Groundhog Day.

Well it's Council election time in Punxsutawney, and like 2024, Samizdat believes the 2025 election is still about defending your right to vote. It’s about ensuring the membership retain the right to hold the RCVS accountable through an elected Council. 

Over the last few years the College has borne down heavily on what we the membership are permitted to know. On one occasion in 2020, a retired police officer was engaged by the College to interrogate Council members suspected of leaking information about a proposed change to the disciplinary process ! (I don’t know what I find more depressing about this, the fact that the College thought they could get away with it or the spineless Council letting them). In June 2022 the College imposed a revised 'How we work' statement, effectively preventing Council members from publicly discussing RCVS policy which they deemed to be confidential (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 like this for example 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 democratic process ? Work harder to foster a (genuinely) inclusive approach to information sharing ? Nah, let's just abolish elections altogether and appoint the 'right' people instead. What could possibly go wrong ? 

Well as we've seen recently quite a lot, and it's going to get worse. As the College loosens its terrestrial bonds and floats ever upwards into 'progressive' cloud cuckoo land (never mind patient care, have you appointed your sustainability champion yet?)  only the collective voice of the practicing majority can bring it back to earth. If we lose the vote we lose our voice - forever.

The College, in their somewhat panicky response (here) assure us there will be 'consultations and surveys' - and like the most recent consultation and survey on prescribing, studiously ignored (how to consult without consulting) (Ditto).

🎵 ... so put your little hand in mine ... and choose someone committed to preserving the democratic process ... ðŸŽµ

 It's your vote, use it or lose it - forever.






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