VN council elections - or lack of....

Re: VN council elections - or lack of....

Lizzie Lockett (RCVS CEO) — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 09:30:53 GMT

the last issue was 22 Jan. If you didn't receive that, then you may need to check the email address we hold for you. One is due this week or early next.

Cheers

Lizzie

Re: VN council elections - or lack of....

Sal the 1st — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 09:27:36 GMT

I have been signed up since last october - think I may have received one

(Have just checked - the last one I got was 14/12/09)

Re: VN council elections - or lack of....

Nick Shackleton — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 06:38:11 GMT

Cheers Lizzie, so I went and signed up for e-newsletter and it says I'm already signed up but over the last month I can't remember receiving one

Re: VN council elections - or lack of....

Jenny T — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 22:38:38 GMT

Thanks for taking the time to write that reply Lizzie, I know you are busy.

Re: VN council elections - or lack of....

Lizzie Lockett (RCVS CEO) — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 17:50:39 GMT

Hi all

Lizzie here of 'RCVS Coms' fame....

Thanks for all your suggestions - a few bits of feedback from me:

E-newsletter: yes, we do have one, visit the RCVS website to sign up (there is a field to fill in on the front page). This goes out about once a month with an update on RCVS activities, including a lot of VN stuff: www.rcvs.org.uk

RCVS News: all registered and listed VNs get RCVS News three times a year - this includes information about what VN Council is up to and also news on VN training issues (there is also a specific publication on VN training called VN Standard that goes out from the Awarding Body).

VNJ: I do a monthly column in VNJ on VN Council and Awarding Body matters - please do have a read of that. The call for election nominations was plugged in there, for example, as well as in VNT.

News: we send news releases to the VN and vet press very regularly - about three a week. These are also on our home page. If you sign-up to the e-newsletter you get them to your inbox too...

Meetings: if you want to ask questions face to face, there are a couple of options. You could come to one of our Meet the RCVS Days - these are open days at the College where a small group has a behind-the-scenes look at what we do at the College. We pay travel expenses and there is a nice lunch... In addition we have Regional Question Time meetings, which are evening meetings for VNs, vets and practice managers to ask questions of VNC and RCVS Council members. We get quite a good VN turn out but often on the feedback forms from VNs it says 'not enough VN topics covered'. I find that a bit frustrating as, because it's a question time, we can only respond to the questions asked! The next one of those is in Preston on 18 March, then after that in Berwick on 6 May. Email my colleague Lydia Meakin on l.meakin@rcvs.org.uk for more info on any of our events.

Facebook: hmm we have thought long and hard about this one. I am genuinely not sure if people want to have their social life and their professional life intertwined. Also, would having the RCVS on Facebook be like your Dad dancing at a disco (hope you know what I mean).. I would be interested in your views!

Website: yes it's hard to find stuff, I agree. The VNC minutes and papers can be reached via a shortcut: www.rcvs.org.uk/vncouncil. We are redoing the site - should be launched in autumn - which I hope will make life easier. It will hopefully include things like RSS feeds so you can sign up to get updates as they happen. We are doing some research at the moment about how to improve navigation on the site - if you would like to take part, email me at l.lockett@rcvs.org.uk

Hope that helps, happy to hear some more suggestions.

Lizzie

Re: VN council elections - or lack of....

Jenny T — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 20:50:42 GMT

Re: VN council elections - or lack of....

Caro Laithwaite VN — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 17:45:10 GMT

Thanks Jenny but no means no way but nice try

Re: VN council elections - or lack of....

Claire Cameron — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 08:22:28 GMT

[quote user="STRVN"]

[quote user="Nick Shackleton"]

E-news letter would be an idea too and on here?????

[/quote]

Yup and I think we mentioned them coming on here months ago too..... and I know we are all very busy, but this site is also very user friendly!

[/quote]

Definitely!

Re: VN council elections - or lack of....

Nick Shackleton — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 00:04:47 GMT

[quote user="STRVN"]

[quote user="Jenny T"]

I will collate all your ideas and forward them to Lizzie Lockett, Head of communications at RCVS.

[/quote]

Thankyou Jenny

[/quote]

Re: VN council elections - or lack of....

