Strategic Plan 2017-2019

Our Strategic Plan for 2017-2019 focuses on developing leadership within the veterinary professions, encouraging innovation and extending a learning culture in order to counter the 'blame' culture that exists in parts of the profession.

The hallmark of our previous (2014-16) Strategic Plan was about getting the basics right with our 35 objectives focused on clarifying our identity, improving our core functions, setting our service agenda and strengthening our foundations, among other things. We met 34 out of these 35 objectives which has allowed for a more ambitious and outward-looking new Strategic Plan.

The Strategic Plan was developed throughout the course of 2016 with input from stakeholders and as RCVS and VN Councils, key committees and College staff. Much of the evidence for our direction of travel came from the consultations we had with the professions as part of the Vet Futures project.

As a result of these consultations we have now committed to fulfilling 39 actions over the next three years grouped under five key ambitions.

• Learning culture: to establish the extent to which a ‘blame’ culture exists in the veterinary professions, the role that the RCVS may play in it, the impact it may have on the welfare of vets, veterinary nurses, owners and their animals, and how we can move towards a culture that has a greater focus on learning and personal development.
• Leadership and innovation: to become a Royal College with leadership and innovation at its heart, and support this creatively and with determination.
• Continuing to be a First-rate Regulator: continuing to build on the foundations that have already been laid, we will work to ensure that the legislation and regulations that support us are not only fit for purpose today, but enable us to make the UK veterinary professions, and those allied professionals who work alongside them, the best that they can be into the future
• Global reach: in part a response to Brexit and the need to be more externally-facing but with an emphasis to improve animal health and welfare on an international basis by raising veterinary standards overseas, contributing to the One Health agenda and ensuring that our regulation keeps pace in a global market.
• Our service agenda: to continue to build on our service agenda to ensure that people not only find interactions with us to be efficient and fair, but seek out and take up opportunities to engage further.

The Strategic Plan can be downloaded from the Publications section.