All Headlines >>
The RCVS has announced that its new Royal Charter, which recognises veterinary nursing as a profession, is due to come into effect early next year once it has been signed by Her Majesty the Queen and received the Great Seal of the Realm.
The Charter, which was approved at a meeting of the Privy Council on 5 November, sets out and clarifies the objects of the RCVS and modernises its regulatory functions.
The Charter will also confirm the role of the College as the regulator of veterinary nurses and give registered veterinary nurses the formal status of associates of the College.
In addition, the Charter will also underpin other activities of the College such as the Practice Standards Scheme.
One of the key changes is that those qualified veterinary nurses who are currently on the List will automatically become registered veterinary nurses. This means that they will be required to abide by the Code of Professional Conduct for Veterinary Nurses, will be held accountable for their actions through the RCVS disciplinary process and will be expected to keep their skills and knowledge up-to-date by undertaking at least 45 hours of continuing professional development (CPD) over a three-year period.
In addition, the Charter will give formal recognition for VN Council to set the standards for professional conduct and education for veterinary nurses.
Kathy Kissick RVN, the current chair of VN Council, said: “A Charter which recognises veterinary nursing as a fully regulated profession is something that many veterinary nurses, as well as the British Veterinary Nursing Association, have been wanting for some time so I commend this development.
“This can only be a good thing for the profession, the industry as a whole and animal welfare because it makes sure that registered veterinary nurses are fully accountable for their professional conduct and are committed to lifelong learning and developing their knowledge and skills.
“Furthermore, the new Royal Charter is a significant step towards attaining formal, statutory protection of title, which would make it an offence for anyone who is not suitably qualified and registered to call themselves a veterinary nurse.”
From next autumn those former listed veterinary nurses who have become registered veterinary nurses will be expected to confirm that they are undertaking CPD and will also need to disclose any criminal convictions, cautions or adverse findings when they renew their registration.
A detailed set of frequently asked questions for listed veterinary nurses who will become registered veterinary nurses once the Charter is implemented can be found at www.rcvs.org.uk/rvn.
Although the date for signing and sealing the Charter has not yet been confirmed, once it comes into effect the College will be contacting all listed veterinary nurses by letter to outline the changes as well as putting an announcement on www.rcvs.org.uk.
PS: Whilst you're here, take a moment to see our latest job opportunities for vet nurses.
If you want to comment on this story, probably best to do it in this thread in the forum: www.vetnurse.co.uk/.../27912.aspx
Hi Alison,
Please could you give a brief description of the reasons why listed nurses had decided to stay listed/will not want to become registered? As someone who supports the recent developments I'm interested in the reasons and being able to understand other's views. I can see why people who have retained a particular status through their own choice will not appreciate their options being removed, but I'd like to understand their resistance to registration. Thanks, P.
No Sal, I was aware of the story and the coverage elsewhere (which seemed in at least one case to be deliberately inflammatory), and decided I would rather wait and report when the official announcement was made.
in answer to Arlo - VN Times must have better sources then? - this was announced around November 8th.
Hi Sal, the RCVS held fire before making the official announcement because there was some uncertainty over the timing. It was thought that the Royal Charter would happen this year. It's actually happening next. They weren't able to announce officially until that was known for sure, which was last week, and I published the same day as the press release was issued.
its taken a long time for this to get into the breaking news hasn't it? - well over a month
Dear Arlo,
I know of some nursing colleagues who are Listed Nurses and have steadfastedly remained so for many years - I cannot see them being happily rail-roaded into Registered status as they definitely have their reasons for NOT wanting to do so. I would support their individual stance in this respect however I guess they have no further options but to capitulate or accept an equivalent status of a VCA or similar and lose Schedule 3 status? I think there are a lot of very experienced and qualified nurses out there that will quietly disappear. Or noisily with finger language... haha.
To the positive; you only have to read the front page of this weeks VN Times (OOH work and the Working Time Regulations) to see that if we are a recognised profession in law then this has an immediate impact on the help that VN's can access. There are other ways to tackle the issue of OOH/WTR but at the very least the Citizens Advice Bureau will be able to assist those nurses who seek help from them!
I watch developments with great interest.
What do other nurses think?!
Ali h