Sandra Taylor RVN, MBVNA — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 00:03:54 GMT

[quote user="Jenny T"]

I will collate all your ideas and forward them to Lizzie Lockett, Head of communications at RCVS.

[/quote]

Thankyou Jenny

Re: VN council elections - or lack of....

Jenny T — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 00:01:57 GMT

I will collate all your ideas and forward them to Lizzie Lockett, Head of communications at RCVS.

Re: VN council elections - or lack of....

Jenny T — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 23:52:25 GMT

Hi Sal,

Replied to your pm. I can certainly suggest the web meeting idea. Not sure RCVS is that technologically advanced though!!

Do keep in mind that RCVS will pay all your travel expenses to and from the meetings. They also pay your boss for loss of earnings. Your boss may be happier to let you go knowing he/she is being paid for your loss. They can then afford to pay someone else to cover your shift.

Hi Caro,

Oh go on, what is wrong with tiger amongst the lambs anyway!!

To stand for VNC you need to be registered OR listed with RCVS. You also need someone to nominate and second you.

Re: VN council elections - or lack of....

Sandra Taylor RVN, MBVNA — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 23:21:30 GMT

[quote user="Nick Shackleton"]

E-news letter would be an idea too and on here?????

[/quote]

Yup and I think we mentioned them coming on here months ago too..... and I know we are all very busy, but this site is also very user friendly!

Re: VN council elections - or lack of....

Nick Shackleton — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 23:19:33 GMT

E-news letter would be an idea too and on here?????

Re: VN council elections - or lack of....

Sandra Taylor RVN, MBVNA — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 23:18:05 GMT

[quote user="Nick Shackleton"]

[quote user="Claire BearRVN"]

[quote user="STRVN"]

I actually tried to search VN council on the RCVS website.......... and guess what?? nothing found!!! how bad is that.

I agree with most of what the others have mentioned,. I also want to say, that the only time we hear anything from or about VN council is when the elections are nearing. What is it they actually do?? I am at a loss to be honest.

[/quote]

I second Sandra on this one. I remember the previous candidates trying to gain votes on this site this time last year, I have yet see or hear anything about the VN council since that time?

[/quote]

I third it the three of us seem to have got more response in the last three days!!!!

[/quote]

I agree. Now this is not a competition, hopefully we are all on the same side here, but maybe VN council should consider getting a facebook account, we might actually know what they are up to. I know Jenny said about a more user friendly way of knowing what they are up too.... well what can be more user friendly than facebook??

Re: VN council elections - or lack of....

Nick Shackleton — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 22:51:58 GMT

[quote user="Claire BearRVN"]

[quote user="STRVN"]

I actually tried to search VN council on the RCVS website.......... and guess what?? nothing found!!! how bad is that.

[/quote]

I second Sandra on this one. I remember the previous candidates trying to gain votes on this site this time last year, I have yet see or hear anything about the VN council since that time?

[/quote]

I third it the three of us seem to have got more response in the last three days!!!!

Re: VN council elections - or lack of....

Claire Cameron — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 22:46:40 GMT

[quote user="STRVN"]

I actually tried to search VN council on the RCVS website.......... and guess what?? nothing found!!! how bad is that.

[/quote]

I second Sandra on this one. I remember the previous candidates trying to gain votes on this site this time last year, I have yet see or hear anything about the VN council since that time?

Re: VN council elections - or lack of....

Caro Laithwaite VN — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 20:03:35 GMT

Just out of interest and NO l would never contemplate it that would be like putting a tiger in a field of lambs but do you have to be an r to stand or can a mere creature who is listed stand for vn council?

Re: VN council elections - or lack of....

Sal the 1st — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 19:33:14 GMT

Thanks for the reply Jenny

one thing that would have made me more interested right from the start (and actually I was very interested already) would be making the meetings easier to attend. Not everybody drives a car and public transport in my neck of the woods is atrocious. would it be possible to maybe have webmeetings for those that are transport challenged? and also not every boss is happy to let nurses have time off for meetings (I know mine wasnt).

also sending you a pm

Re: VN council elections - or lack of....

