Not My College ?

  In April the results of the RCVS Council were announced. Three candidates were elected, Zara Kennedy, Sinéad Bennett and David Barrett. All of the candidates made it clear in their manifestoes that they were completely opposed to an appointed Council. Looking at the manifestoes of all 14 candidates, it appears that most were opposed to an appointments system, some vehemently. Scroll forward six weeks to the 10th of June and the first day of the RCVS consultation on Governance. What do we find ? An acceptance of the membership's near total rejection of an appointed Council ? Far from it. Instead we have page upon page of biased 'recommendations' and a tone deaf video by Sue Patterson  here  which is billed as 'An Introduction to our Good Governance Consultation.'  In reality it's a one-sided propaganda piece in which we're told that we must move to an appointed system because it is the norm .  An example of the norm she used was the  GMC - the General M...

The government’s Inclusion at Work panel, convened by Kemi Badenoch last year, unveiled its report into UK employers’ Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (DEI) practices. Composed of private and public-sector experts and advised by a Harvard professor, the panel noted that 10,000 EDI jobs in the public sector are estimated to cost the British taxpayer £557 million per year. According to the report, many EDI initiatives have little evidence behind them, are often ‘polarising’ and in some cases ‘unlawful.’ As Badenoch put it, concepts like ‘unconscious bias’ and ‘white privilege’ regularly employed in diversity training, are ‘bunkum’ . The report joins existing research on diversity training in finding that by calling attention to differences and casting whites as oppressors and blacks as oppressed, such initiatives often increase racial tension. And few will many be surprised to learn that many of these initiatives are often little more than virtue-signalling. According to the report, on...

No, I was imagining it, sadly. After years ... nae decades ... of minimal communication, obfuscation and opacity, the RCVS appeared to have turned over a new leaf.  Two of their recent newsletters were generally more informative than before.  Ditto the plans to actually invite the membership to participate in consultative meetings. Had they ditched the habits of a lifetime, were they actually listening to the real (practicing) profession for once - alas not. Their latest 'consultation'   - 'An Introduction to Good Governance' is accompanied by pages of one-sided propaganda and a tone deaf video by the outgoing president  here in which we're told that we must move to an appointed system because it is the norm. If this is the norm count me out -  College thinks 'Dysfunctional' GMC is a good model to adopt. No thanks. 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 w...

  ' 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 HR departments. Bad for the smaller practice tied up with inconsequential, non-essential 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...

Update; So the Cass Report and the WPath files have confirmed what 99.9% recurring of us knew - that puberty blockers and irreversible surgery performed on minors is child abuse. What genius (geniuses) in the College thought it was acceptable to allow our good name to be associated with this abomination ? The College needs to concentrate on the profession, not chase after every stupid progressive butterfly that catches its passing attention. The RCVS has announced (albeit very quietly) that as of 2023 it will no longer be a Stonewall Champion. This is tremendously good news for everyone in the profession, the reputational damage of continued association cannot be overstated. It's particularly good news for all the profession's Gay/Straight biological women (adult human females). When Stonewall's  CEO Nancy Kelly can describe lesbian girls declining to have relations with male bodied trans-women (men) as 'sexual  racism,' it really is time to go.  All in all we'...

 'In the UK, over 60% of Veterinarians are women and the majority of Veterinary students studying today are also female! Say goodbye to the old ‘James Herriot’ days and say hello to the new, more diverse side to the veterinary profession. In recent headlines, the presidential team currently leading the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons (RCVS) are all female. I feel that this is a very exciting milestone that needs to be celebrated and shouted from the rooftops!'  L***** W*****   BVSc. BSc. MRCVS Am I the only one confused by the writer's cognitive dissonance (wittering?). How can a profession almost completely dominated by women be 'more diverse.' Does 'diverse' now mean no men ? Seems so. Mind you she's got a point about getting away from the Herriot image. Imagine dedicating your working life to your patients and clients instead of bunking out after 4 years (45% of all leavers have been qualified for less than four years). Fun Fact: None of the abov...

   (with apologies to Trollope)

A big thank you to the 1000 + vets who voted for me in the RCVS election. Not quite enough to get over the line but a respectable result. Meantime the campaign for common sense continues. 

