Elections to the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons (RCVS) Council and to the RCVS Veterinary Nurses (VN) Council will be taking place this spring, with candidates standing for the available elected places on each of the bodies.
RCVS Council is the governing body for the RCVS responsible for deciding on major issues relating to the regulation of the veterinary professions including strategy, professional standards, education, registration, and projects to help advance the professions.
There are 10 candidates standing for the three available elected places on RCVS Council, including BEVA Member Linda Belton and Chris Proudman. The voting period for RCVS Council opens in the week commencing Monday 13 March and closes at 5pm on Friday 21 April 2023. We're delighted that two BEVA members are included in the candidates this year.
A Bristol graduate, Linda Belton is a director at The George Vet Group and trustee of Brooke UK. If elected she hopes to use her experience in clinical first opinion practice to improve employment conditions, workplace wellbeing and of course recruitment and retention. You can read her full statement here.
Professor Chris Proudman is an expert on equine surgery and colic and has previously served on RCVS Council as the University of Surrey representative. If elected he hope to address important issues such as diversity, wellbeing, business sustainability and disillusionment within the profession. His full statement is available here.
The other eight candidates standing this year are:
• Professor David Barrett FRCVS
• Dr Martin Chamberlain MRCVS
• Daniel Doherty MRCVS
• James Gartside MRCVS
• Steven Howard MRCVS
• Tim Hutchinson MRCVS
• Dr Alice McLeish MRCVS
• Dr Peter Robinson MRCVS
The full biographies and election statements for each candidate are available to read here. The three candidates who receive the most votes will take up their four-year terms on RCVS Council at the College’s Annual General Meeting on Friday 7 July 2023.
The VN Council election will be taking place over the same timeframe. VN Council has the overall responsibility for all matters concerning veterinary nurse training, post-qualification awards and the registration of qualified veterinary nurses, and the five candidates who are standing in this year’s election are:
• Sarah Jane Batt-Williams RVN
• Heather Jane Mathieson Kirkness RVN
• Katherine Ann Mortimer RVN
• Matthew Edwin Rendle RVN
• Simon Peter Williams RVN
The two candidates with the most votes will join VN Council for their three-year terms at the College’s AGM in July.
As with the most recent two elections, voting this year will take place completely online with Civica Election Services (CES), which runs the elections on behalf of the RCVS, sending emails containing links to a unique voting website to each veterinary surgeon and veterinary nurse eligible to vote in their respective elections.
Veterinary surgeons and veterinary nurses for whom the RCVS does not hold an email address, as well as vets and VNs who do not have their own email address but who share an address with one or more members of the professions, will not receive an email but will be sent a letter telling them how to vote online.
Ahead of the start of both elections in mid-March, the RCVS is asking both veterinary surgeons and veterinary nurses to submit written questions to candidates in order to better understand them and their views on a range of subjects. Each candidate will produce a written reply to two questions of their choice, which will be included on their candidate profile webpage ahead of the start of the election.
Please note – the RCVS will only accept one question per person and questions must be decent – offensive, defamatory and inaccurate questions will not be passed on to candidates.
Veterinary surgeons can submit a question to the RCVS Council candidates by emailing vetvote23@rcvs.org.uk.
Veterinary nurses can submit a question to the VN Council candidates by emailing vnvote23@rcvs.org.uk.
Members of the professions have until Friday 24 February 2023 to submit their question.