Nick Stace, CEO of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons (RCVS), has issued a swift and robust response to the call by Unite for a shake up for the profession's regulatory system.
"Unite's suggestion that veterinary regulation should be under the scrutiny of the Professional Standards Authority (PSA) is misguided, because the PSA is there to oversee regulation in the human healthcare sector and the RCVS already has Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) and Privy Council oversight.
"Its further thoughts around the RCVS disciplinary process are out of date and missing the point. We would be very happy to help put them right and to hear any legitimate concerns they may have.
"Unite is calling for the College to no longer 'set the rules and hand down judgments', when in fact last year we successfully achieved a Legislative Reform Order, backed by the profession, to ensure that our Disciplinary and Preliminary Investigation Committees will become independent from Council.
"Unite also talks about the profession's disquiet about last year's Disciplinary Hearing into Mr Chikosi, something we are well aware of and are currently responding to by looking at the biggest area of concern, the provision of 24/7 emergency cover. Our fact-finding mission is seeking views from the profession and the public.
"More broadly, though, feedback from our First Rate Regulator initiative has shown that the profession does have confidence in our disciplinary procedures and that they are certainly not subject to 'long-standing discontent'.
"The First Rate Regulator initiative is also leading to significant improvements in the way that complaints are handled, including speed to resolution.
"Unite is seeking to recruit members of the veterinary team as members of its union and it may be more successful in that pursuit if it was to start to understand the profession better, perhaps beginning with getting its facts right.
"We would be delighted to meet with Unite to put them right where they are factually wrong, and hear what they have to say."
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The BVU / Unite's response to this response ...
The British Veterinary Union (BVU) in Unite, in keeping with the ethos of any union, was set up by members of the veterinary profession to support members of the veterinary profession. The organising professional committee consists of practicing vets and veterinary nurses who are well placed to understand the profession.
BVU/Unite would welcome the opportunity to meet with Mr Stace to discuss our proposal further and in particular would be interested to hear about the current overview and scrutiny provided by Defra and the Privy Council as the process for and outcomes of this are not identified on the RCVS website. In particular we would welcome information on how concerns about decisions made by the disciplinary committee are currently independently reviewed.
We consider that the decision by the RCVS Disciplinary Committee on Mr Chikosi’s case illustrates why there needs to be an organisation such as the PSA who can independently review disciplinary decisions. We are of course aware that the PSA’s current remit is around the human healthcare sector, their role being to;
review the performance of the regulators on an annual basis. Identify where things are being done well, and where improvements can be made.
review all final decisions made by those fitness to practice committees.
carry out an audit of the initial stages of regulators’ fitness to practice processes, looking at a sample of the decisions made by each regulator to close a case without referral to a formal hearing in front of a fitness to practice committee.
Their role therefore is to ensure that the regulators’ decision-making processes are fair and effective and the decisions taken protect the interests of service users and the public. For these reasons we consider that extending their role could support the RCVS in its vision of becoming a First Rate regulator in line with the principles of ‘Right Touch’ regulation.