8 Sept 2022
Robyn Lowe was officially welcomed at Vetlife’s annual general meeting, held on 7 September.
Rachael Buzzel
Job Title
Vetlife has announced the appointment of the first RVN to its board of trustees.
Robyn Lowe, an active fund-raiser for the charity for many years, was officially welcomed at Vetlife’s annual meeting on 7 September.
Until recently, only vets could be elected to control the charity’s activities. However, a review by the Vetlife board of trustees of its articles and memorandum of association identified a need for the charity to better reflect current multidisciplinary team approaches to veterinary services.
The resulting changes to the articles, adopted in July 2022, embrace registered veterinary nurses as an integral part of the veterinary professional team, with the new articles extending the charitable objects of Vetlife to include all vets and vet nurses on the professional registers of the RCVS.
These changes also entitle RVNs to become full Vetlife members and to stand for nomination as trustees, enabling a more balanced representation of the veterinary professional team, and providing the opportunity for nurses to add their expertise and experience to the future direction of the charity.
As part of the process – unanimously approved at an extraordinary general meeting of the charity’s membership earlier this year – the trustees also took the opportunity to change the registered name from the historic title of the Veterinary Benevolent Fund to become officially that of Vetlife.
Mrs Lowe – who is a co-founder of the Veterinary Voices Hiking Group and administrator of its Facebook page – said: “I am incredibly excited to join the board of trustees for Vetlife and even more so as the first RVN to join in the charity’s history.
“It is a privilege and honour to support Vetlife, and I am immensely proud of the work done prior to my appointment that saw the board review the articles, approved this July, allowing support of vets and nurses equally.”
Vetlife president Graham Dick added: “It was pleasing to be able to address the AGM as the first president of the charity, which we have known for some years by its working title, but which is now truly registered as Vetlife. But more significant is the recognition that the changes to our articles also bring of the essential role played by veterinary nurses as part of the professional veterinary team and acknowledgement of the wide range of support they provide to fellow members of the veterinary community.
“At a time when society in general, and within it the veterinary community, are both facing significant challenges, the additional insights and breadth of experience brought by RVNs to the activities of our charity can only help to shape our future direction in supporting the veterinary community overall. I welcome Robyn’s appointment to the board of trustees as an important first step on that journey.”
The meeting also saw three long-serving trustees Richard Killen, Ewan McNeill and Katie Moore step down after six years of valuable service to the board.
