Page 31 - Eclipse - Autumn 2015

Movers and shakers
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Professor Stuart Reid - A year as RCVS president
The last 12 months have been unique in a very special way for me; to be leading one of the best and most diverse veterinary schools in the world is something of which
I will never tire but this year the additional privilege of being elected President of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons (RCVS) brought a different set of responsibilities and opportunities, not only for me but also for those with whom I work most closely at the RVC.
Those familiar with the profession
or the veterinary press will be aware that the role of President at the helm of the regulator is as a gurehead, working with an excellent executive team, led by the remarkable Nick Stace, and a committed Council. It does, however, also provide some opportunity for advancing ideas which may, or may not, be taken up by Council for action. This year, besides remaining committed to the several initiatives that were ongoing, like
the Mind Matters project, I set out
to address three additional issues: The potential use of the courtesy
title “Doctor” by vets in the UK, in common with the overwhelming majority of vets around the world; second, the need to reach out and do more with our international diaspora and the global veterinary community; and third the need to review and modernise the governance structures at RCVS.
I am pleased to say that for all of these, Council was hugely supportive and as a consequence I think we have made a signi cant difference
to the way we do our business as
a Royal College that regulates.
The consultation on the “Dr” title evoked the largest response in the profession’s history and the proposal was supported by an overwhelming majority of the profession and
public; the engagement with the MsRCVS overseas, in Hong Kong and Sydney, con rmed that they remained members because it spoke of a standard; and the governance review is currently underway with Defra going to consultation sometime this Autumn. Besides these three initiatives we also managed to
add, with our friends at the British
Veterinary Association, a wide-ranging “futures” exercise, looking to 2030 and what society can expect and demand
of the profession. This was and is a tremendously exciting project and it took us right around the UK meeting and taking views from vets and veterinary nurses from Exeter to Edinburgh, Dundee to Guildford, Belfast to Swansea and Cambridge to Carlisle. Add to all that 1100 followers on Twitter and three weeks that involved sleeping in ve different beds and you get some idea of what a busy but enjoyable year it turned out to be.
From an RVC perspective of course,
it meant that for 109 days made up of half days, whole days, evenings and weekends, as the of ce demanded, I have been dependent on the support
of several people to ensure that the committees have been chaired and the duties covered. To these colleagues I am immensely grateful. That the RVC has provided so many Presidents of
the RCVS is no surprise given our age but analysis of the history books shows that over the last 160 years of so,
nearly half have been provided by our organisation either as graduates or staff. Furthermore, by my reckoning 8 or 9 of my predecessors as Principal have been President and at least four of them have done the two jobs concurrently. There is nothing new under the sun.
I am often asked to speak about the high points and the low points of the presidential year. To deal with the down
side, there is no doubt that one ends up as the target for those who wish to complain about the RCVS – it comes with the territory. The real sadness is that, often, the complaints are from members of the profession who, for whatever reason, think that RCVS is out to get them or is an irrelevance. Neither could be further from the truth but the matters that are raised and the way in which it is done take up an inordinate and disproportionate amount of time, taking the RCVS staff away from their already very full day jobs. As I say, it comes with the territory.
However, and without doubt, any downsides are more than compensated for by the plus points. The dealing with Defra at the highest level, the interaction with other organisations working for
the profession, the day to day with the folks at Belgravia House will all remain rewarding and positive experiences.
The London Marathon in April was a combination of highs and lows; the latter, the misery of running in the rain around London having not done enough training; the former, the humbling support I received from so, so many as we raised £14,000 for mental health issues within the profession.
Yet above all that – and it is a privilege we already have in academia, is
the attendance at the graduation ceremonies and as President, the admission of vets and veterinary nurses. They are such happy days, the different avours and ceremonies at the UK’s universities will stay with me for years to come. My Presidency was unique in that I did not do, as other Presidents do, all the vet schools. For me, it was important that at the RVC, my main commitment, my most important role,
is that of Principal and so I was more than happy to stand aside and have my predecessor Colonel Neil Smith (RVC 1989) to return to don the presidential gear and do the honours.
And now that it is over, I will tidy up the loose ends and re ect on what was an enormous privilege. I only am sorry my Dad, who was a vet, was not around to see it – I hope he would be pleased, probably surprised and certainly amused.