Richard Stephenson
1) The McKelvey report identified serious deficiencies at the RCVS that are not satisfactory for a professional body. What would you change?
The first change has already been made – the introduction of an Audit and Risk Committee. However, in my view, new committees on their own will do very little to prevent the type of overspend we have seen; only a change in culture will do that. The College and members of Council will have to be prepared to adopt a mind-set that welcomes being questioned and challenged – not easy since most of us, myself included, do not like criticism. In the past, members of council who have publicly criticised the RCVS have often found themselves under attack rather than being praised for doing their job properly.
I am concerned that the reaction to the two overspends could result in a ‘no risk’ College organisation that does nothing. When decisions are made and policies pushed forward there is always a possibility that things will go wrong – but that should never be an excuse for indolence. We also must ensure that, post-McKelvey, we do not end up with a vastly complex committee structure with a huge administrative overhead. The Audit & Risk Committee will cost ￡58,000 in its first year , but will it identify ￡58,000 of avoidable risk? I very much doubt it. We will need to review its work after three to four years and check that it is cost effective.
Furthermore, I strongly believe we need to make the central committees of Council smaller (the Education Committee has 18 members, plus a further 10 in attendance, giving it 28 members overall) so that they can be more effective and cost less to run.
So the task for the newly elected will be to rein back the desire to have an ever more complex administration, to back cost cutting measures in terms of the size of Council, and insist on democratic control by council of the appointments to committees.
2) The RCVS has been accused of being disconnected from its members. What do you think can be done to improve this?
First I’ll state what I have done during my first four-year term. As well as contributing over 100 postings to veterinary discussion forums such as vetsurgeon.org, I have played an active role on the SPVS, MRCVS and EVG discussion forums.
In addition I publish my notes from each Council meeting, which often appear in Veterinary Practice magazine. As far as I know I am the only member of Council who has ever done that!
Furthermore, I have written discussion articles for the veterinary press on controversial subjects such as 24/7 cover, and a new VSA meeting the issues head on and suggesting solutions. All these help raise awareness of Council and its activities.
I believe that the Council needs to adopt some of the more modern communication tools whilst remembering that our role is to Educate, Regulate and Register. To some extent that is not very exciting and the role does require some gravitas – so I’m not entirely convinced that tweeting etc is right for the RCVS – but I would like to see the 'Meet the RCVS' days and regional meetings augmented by RCVS Webinars with the extra enticement of a CPD certificate for those who join in.
The RCVS communications department produces award winning material and we have to remember that you can lead a horse to water but you cannot make it drink. We need to remember that the RCVS does not just need to communicate with its members – we have a message for the public as well, largely a good news story about the high quality of veterinary care in the UK. Surveys have shown that the public do not want to know much about us, but they do want to know that we are there if they need us.
The RCVS also needs to communicate effectively with government and MPs and to that end I support the current initiatives to hold parliamentary dinners and functions, such as the VN 50 year celebration in the House of Commons.
3) How would you restore trust in the RCVS, if elected?
How would I restore trust in the RCVS? I would:
(1) Try to make well informed CONSISTENT decisions at every level (not easy).
(2) Be prepared not only to consult (we are good at that) but also to listen to the results of consultation (I’m not convinced we are as good at that) and change policy as a result.
(3) Keep the retention fee fixed for the next two years, even if that requires using some of the reserves. We should not ask our members to contribute more when we have lost money on two projects.
(4) Be open – make sure every document that possibly can be is in the public domain. I still think some papers (such as the draft accounts) are marked confidential when they contain nothing that actually is confidential!
(5) Be prepared to say SORRY when we get things wrong and do it promptly. I believe that our members live in the real world and appreciate that even with the best will in the world all organisations, even the best run, make mistakes from time to time. There is no shame in admitting error as long as one puts in place systems to prevent repetition. As clinicians we all get our treatments wrong from time to time (if we are honest) and the RCVS urges us to be open with our clients when we do – likewise the College needs to be straight about when we ‘cock up’.
I’m not suggesting that these are unique or new ideas – indeed the College strives to do most of the above already but we need to keep plugging away. Despite the overspends we should remember that our retention fee is WELL BELOW average for comparable profession (especially as we are also a Royal College as well as the regulator).
4) How can the RCVA become more transparent in the future and what part would you play in this?
I think I’ve covered this in my answers above.
5) After closing its VN awarding body, the RCVS introduced a significant “regulatory fee” for student nurses, which has been viewed by some as grossly unfair. What is your opinion?
This is a matter for VN Council as I’m standing for RCVS Council I’m not sure that it is appropriate for me to comment. IF we want nurses to start making decisions for themselves as a new emerging profession should, then we must also accept that they may make mistakes (as I think may be happening here) but RCVS Council should be slow to interfere with VN Council policy.
6) In the current climate of de-regulation and reducing costs, what cuts would you advise in RCVS expenditure and activities?
I have mentioned one area above – making the standing RCVS committees smaller. We took one step forward last year by abolishing the Public Affairs Committee which was very large and did very little. No one has missed it yet! We are appointing a new CEO and I would give him/her some latitude in reorganising Belgravia House. Hopefully a new broom will want to create a more streamlined organisation.