So what's this election all about ? I think its about democracy and accountability; let's take accountability first. In June 2022 the College imposed a revised 'How we work' statement, effectively preventing Council members from publicly expressing opinions contrary to RCVS policy (Ball gag and no balls).  Since then the ability of the membership (that's you and me) to find out what is being said, planned, or agreed in our name has been relentlessly choked off. Nothing escapes the information black hole that is the RCVS. Occasionally a nicely polished PR piece might find its way into your inbox, but that's it.  In 2020, before the information blackout, 26% of the registered electorate voted in Council elections. In 2023 that number had fallen to 16%. As the membership is slowly pushed out of the information loop it feels alienated, loses  interest and eventually stops voting.   And the RCVS response ? Acknowledge their failure to engage the profession in the dem...

  Dr. Gerard Henry , a long time contributor to Samizdat is standing for election to the RCVS Council in March. This is his election statement, we wish him well. 'There comes a point when you think, enough is enough. Like most practitioners I've been too busy to involve myself with the College or with professional politics. For most of my life as a vet the RCVS didn't really feature on my horizon. Sometimes you'd see an old friend or mentor becoming President, a worthy end to a distinguished career. Local veterinary meetings might be attended by a Council member who would apprise us, informally, of what was going on or being said in London. That was then.  In June 2022 I was disturbed to read an elected member had resigned from Council because of the imposition of a new 'how we work' statement, which in essence forbad the informal exchange of information which had existed previously. This new imposed secrecy benefits neither the public nor the profession althou...

  So said the brilliant singer, song-writer, satirist and mathematician, Tom Lehrer ... well not quite Tom, not quite. On the 18th of January 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 is now standing for re-election  (here)   As they say, you really couldn't make this stuff up. 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. If you want updates from NMC click on the menu top left and select follow.

Its March, spring is sprung, and with it 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 6%. Perhaps if the College hadn't splurged £20 million on the new headquarters, 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 ... i n this case, yours (So where are they putting the throne room?). .   Con·tin·gency fund  [contingency fund]  noun;  a reserve of money set aside to cover possible unforeseen fut...

  This is reprinted from a human medical publication.  IMHO it is just as applicable to vets. It's a longish read but well worth it. How Does Second Victim Syndrome Affect Surgeons? Joël Pitre, Dr | 04 April 20 24 Second victim syndrome  (SVS) refers to the trauma experienced by a healthcare provider following a  medical complication or error . It is estimated that nearly 50% of healthcare providers will face this syndrome at least once in their career. Moreover, as much as 20% of hospitalized patients may experience a complication. Some specialties are particularly exposed to SVS, including surgery, obstetrics and gynecology. Most published research does not focus on surgical specialties, even though surgeons face stressful situations and technical challenges daily, making them particularly susceptible to SVS. Strength and emotional control are part of the typical surgeon stereotype. Consequently, the occurrence of a surgical complication is most often approached on...

  College spends £20 million on extravagant new HQ - see here Who cares if the practicing profession is on its knees, be of good cheer, the RCVS has just purchased its new HQ in fashionable Clerkenwell, home to global mega-brands such as  Fred Perry , Unilever , Microsoft  and Linkedin.  A snip at £20 million   it boasts 20,000 square feet of ‘media style offices’ and is well suited to ‘remote and hybrid working.’ Which begs the question, if the future emphasis will be on remote and hybrid working, why did we not buy the same space for a third of the price in Leeds or Manchester ?  It would be nice to know what arguments were advanced and by whom to justify this grotesque indulgence  (Pay up suckers) Perhaps the ‘stylish glass box penthouse with sensational views across Central London,’  (see background photo), or the 'Fashionable residential schemes, boutique hotels and high-class restaurants with an unparalleled choice of cuisines,' had s...

