Not My College ?

  From this week's Vet times; 'The college has invited clinicians who have concerns about their independence being undermined to use a confidential helpline to report their concerns following allegations in a Radio 4 investigation.' Can this be the same College that commissioned a former senior police officer to interrogate the RCVS Council in a bid to identify the person who leaked their serious  concerns  about changes to the disciplinary process.   Really ?  The investigation is believed to have cost tens of thousands of pounds but the RCVS has refused to say how much (it's not your money it's ours, shut up!). After all that they didn't find the leak, but the point had been made; as the saying goes, 'the process is the punishment.' So here's a question for the RCVS. Where should Council members go, to whom should they report their  concerns, as our out of touch, elitist College moves further and further away from the practising profession?  Thi...

R emote  C ontrolling &  V ery  S ecretive.   The Freedom of Information Act  is based on the idea that more openness leads to more trust between society and public bodies, or in our case, the membership and the  RCVS . So if you submit a question to the RCVS , don't be surprised if you get an email back saying your request is being dealt with under the Freedom of Information Act . Goodness, you think, they must be taking it seriously, this is good news - yes? Well actually no. The College have discovered a clever little wheeze. By sticking strictly to the very narrow letter of the law their clever lawyers are able to avoid giving straight answers. Isn't it a bit ironic, that an Act of Parliament intended to make organisations more accountable, has been cunningly applied by our wonderfully open, compassionate, diverse, inclusive (insert your own superlative here) College, to actually limit accountability. They hate sharing information wi...

  So said the brilliant singer, song-writer, satirist and mathematician, Tom Lehrer ... well not quite Tom, not quite. On the 18th of January 2024 the RCVS voted by a majority of 16 to 5 to abolish  Council elections and replace them with an 'independent appointments system.' One of the sixteen who voted to end elections and move to an appointments based system (Kate Richards) stood for election in March 2024 and was soundly beaten. An almost unheard of event for a past President. The candidates for the new election in 2025 will shortly be announced. Be assured Samizdat will advise our loyal readers if any of the candidates standing for election/re-election voted to end the electoral process. If we lose the vote the practicing profession loses its voice - forever,  This is excellent - The Elements by Tom Lehrer If you want to read more posts, click on the arrow 🠈 on the top left of the page or on the 'MORE POSTS' button at the bottom.

We need a new Veterinary Surgeons Act - apparently. Time has moved on and the old one (1966) is no longer serviceable. It's hard to disagree, and if that was what it was about, simply updating, then I wouldn't object. But we're dealing with the RCVS here so it's always wise to look for the ulterior motive. In this case it's in plain sight - they want to use a new Veterinary Surgeons Act to abolish elections and move to an appointed council. It's a power grab pure and simple. The last vestiges of democratic accountability would finally be gone and we'd move to an 'independently appointed' (laff laff) Council, stuffed with the great and the good, all bristling with the relevant skill sets and just itching to get on with advancing the interests of the corporates promoting the best interests of the profession. Does anyone seriously believe the big players (you know who I'm talking about) wouldn't move heaven and earth to get their people 'i...

' The  Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons has introduced environmental sustainability requirements as part of the  Practice Standards Scheme (PSS) . These requirements aim to address the global climate crisis and encourage veterinary practices to lead the way in sustainability.  The key points include a w ritten environmental sustainability policy for all practices and nominating a d edicated sustainability champion or team.' More virtue signalling from the College, more pointless paperwork for overworked vets. Good for big corporations with compliance departments. Bad for the smaller practice tied up with inconsequential trivia such as ... oh, I dunno ... patient care ?  But don't be downhearted, help is at hand. China might be building two large coal fired power stations per week, but the  Greener Veterinary Practice website has some useful hints to help us all do our teeny tiny bit. These include,  'reducing the use of disposable surgical textiles,' c...

Its almost May, the snowdrops are out, and with the spring comes the annual RCVS begging letter.  When many of the membership are struggling to cope with record costs-of-living, a demand for payment is never welcome, particularly when it has increased by 4% Perhaps if the College hadn't splurged £20 million on their new headquarters (which after more than two years they still haven’t occupied) in the process emptying the contingency fund * which was,  ' built up over a number of years for just such an eventuality,'   or so we're told, the increase might have been absorbed. With more of the profession practicing part-time, shouldn't we be looking at reducing the fees for those working shorter hours ? It would certainly be a more equitable way of doing things but I'm not holding my breath. Empires are being built even as we speak and empires need money, in this case yours.  Where are they putting the throne room     *C on·tin·gency fund  [contingency f...

Gerry Henry, a  regular contributor to Samizdat is standing for election to the RCVS Council (again !). We took the opportunity to ask him a few questions about his candidacy. Sam . The electoral process has changed this year, no candidate statement but a series of questions and answers instead. Do you think it's an improvement ? GH . Not really, it reads more like a job application for Morrison's. In the past the Candidate Statement allowed you to introduce and develop an idea, this is just a series of little 200 word puffs that could be entitled, 'why I'm just the best thing since sliced bread.'  The bigger change which you haven't mentioned, is candidates are now only required to answer one question posed by the membership, not two as previously, and they still get to pick the one they answer. Personally I think candidates should have to answer at least four questions, with the two questions most commonly asked by the membership being compulsory. Allowing u...

There's lots of good stuff in the Samizdat blog but before you click on a more interesting link please take two minutes to read this. We expected the veterinary establishment to try to silence us and we've not been disappointed. Several Facebook pages and a well known veterinary newspaper have already refused to publish our content so it's down to you. If you want a more open, less secretive RCVS and an  ELECTED Council, then share the blog address with as many people as you can and ask them to do likewise. PLEASE KEEP SHARING AND - READ - VOTE - CHANGE. If you want to read more posts, click on the arrow 🠈 on the top left of the page or on the 'MORE POSTS' button at the bottom. If you want updates from NotMyCollege? click on the menu top left and select follow. If you want to read more posts, click on the arrow 🠈 on the top left of the page or on the 'MORE POSTS' button at the bottom. 

T he BVU recently sent an email to all candidates standing for election. It posed a number of perfectly reasonable questions, however Samizdat doesn't really want the endorsement of the BVU, nice and well intentioned though they undoubtedly are. Hi, thanks for the email and good wishes.  TBH I don't really want the endorsement of any organisation associated with UNITE. The scandal (ongoing) surrounding the hotel and conference centre fiasco suggests deep seated incompetence and corruption. Why would you wish to be associated with an organisation like this ?  Then there's this; 'Unite believes that any worker has the right to determine their gender identity without unnecessary medicalisation, and supports the review of the process of applying for gender recognition process/certificate. All Unite members who identify as women and meet the rule six qualifications of being a union workplace representative in employment are welcome to participate in the women’s structure of ...