Dr Richard Stephenson previously served for eight years on RCVS Council until 2016.

An interview with RCVS Council member, Dr Richard Stephenson.

This week we are sharing interviews with the new and re-elected RCVS and VN Council candidates. Here we speak to the newly-elected RCVS Council member Richard Stephenson about the current issues affecting the RCVS and what he hopes to achieve during his time on Council.

Dr Stephenson has amassed more than 30 years' experience in clinical practice and is currently a clinical director of Pool House Equine Clinic. He previously served for eight years on RCVS Council until 2016 and has also been a member of its main statutory committees, including the preliminary investigation committee and the disciplinary committee.

Why did you decide to stand for election?

I very strongly believe that the voice of the vet who works in clinical practice needs to be heard at the RCVS. Indeed I think all RCVS policies should have supporting clinical practice at their core.

As Council has been reduced in size, with an increased proportion of appointed lay members, I have been dismayed at how few active practitioners there are on Council. Indeed, had I had not stood this year, there was a possibility of there being even fewer working vets with Chris Barker retiring - and of course I am the only one of the three elected members who actually is in practice.

Having been a member of Council in the past I now appreciate that having four years out of veterinary politics helps give you a much broader perspective. After eight years on Council, it gets very difficult not to start ‘going native’ and I think I can go back both with experience of how Council operates and with the benefit of being able to look at things with a fresh pair of eyes. When I have attended CPD meetings etc. and talked to colleagues from all over the UK, I have been surprised and horrified at the almost visceral level of hatred of the RCVS expressed by so many members - usually as a result of a complaint against them having taken months sometimes years to be resolved, which brings me to my next point...

My considerable experience of the RCVS disciplinary processes having served as a PIC member and having sat on the DC is very lacking in the current Council - whose members perhaps do not fully appreciate the significance of issues like the standard of proof. I hope that I can contribute the views of someone who has worked for years within the system to expose its failings whilst praising its achievements (which are many).

I couldn’t fault the dedication and hard work of the team at Belgravia House - however, the retreat into secretiveness and refusal to openly debate issues seen in the last four years (Standard of Proof, Under Care and Estate Policy for example) is doing untold damage to the College’s reputation.

What are you hoping to achieve during your time on Council?

Firstly, the Council needs to return to being an open and transparent organisation as it was last time I was a member. We really need to believe in and apply the Nolan principles of public life - this should be central to the whole life and operation of the College. Virtually all policy discussion is currently considered ‘confidential’ meaning that members and the wider public are unable to know what options were on the table if their viewpoint was considered, and the full reasons why decisions are made.

The President has recently talked about the need for Council to have a ‘safe place to do blue-sky thinking’. I would argue that Council should rather seek to be open and welcome robust and forthright challenge so that correct decisions can be made. Safe places and blue skies often equate to Ivory towers and unrealistic solutions.

Secondly, Council needs to ensure it is ‘first-rate’ at what it already does before further expanding its role, one of the core functions given to the RCVS by the 1966 VSA is investigating complaints of serious misconduct that are made against vets. Council needs to direct its full attention to making the RCVS complaints system work efficiently and fairly. Regularly missing KPIs should not be tolerated in any organisation - let alone one aiming for excellence and certainly not in an area which impacts so heavily on the mental health of practising veterinarians.

Thirdly, the review of ‘under care’ is of crucial importance. Council needs to ensure that the outcome strongly supports locally provided veterinary services. The public interest in this is obvious. If your dog is hit by a car or your horse has colic you need an accessible LOCAL vet, not internet service. Therefore it is of paramount public interest that the ‘under care’ debate is entirely focused on how the College can maintain the wonderful 24/7 care for animals that is currently universal throughout the UK. 24/7 care comes at a tremendous cost to the well being of front line practitioners who willingly turn out to prevent animals from suffering - the RCVS needs to be supporting these hard-working vets - not undermining them.

What changes would you like to see within the College and the wider profession?

In recent years - mainly due to the impetus given by former CEO Nick State - the RCVS has almost become a consumer body - putting the interest of ‘consumers’ first. To me, this confuses acting in the public interest (which is the role of the college) with supporting individual consumers and being anti ‘protectionist’.

The true public interest often clashes with the short term interests of consumers. Good (first-rate) regulators appreciate that maintaining a strong, well funded, enthused profession is their primary role - without that no other objective can be readily achieved. For example, it may suit the public short term to have access to online veterinary diagnostics and dispensing, but long term it could be devastating to the welfare of animals if it damages the sustainability of local veterinary practice.

The College needs to be more welcoming of criticism and challenge. The wider profession already does a brilliant job - we do need to explore the gender imbalance and why veterinary practice has ceased to be attractive as a career to men.

Where do you see the veterinary profession a decade from now?

Inevitably the trend to corporate ownership of practices will advance - but there will always be a role for independents too. I imagine that the COVID-19 shock will push many smaller practices to seek the relative safety of belonging to a larger group. Vets are the most incredibly resilient and robust people who generally come through whatever challenge the world throws at them.

I remember the Foot-and-Mouth crisis that was going to be the end of rural practice - within months we had bounced back. Yes, we will have a difficult couple of years but in ten years, I see a profession where technology will have made possible treatments for animals that are only available in the most advanced human facilities today.

We will also need to be practising in an environmentally friendly way - perhaps the RCVS PSS will have a ‘green’ module for carbon-neutral practices?

What do you feel the College can do to help better support its members?

Where to start? I’m pessimistic that the RCVS has the necessary flexibility and vision to ‘do what it takes’ to get the profession back on its feet after COVID-19 is finally beaten. I suspect that the RCVS might even argue it doesn’t have a role to play. In my opinion, the public interest demands action to support the practice by the regulator. I’m really concerned about the prospects for new graduates this year - will they find jobs quickly? It is so easy at that embryonic stage of their careers to become deskilled and we mustn’t allow these young people to languish.

The RCVS has an enormous reserve  just for this kind of emergency. I would really like to see an imaginative plan to sponsor internships and residencies throughout practice perhaps coordinating partnerships between Universities, College and Practice. Wouldn’t that be a wonderful legacy and a fantastic way to rebuild that all-important relationship with the profession that is currently at such a low ebb?

The RCVS needs to switch its focus from its property needs to its people needs - money invested in our members today will bring dividends for generations to come. Does the RCVS have the courage and will not to be a first-rate regulator but a GREAT regulator?