Looking back over a year of achievement

As we approach of the end of 2018, which was, incidentally, my first full year as CEO of the RCVS, it is always a good time to indulge in a bit of reflection.

Sometimes you can get so lost in the midst of the day-to-day that when you take a moment to pause and look back over the year just gone, you realise that so much has been done and achieved, particularly, this year, in delivering both on our three-year (2017-19) Strategic Plan and the actions and pledges of the Vet Futures initiative.

I just wanted to pick out a few of my personal highlights of the year that I think capture the breadth and depth of the activity with which the College is engaging:

• the launch of the Graduate Outcomes consultation, a once-in-a-generation review of the future of veterinary education and how we nurture graduates into practice;
• the launch of the RCVS Leadership programme and, last month, its massive open online course hosted by FutureLearn, which already has around 1,800 veterinary professionals signed up to it;
• greater public outreach with members of staff and officers of the RCVS attending public events in mid-Wales, Devon, and Oxfordshire;
• seeing major projects such as Mind Matters and the ViVet innovation initiative grow in strength and impact;
• achieving accreditation from ENQA, the pan-European body that quality assures organisations that themselves quality assure in higher education;
• the bestowal of the first ever Impact Award and Inspiration Awards at this year’s Royal College Day;
• a successful first year for the Veterinary Client Mediation Service which, according to figures from October this year, has resolved some 1,700 disputes between veterinary practices and clients;
• the continuation and expansion of our trial on an outcomes-based method of assessing continuing professional development;
• the development of case studies for veterinary nurses and vets on navigating Schedule 3 in practice and also informed consent; and,
• developing a strategy for the future of the Fellowship and its path to becoming a learned society for the veterinary profession.

I’m keen to point out that these are only the things that have prominence with the profession and that there have been plenty more improvements and initiatives within the College which go a long way to improve the service you receive.

These include updating our IT infrastructure, improving our HR processes to ensure we get the best from our people, reviewing our concerns investigation and disciplinary processes, and increasing our engagement and outreach with veterinary students, to name a few.

You’ve probably noted that there’s one thing that hasn’t been mentioned so far that has potential implications and impacts on all we do – and that’s Brexit.

Our guess is as good as anybody’s as to how this will pan out but, regardless of what may happen, we have been busy doing what we can to prepare for all eventualities, working in partnership with the British Veterinary Association and Defra to mitigate the impact that it could have on veterinary capability and capacity.

This autumn we also took the rather unusual step of explicitly saying that a ‘no-deal’ Brexit would have unacceptable consequences for the veterinary profession and animal health and welfare and public health; taking ‘no-deal’ to mean a complete absence of agreement between the UK and EU in areas such as mutual recognition of professional qualifications and the rights of EU citizens already living and working in the UK.

While this stance was criticised in some quarters, we considered that ‘no-deal’ would be fundamentally incompatible with both our Brexit Principles and our Mission Statement and so made the decision to speak out.

While we don’t yet know what 2019 will bring in this regard, what we can assure you is that the RCVS and BVA will continue to work together to ensure that veterinary concerns and interests will be heard.

Looking forward to next year, 2019 is the last year of our current Strategic Plan and so we will be looking at how to deliver on its remaining actions.

Priorities include reviewing how we have met the objectives of the First Rate Regulator project, exploring the ability of the College to engage in compulsory practice inspections, and looking at our global reach in terms of how we can share our regulatory best practice internationally as well as the potential international appeal of some of our standards and qualifications.

Post-Brexit it will be important to maintain a strong global network and presence, both with our European neighbours, and the wider world.

Another key area of activity will also be developing our next Strategic Plan. In due course we will be consulting with veterinary and public stakeholders, RCVS and VN Councils, our committees and RCVS staff about our vision going into the 2020s.

In the meantime it just remains for me to wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year and stress that we recognise and appreciate all your hard work in safeguarding animal health and welfare in the UK and beyond, both over the Christmas period and throughout the year to come.