Not My College ?

 Not really veterinary but an interesting angle none the less and one not often heard on the mainstream media. Worth a read. Why this Junior Doctor won't be striking 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 NMC click on the menu top left and select follow.

  Unconscious bias training: an eye-opening afternoon - link     Given that  Unconscious Bias  training is now mandatory for all Fellows and all Council Members, isn't it time to have a look at this expensive charade ? I first encountered it when I read the Chair of the Education Committee's piece about her 'eye-opening' experience. I haven't asked permission to quote her but the link is above , anyway here's the gist. 'A builder is having lunch. Asked to visualise the scene most people think of a the builder as a white guy, overweight, eating a meat pie and reading the sun, so far so realistic. Wrong, this is your  Unconscious Bias  kicking in, why couldn’t the builder be a black woman who drinks peppermint tea, eats falafel and reads the Financial Times? ' (I'm not making this up). You see how horribly biased you are, and it's unconscious too, bad vet, bad vet, bad, bad, bad, report for political re-education immediately ! If you want to try so

I sometimes think the only way the College survives is through the voluntary, willed disinterest of the membership. Most people actively avoid reading their relentlessly irrelevant newsletters or emails let alone the heavier stuff, which is probably just as well.  A good example of something that missed processing is the  RCVS Standards and Guidance for the Accreditation of Veterinary Degree Programmes 2023.   When hardly a week goes by without some reference, somewhere, in some RCVS communication, about mitigating ‘workforce issues,’ one can only wonder at a process that managed to produce 40 pages of ‘guidance’ for universities with hardly a mention of   improving the criteria for entry into the undergraduate degree course. No practical steps towards selection on the basis of proven vocation and not just exam results, nor of candidate maturity, nor of moving towards post graduate entry, nor of improving the gender balance, nor indeed of anything that might at the end of five years, p

EMS is to be cut from an already inadequate 26 weeks to 20. Lots of excuses from the College about increased numbers of students meeting reduced numbers of practices prepared to take EMS placements (what practices, independents, corporates ?). Even more about how poorer students can't afford the time off from the part-time jobs they rely on to fund themselves through college. Perhaps if the RCVS hadn't splashed £20 millions on their new palace in Clerkenwell, a significant sum (£10 million ?) could have been invested to provide income for just such deserving cases.  RCVS spends £20 million on new HQ  I've heard from a number of sources that certain large organisations have a blanket 'no students' policy. Perhaps the PSS, instead of greenwashing itself, should make taking school children and VS students mandatory.  I imagine the EMS practices will need to meet increasingly the onerous regulations the College are preparing for us (have a look at what's in the PSS

Diversity and Inclusion have become very popular subjects with the College recently but not gender diversity. Although comprising half the population only 20% of all admissions to Britain’s 8 veterinary schools are male. Apart from equity there are good practical reasons to encourage more men into the profession. Men are more likely to practice for longer, work full time rather than part time, accept leadership roles and work in the less glamorous branches of the profession, e.g. in the meat industry. Given that developmentally boys brains lag several years behind girls, particularly those parts associated with planning and future orientation, and given the disparity is greatest in the period when those all-important exams are being taken, is it surprising that boys in their late teens just can’t compete ?  A former President recently lamented the persistence of ‘systemic sexism’ in the profession, perhaps this is what she had in mind, somehow I doubt it. If you want to read more post

R ather  C reepy V erging on  S talinist ? R ewarding staff for service above and beyond the call of duty is not unusual. We all know them, we've all worked with them. The ones whose performance is consistently of a high standard, who are utterly dependable, who stay late for the emergency GDV and on occasions might even bring in cake (or scones!). Most practices will recognise their commitment with a kind word, or pay rise, or a promotion, or hopefully all three.  E-Cards are a new one on me, so when I read in th e College's Five Year Plan (I just love the irony) they intend to send  e-cards to celebrate staff members who 'meet our values,' I was a curious. Cards for meritorious service - yes, but to staff who, 'meet our values,' - hmmm, not sure about that one.  I wonder,  could your general performance be sub-par but as long as you pass the 'values' sniff test, you get a card ?  We truly live in a post-competence world. If you want to read more p