Dr Gerard Henry

BVMS MRCVS

Candidate 8 of 20

Proposers: John Ferguson, Dr Tony Page

Contact details 

Address 80b North Street, Leslie, Glenrothes, Fife KY6 3DN

T 01592 748 522

M 07729 823 054

E [email protected]

W https://notmycollege.blogspot.com

Candidate biography

I graduated from Glasgow University in 1979. From there I went straight into the Army, first to Germany and then to the Kings Troop RHA in London as the Veterinary Officer. A year in Newmarket, several years in Northumberland and then 9 years with MAFF as an SVO. In 1995 I opened my first practice, in 2004 my second and in 2013 my third. I retired from full time practice in 2018 and was very pleased to be able to sell to an independent practitioner. I still practice part-time two mornings a week. I have two daughters, one works for a homeless charity in Fife, one is an Army Officer. My interests include motor racing and writing military history.

Candidate statement 

Why do you want to stand to be a member of RCVS Council?

In recent years the College has become too big, too remote, and too self-absorbed. Hardly a week passes without some new project or initiative, or a further addition to the already substantial workforce. The College needs pruning and the sooner the better. The question is what and where to prune.

Calls from the RCVS to replace an elected Council with an appointed one because ‘it’s the norm,’ sits uneasily alongside our unique Royal College that regulates. I believe it is time to end this anomaly and transfer all disciplinary matters to a separate, independently constituted body, a GVC if you will. I believe anyone who has had the misfortune to become caught up in the College’s disciplinary process will have thought it poorly conducted and glacially slow. Removing discipline from the College remit and giving it to a completely separate body would improve the process. It would also allow the College more bandwidth to address the real problems faced by the profession today; the crisis in frontline morale, recruitment and retention.

What do you think you can bring to RCVS Council?

Considerable, diverse experience of the profession over a period of 46 years. First in the Army in sole charge of 120 gun horses and chargers, then in the State Veterinary Service during the worst of the BSE outbreak, and finally in general practice as an assistant and later a principal. I have a robust attitude to life, I am not afraid of responsibility nor will I be bullied. The College needs a radical shake up, I am more than happy to contribute.

What relevant experience do you have?

It depends on what is meant by ‘relevant.’ I have never served on a committee in my life nor do I know a great deal (anything) about the inner working of the RCVS. Skills are transferrable however, and in addition to a varied and demanding professional career I have been a director of a retail fashion business (!) an award winning inventor of farm machinery, and a published author. I place a high value on originality and inventiveness. If the College is to contribute in any meaningful way to the recovery of our stricken profession and not simply virtue signal, it needs people who are prepared to accept responsibility, think creatively and innovate. I think my life experience so far has prepared me for this.

Is there anything else you would like to add in support of your candidacy?

In January 2024 the RCVS stated its intention to scrap Council elections and move to an appointments based system, thereby disenfranchising us – the membership, and freeing them – the College, from the last constraints of democratic accountability.

Before this can take place however, the outdated 1966 Veterinary Surgeons Act must be replaced. It is vital that the Veterinary Surgeons Act which replaces it, establishes a Council composed entirely of members of the profession with a bias towards the practicing profession who know at first hand the challenges that face the modern practitioner.

In last year’s Council elections, April 2024, a majority of votes cast were for candidates who rejected the appointments system. In June the same year the RCVS published, ‘An Introduction to our Good Governance Consultation.’ A reasonable person might imagine an election held two months previously would be indicative of a view on the appointments system, but no. There was no mention at all of the April election result in the consultation, nor of what I believe is the profession’s widespread unease at the prospect of disenfranchisement. Clearly we need to send them the message again. It’s your vote, use it or lose it – forever.