New sanction for student VNs who forge signatures

Responding to a worrying increase in the number of veterinary nurse students who are forging the signatures of practice principals on their Records of Training, the RCVS Veterinary Nurses Council has agreed that such students will have to provide professional references before being allowed to register.

Student veterinary nurses undertaking work-based training must complete the equivalent of 60 weeks in clinical practice. At least one forged record of such training is being picked up by the College each week (it registers around 790 new veterinary nurses each year).

The College holds a specimen copy of every Head of Centre and training practice principal’s signature and it always checks Records of Training prior to registering a new veterinary nurse. If there is any doubt as to validity, the College checks with employers and Heads of Centre personally.

In the past, if a signature was found not be genuine, the College would ask for other evidence of the period of training and, if this was satisfactory, would register the nurse whilst giving a written warning regarding falsifying documents.

VN Council has agreed that, from now on, such nurses will also be required to provide professional references (from their employer and centre) as to their integrity before their registration can be considered. A record of the matter will be kept on file by the College and may be taken into consideration in relation to any future complaint regarding the nurse’s conduct. The nurse’s employer may also take disciplinary action. Attempting to gain a qualification fraudulently is also a criminal offence, taken very seriously by both the RCVS and other regulators, such as Ofqual.

“Usually, the students concerned have left a practice without getting their record completed and resort to creativity for the necessary practice principal’s signature, or they just simply can’t be bothered to ask the right person to sign the form,” says Libby Earle, Head of the RCVS Veterinary Nursing Department.

“This is worrying, as registered veterinary nurses will be trusted by their employers to keep accurate case records, pharmacy stocks, controlled drugs registers etc. There is also a major issue of public trust: professionals are expected to be honest and yet these nurses’ first act on qualification is to forge evidence for their registration,” she adds.