One of the things I have done whilst being on Council is to form a back bench committee of practitioner Council members. This has been very unpopular with some of the old timers but I strongly believe that we have much to offer the RCVS in terms of our experience of running our own businesses, some of which are as large as the RCVS (indeed bigger). Thus if re-elected I will be pressing the Council Members Practitioners Group to continue to offer supportive Advice to our Officer team.
Further Information
I would like to expand further on the Audit and risk committee to amplify the remarks I am quoted as making (correctly) in the Vet Times regarding the constitution of this Committee which I feel to be wrong.
The proposal tabled was to have two outside members with expertise in the field of Audit & Risk and three Council members with specific knowledge of how the RCVS operates. This is what I supported, and still do for the following reasons:-
The proposal was carefully researched and is in line with what most, if not all, similar organisations do. It is usually a good indication (but not determinative) that you are on the right lines when all the other major regulators do the same . Professor Maskell (who generally doesn't see a role for elected members on Council) proposed an Audit & Risk dominated by 'independents' with no knowledge of how the Council operates. In my view a 'gift' to any executive.
My points are these:-
(1) We are elected to be that independent Audit and Scrutiny of the RCVS.
(2) The PC appoints 4 'outsiders' to check we are doing it.
(3) The Universities appoint 14 members to be independent.
That is what the LAW requires. Also, if we are incapable of exercising that role then we should all resign and give up. I certainly agree that specialist expertise may sometimes need to be brought in when Council doesn't have it - hence two outside members. Interestingly it was the two long time members of Council on the Planning & Resources Committee, Bertie Ellis and Barry Johnson, who were the first to spot the emerging problem with the overspends - not the lay members, not the University appointees, not the specialists - just two good old fashioned elected members. We shouldn't give unlimited credit to them but no independent outsider would ever have spotted what Ellis and Johnson did.
This Committee is going to cost ￡58,000 per year. I want it to be EFFECTIVE. To be effective the members need to know what questions to ask and to whom. They also need to be able to judge if the answers are correct. On Council we have some members who are brilliant at just that - Bob Partridge would be an example of someone who relentlessly nibbles like a terrier at the ankles of officialdom. As a result he is not popular, but he would be an ideal person for an Audit and Risk committee.
My concern is that, having structured the Audit & Risk Committee in the way we have, we won't have room for the likes of Bob Partridge and instead we will have a dreadfully polite and nice Audit & Risk Committee, and all that will do is spend ￡58,000 per year with no cost benefit at all. As Richard Davies and Judith Webb (an expert in A & R who is a PC member of RCVS Council) made it clear - you need to have knowledge of the organisation to do R & A properly. You cannot know what you don't know!
Finally the point has been missed that we already have an independent GOVERNANCE REVIEW GROUP which is standard in industry. I think members of Council are confusing A & R with Governance. The A & R Committee should be looking at every aspect of college activity constantly. To do that you need to be to some extent on the inside. In any event, to do the job properly the members of the A & R Committee will become insiders in time.
We have given too much importance to making the new A & R Committee look independent and too little thought to will it be able to do the job. I want value for my money, not expensive bottoms on chairs that don't do anything.
Nevertheless I lost the argument and, like a good democrat, I accept the result even if it is wrong.
Biography
I have worked in Lichfield ever since graduating from Glasgow in 1987. Although I have only ever worked in one practice, that practice has changed beyond all recognition. For my first decade it was very much a mixed job: I might spend the mornings doing herd visits and the afternoons carrying out equine work such as prepurchase examinations, followed by coming in to do a massive ‘open surgery’ at one of the branch clinics. They were very long hours and it was hard work being on call on just less than a one in two weekends, but it gave me a vast experience of veterinary work. In 1991 I obtained the RCVS certificate in Veterinary Radiology and in 2001 the certificate in Equine practice.
The 2001 Foot and Mouth disease epidemic had a profound effect on our practice, with most of the smaller farmers being affected and subsequently retiring from farming. Sadly we decided to end our farm practice and concentrate on equine and small animal practice. That enabled us to open a dedicated equine clinic in 2006 and to commission a new purpose built SA Hospital in 2010. My equine interests extend to being Veterinary officer to two of the leading racecourses in the Midlands – Uttoxeter and Wolverhampton – and adopting my own rather elderly horse, ‘Harold,’ from the Blue Cross.
Outside the veterinary practice I have always taken a close interest in farriery, being an examiner for the Worshipful Company and a member of their examinations board. I was honoured to be made a Liveryman of the WCF and Freeman of the City of London in 2008.
Locally I have been on the Committee of the Staffs and Derby vet club for more years than I care to remember and have a peripheral interest in local politics, being treasurer of the local branch of the Conservative party. I also serve as a steward of Lichfield Cathedral which can be quite relaxing after all the Veterinary Politics!
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MRCVS.co.uk would like to thank Richard for providing this information and we wish him every success in the election.
Birmingham Dogs Home has issued an urgent winter appeal as it faces more challenges over the Christmas period.