Sandra Taylor RVN, MBVNA — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 19:28:19 GMT

I understand that VN council have no authority in protection of the title, but they are as far as I am aware there to listen to what VN's are saying. Now to the way we are trained.. all these new ways that are coming to pass, I dont think we were consulted, well we were in meetings etc, but we were not listened too. Barely anyone is looking forward to the new way, and the majority think it is all wrong. So I can understand that no one really cares about VN council, because I think we feel like we are not listened to anyway. That is just my opinion, but I believe a lot probably think the same.

It is a shame, I always vote in the elections, and last year having the candidates on here was a brilliant idea, but, as I pointed out before, you never hear anything from VN council until election time, so how do you expect candidates, or voters to take an interest in something they know nothing about , and have great difficulty in finding anythinhg about them. (see my post re searching RCVS web site for VN council).

Re: VN council elections - or lack of....

Jenny T — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 18:53:09 GMT

I have to say Emma, that was very well put.

I am a member of VN council (thank you to all those on this site who voted for me!).

Unfortunately we do not have the authority to do things like protect the veterinary nurse title (for the reasons given by Emma) even though we would obviously love to do so. Instead we have to try and make headway in other ways. So, for example, because of the input from nurses, practices in the Practice Standards Scheme will not be able to term unqualified staff "veterinary nurses", eg on name badges.

Regarding the election, I am so disappointed that there were only 2 candidates. There are many nurses on this site who would be just fantastic at VNC. You just need to care about the profession and be prepared to speak up and let council know your views. If anyone is interested in standing for election but is worried about exactly how the meetings are conducted etc then you can attend as an observer. Just contact Annette Amato at RCVS. You can also e-mail me if you want more information. I'd be happy to meet up with anyone at a VNC meeting who was attending as an observer so you didn't feel on your own!

At the last council meeting, due to the low number of VNC candidates, a number of ideas were put forward for how to make VNC more open and accessible. The minutes of all meetings are now published on the RCVS web-site. The site can be somewhat challenging to find VNC details on, but a new web-site is on its way and hopefully this will help. Various suggestions for articles in the veterinary press were also discussed.

If there is anything in particular which you think would help with accessibility and would encourage you to stand for election then please let me know and I will pass your ideas on to the relevant people.

Jenny T

Re: VN council elections - or lack of....

Sandra Taylor RVN, MBVNA — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 13:49:27 GMT

Well maybe if more vets get involved in the protection of the title, they will get the changes they want too in the act... Actually cant I ask why a change in the Vet Surgeons Act? we are not vets, yes I know we get a mere mention on the schedule 3 part . Cant we have our own act, why do we have to hang onto their coat tails. RCVS want us to be a profession, surely that entitles us to seek out our own act..., after all they are not going to do it for us.In fact it seems no one is, so we only have ourselves to rely on.

Re: VN council elections - or lack of....

Emma Cooper — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 13:32:18 GMT

Hi guys,

Well, my understanding is that council deals with the regulation of RVNs - they are limited in what they can do given that vet nursing is not recognised legally as a profession (and I agree, Nick's petition is a great idea here - but I think it is going to require a reform of the Vet Surgeons Act...) - but they can pass decisions on how VNs are trained, the kind of guidance they recieve, funding etc...

Anyone is welcome to go to a VN council meeting, and the college does put the minutes up on the website - but they don't make a huge deal of it and like people have said, info is difficult to find! - it seems there is definitely scope for them to do more to show people what council actually does and when it is sitting etc...

It seems a real shame that people aren't getting involved though...

Re: VN council elections - or lack of....

clarolux — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 11:43:25 GMT

I feel that as a member of the profession I know very little about N council and what they do. There is never any mention of when meetings are to take place and in particular with the recent changes to the VN qualification VN council have not stated what their involvement is in this process and what they are pushing for. I personally feel that if the process was more transparent and minutes of meetings etc were released to the professio then we would take a more active interest as we can clearly see when and where they are fighting our corner.

Re: VN council elections - or lack of....

Maisy — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 10:12:34 GMT

[quote user="mrs mac"]

Going to be honest I dont know much if anything about the V.N council. Couldnt even tell you what its function is.

[/quote]

I'd agree with Mrs Mac. Strange that there were so little candidates this year as previously there are normally several. I know more about what BVNA council does, would be good to have someone from VN council on this site to keep us updated periodically.