Avoiding vet ‘dominance’ among the proposals for profession law reform

Major reforms are needed to prevent the enduring “dominance” of vets under future governance arrangements, a professional body has declared.

The issue has emerged from submissions to the recent public consultation on reforming the Veterinary Surgeons Act (VSA), which closed last month and from which feedback is currently being assessed.

Leadership functions

The process suggested either retaining the existing RCVS structure or separating what it described as the organisation’s regulatory and professional leadership functions.

But despite college leaders urging professionals to support what they claimed was “the best of both worlds” during the consultation period, and broad support for the principle of legislative change, both the AHPR and BVNA argued significant moves towards professional “parity” were still necessary in their formal submissions to the process.

Although it argued that both models carried uncertainties with them, the AHPR paper said a majority of its registrants were supportive of their work being brought under RCVS regulation. But it went on to warn that support was conditional on reforms to ensure what it described as “fair representation and protection” for musculoskeletal (MSK) practitioners and other allied veterinary professionals (AVPs).

‘Meaningful representation’

The paper said: “AVPs must have meaningful representation across all levels of the regulator from the outset to ensure balanced decision making and avoid dominance by the veterinary surgeon profession.”

Meanwhile, the BVNA expressed a preference for retaining the existing model, arguing that professional leadership functions for nurses could be “weakened or lost” if not delivered within a royal college structure.

But while it declared itself willing to move towards taking on those functions itself if the split model was preferred, the group cautioned that its support for the current approach had “caveats” with it.

Its response argued that the college’s royal charter should be updated to ensure parity between professions before attacking the present structure.

‘A strong voice’

The paper added: “Veterinary nurses are currently seen as a ‘bolt on’ rather than a profession deserving of royal college membership status in their own right.

“We consider this must evolve to ensure the veterinary nursing profession does not continue to be undermined under a reformed governance structure or, indeed, any allied veterinary professionals to come under regulation in future.”

But a college spokesperson said: “The proposals for new veterinary legislation are very inclusive and in line with our long-standing proposals that any new legislation would embrace the wider veterinary team fully within our legislative remit.

“There will be ongoing discussions as to whether being registered with the college confers membership of the RCVS status, but we are strongly advocating for a future governance structure that would ensure veterinary nurses would continue to have a strong voice regarding their regulation and professional leadership.”