'RCVS Council is lacking recent graduates'
Recent graduate Peter Moore is standing for election to the RCVS Council.
RCVS and VN Council elections are due to start next week, with ballot papers being posted on March 19.
Young candidate Peter Moore is standing for election to the RCVS Council. He graduated as a veterinary surgeon in June last year, having previously studied zoology and animal disease control.
He now works as a mixed vet in Lincolnshire, with a particular interest in farm animal medicine.
Why did you decide to stand for election?
The current council has a lack of young and recent graduates. With one of the biggest topics facing the college at the moment being the number of new vet schools, recent graduates need to be on council to make it truly representative.
My second reason is that the college has changed rapidly over the past five years and now that I've finally qualified I want to be involved in further development and strengthening of its aims.
What are you hoping to achieve if you are elected to the council?
Maintaining the prestige of the veterinary profession is paramount but this must be balanced with the current pressures of connecting with the general public.
The public are often confused about what the RCVS does. Everyone is well aware of what the General Medical Council does - the college needs to work on its public perception.
What changes would you like to see in the profession?
More vets. Veterinary medicine is one of the most holistic and wide ranging degrees and professions. There are too many members complaining about more vet schools resulting in fewer jobs for new grads.
Nonsense, we need to realise that our profession is about using good science (and a little art now and again) to save lives. Getting bogged downed in internal wrangling isn't helping any animal. There is a multitude of jobs we as vets are qualified for, everyone just needs to find their niche.
Where do you see the college in five years?
We're not a supermarket and so we cannot make grand changes in short spaces of time. The college needs to maintain normality, so I hope it hasn't changed that dramatically in five years' time.
Why should our members vote for you?
Youth and enthusiasm!
How can the college connect better with the veterinary profession?
I had never met anyone from the college until the last few months of my final year. This needs to change. Veterinary students are the future of the profession and the college should be communicating with them in the first few years of their degree and keep this up throughout.
MRCVSonline will be speaking to each of the 19 candidates for RCVS Council. Voting closes at 5pm on April 25 and those elected will take their seats on the council in July.
Defra has published guidance for the vet sector ahead of a proposed UK-EU Sanitary and Phytosanitary agreement.