  The College is a secretive organisation, it hates parting with information; fact. Whether it's member's questions or muzzling the Council with threats of disciplinary proceedings, the RCVS is an information black-hole. So the decision to stage public Question Time  events seemed like the first glimmerings of hope. The format was simple, invite the membership, dish up some food and let them loose ... well not quite Lord Copper, not quite. The invitations went out and the food appeared but that's where any resemblance to the advertised event stopped. Each of the evenings I attended opened with a question which had (so we were told) been submitted in writing before the meeting began. Initially I was a bit confused. Why should a question submitted anonymously by someone who couldn't be bothered to attend in person take precedence over those who had made the  effort ? Silly me. By taking control of the narrative from the get-go, the College was able to steer the conversat...

'RCVS council elections could be scrapped in a governance shake-up that may help to secure long-sought reform of veterinary sector legislation.' So says the Vet Times. Voting is old hat apparently. According to the RCVS and their supporters  the way forward is by scrapping the final, threadbare vestiges of democratic accountability and handing everything over to appointees. Sounds legit. The appointments process, like everything the  RCVS  does, will be totally transparent of course ... totally ... and if you believe that I have a bridge to sell you.  The College doesn't like sharing information so we are unlikely to know which of those paragons of democracy are trying to disenfranchise us (update*) . However reading between the lines I think we can safely number the following fab five on the side of the angels.  Stephen May; S aid he was worried about the risk of a lack of accountability. Olivia Cook;  Warned that it could also reinforce perceptions of a...

The veterinary profession is in trouble. Put simply there are too few of us to run the surgeries, visit the farms or perform the public health duties on which so much of British industry depends. It’s been going this way for decades, but rather than tackle the difficult business of structural reform we imported the solution instead. At one point more than half of all vets registering to practice in the UK came from the EU, post Brexit that number plummeted by two thirds. The spike in pet ownership during Covid was the last straw.  In November 2021 the profession’s governing body, the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons, convened a ‘summit’ meeting in London to address the crisis. After some party games to get everybody in the mood, the eighty handpicked ‘stakeholders’ were invited to ‘co-create’ and ‘ideate,’ to ‘look for the thoughts on the edge of their thinking’ and to come up with innovative solutions to ‘wicked problems.’   If ugly neologisms, infantile role-play and ...

'The RCVS will be holding an informal evening for registered veterinary surgeons who who may be interested in becoming members of the Preliminary Investigations Committee (PIC) and Disciplinary Committee (DC).' Received by email 24th February ... Sorry all places taken 25th February ! It never ceases to amaze me how short the shelf life of these adverts is, it's almost as if they don't want us to attend. I'd be interested to know whether anyone from Northern Ireland, or the north of Scotland, or rural Wales made the (day long) trip to London just to express an interest ... I doubt it. Is this an example of what the College calls an Independent Selection Process, if so it doesn’t bode well for an appointments based Council. Another event for those in the know south of the M25 ? 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 a...

Am I alone in seeing numerous contradictions between what the College loftily proclaims and what it actually does ... for example have a look at the document,  The Role of Council Members (2023) which states that; 'Holders of public office should be as open and transparent as possible about all the decisions and actions that they take. They should give reasons for their decisions and restrict information only when the wider public interest clearly demands.'   Really ? Perhaps I missed something but aren't Council members now forbidden to criticise any decision on which the Council has taken a vote - even when the public/professional interest might demand it ? Not satisfied with a mute Council they now want to abolish elections entirely and move to an appointed one instead (see here).    This tendency towards authoritarianism and message control doesn’t stop with muzzling the Council. Recent demands from within the RCVS in their 5 Year Plan (a nice irony there for t...

' The mandatory regulation of veterinary practices, including statutory powers of entry and inspection, is one of the key elements of RCVS proposals for new primary legislation that would replace the current Veterinary Surgeons Act 1966.' It doesn't take a lot of imagination to see how this is going to go. A bit like the PSS but worse. Heavy on written protocols, heavy on tick-boxes, heavy on whatever 'progressive' nonsense has currently caught the College's butterfly attention (have you appointed your sustainability champion yet ?) Light on practicality, light on affordable treatment, light on serving a community. Good for big employers with HR departments dedicated to fielding this sort of garbage. Bad for smaller practices who prefer to dedicate their finite time and resources to intangibles like patient care (but if you can't record it, it ain't happening - right?). And of course it'll come with a nice fat fee attached.  Another attempt to rais...