Results of the 2018 RCVS Council election announced

We have announced the results of this year’s RCVS Council election, which saw another year of encouraging levels of participation and turnout.

The results, in order of number of votes, are:

• Susan Paterson – 3,976 votes
• Mandisa Greene – 3,819 votes
• Neil Smith – 3,544 votes 
• John Innes – 3,502 votes
• David Catlow – 3,310 votes
• Matthew Plumtree – 2,677 votes
• Iain Richards – 2,635 votes
• Karlien Heyrman – 2,487 votes
• John Davies – 580 votes
• Thomas Lonsdale – 542 votes

Due to the fact that a Legislative Reform Order (LRO) that amends our governance has completed its passage through the House of Commons and House of Lords and is expected to be signed off by the relevant Minister to bring it into law, only the first three candidates (pictured above) are expected to take up their posts on Council at RCVS Day on 13 July 2018.

Eleanor Ferguson, our Registrar and the Returning Officer for the election, explains: “I would like to thank all the candidates who stood for Council this year and would like to, in particular, congratulate Susan, Mandisa and Neil for being re-elected to RCVS Council.

“The LRO that is likely to be signed off in due course will reconstitute the makeup of Council – with greater lay and veterinary nursing input – and will also reduce the overall size of Council, including the number of elected members. Because of this only the first three – as opposed to the first six under previous rules – candidates are likely to be taking up a four-year term at RCVS Day 2018. Our commiserations go out to all the unsuccessful candidates, especially in this unusual transitional year, and we thank them for their participation in this year’s election.”

The total number of veterinary surgeons who were eligible to vote in this year’s elections was 30,693 of whom 6,967 voted (2,330 by post and 4,637 online) making for an overall turnout of 22.7%. The number of votes cast in last year’s RCVS Council election was 6,785 for a turnout of 22.8%, while the number of votes cast in the 2016 election was 4,403 for a turnout of 15.6%.

All veterinary surgeons who were eligible to vote received a postal ballot paper and election booklet. Those eligible veterinary surgeons for whom the College holds email addresses were sent an election announcement email with a link to their unique voting site and three subsequent reminder emails with the same link included.

The results of the election will be formally declared at this year’s RCVS Day – our Annual General Meeting and awards ceremony – which takes place at the Royal Institute of British Architects on Friday 13 July 2018.