and How is it going to achieve it?
“We probably all have slightly different views of what the College
should do, both as regulator and as a
source of scientific advice.”
Chris Tufnell was
concerned about the
words “impartial source
of informed opinion”: “I
don’t think there is such
a thing as an impartial
opinion,” said he. “I
don’t think we can come
up with opinions on
behalf of the profession,
but the College should
be a source of informed
opinion.”
Professor Quinton
McKellar (at his last meeting of the Council before leaving
the RVC) also highlighted the difference
between “impartial” and “informed”
opinion and he believed the College had
the potential to be a genuine learned
society.
Returning to this subject later in the
meeting, he commented: “We should
have a learned society for the veterinary
profession, not an august scientific
body.” Alison Bruce, a lay member of
the Council, then said, “We have an
aspiration to be a learned society, rather
than an objective.”
Professor Duncan Maskell said the
College should aim to provide scientific
data and information – but not
opinions. “It is very, very important to
use appropriate wording, but I’m not
sure what that is.” He added there might
be cases where there was no
straightforward, definitive answer.
Call for complete
review
Dr Bertie Ellis took a
different tack:
“Preparing for a new
Veterinary Surgeons
Act is like organising a
car crash,” he said. “I’m
very concerned with the
way we keep pushing
for a new Act: we could
end up with something
we don’t want. It is not
clear even in this room
what we want the
College to do or achieve.”
He called for the College to carry
out a complete review of its role and
what it wants to achieve.
After further discussion the
“strategy plan” was approved by the
Council by 29 votes to five, with one
member, the CVO, abstaining.
Later in the meeting, Mr Gibbens
said that if there is a new Veterinary
Surgeons Act (or Veterinary Services
Act), “we will start again; everything will
be up for consideration”.
During a discussion of the minutes
of the public affairs committee, further
comments were made on the role of the
College and the possibility of a new
Act. It was stated in the minutes that
Jim Paice, the Minister of State at
DEFRA, had said he would be willing
to request parliamentary time for a
Veterinary Services Act to replace the
current Veterinary Surgeons Act – but
the onus would be on the College to
develop proposals for new legislation.
The minutes went on to say: “The
CVO noted that the DEFRA team were pleased and surprised by the Minister’s
positive response but it is important that
the College is aware of the caveats in
terms of DEFRA resources and
parliamentary time, which could impede
the progress of wholesale reform of the
Act.”
The RCVS Strategy Plan document
lists the following (presumably hoped
for) outcomes:
- to maintain accurate and reliable registers of veterinary
surgeons and veterinary
nurses who are properly
qualified and
accountable for what
they do, now and in the
future; - to safeguard the
health and welfare of
animals committed to
veterinary care through
the regulation of the
educational, ethical and
clinical standards of
veterinary surgeons and
veterinary nurses, thereby protecting the interests of those
dependent on animals, and assuring
public health; - to be recognised as an effective
regulator and as an impartial source of
informed opinion on relevant veterinary
matters; - to be seen to be fair, open,
understanding, accountable, consistent
and forward thinking.