Re: BVU RESPONSE TO RCVS CONSULTAION ON SPECIALISATION IN VETERINARY PROFESSION

Hannah Wynne Richards — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 14:41:24 GMT

I'm totally with Robert on this one

Wynne

Re: BVU RESPONSE TO RCVS CONSULTAION ON SPECIALISATION IN VETERINARY PROFESSION

Robert Lowe — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 14:22:44 GMT

I have read your response to the RCVS in full

I am frankly amazed at some of the insinuation contained within your document.

If you send me a document in response to a consultation and implied that I was just doing this for the money the first thing I am going to do is throw it in the bin.

To pick up on the details (your document is quoted in italics)

The more serious aspect to this issue is the fact that, the proposals try to effectively abrogate the existing 2,399 Certificate holders, and those that will follow in the future, of their right to a status of expertise enshrined in the Certificate, keeping in view the relevant RCVS descriptor which states that: “A Certificate indicates that the holder is a competent clinician who has proved their experience and expertise by examination in their chosen subject.”

In the real world of veterinary practice, vets rightly refer patients to colleagues with the RCVS recognised “expertise” as Certificate holders, from which countless animals and their owners have continued to benefit since the introduction of the Certificates especially because of them being easily accessible and their services being more affordable especially for uninsured patients.

These paragraphs are particularly unbelievable - you point out the RCVS's recognition of certificate holders as experts in their subject. This statement does no such thing. It recognises that cert holders are competent clinicians in their field and no more. Their experience and expertise is as a competent clinician not as an expert.

You claim without any evidence of backup that certificate holders are more affordable. There is no survey I am aware of that shows this to be the case.

The strengthening to this (middle) tier would primarily involve conferring a right to provide expert advice - the first level referral work, in well defined professional fields, for example, cardiology, diagnostic imaging or orthopaedics etc. Without this, it is hard to imagine what incentive there would be for someone to go through the rigours of obtaining a Certificate.

Incentives to do the cert are not just about doing referral work. It is a good way to do formal CPD, it allows the development of an interest and gives an obvious indication of the ability to continue professional development. I signed up for my cert in general practice without thinking about doing referral work.

We also recommend that the qualification and re-validation of the middle tier should not involve research as it will prevent clinicians in general practice to ever achieve the qualifications required for the middle tier.

Absolute horseshit. This is beyond worth replying to

The FRCVS section is something I wholeheartedly agree with

Whilst it is understandable that the vets aspiring to become specialists will need to go through a cascade of steps starting from the Professional Development phase through to Certificate qualification to the Diploma and eventual recognition as a specialist and then maintain the status of their expertise at certificate or diploma levels, it is important that the system is structured in such a way that vets working in general practice, outside academic institutions and referral practices, should have the opportunities to pursue a specialist career.

You can do a Diploma in general practice if you want to. But why do you have to have the right to a specialist career in general practice? If you want to do it in the recognised way, give up the day job and slog it out through the system like the majority of specialists have.

And as for your ranking of referral work - who decides what is first and second rank. i.e. oh that cataract is a bit tricky because the cornea has a small mark on it, we had better make that a second rank of referral surgery.

You had a great opportunity to put the case for the cert holder. Your attitude and bitterness come clearly through the document and waste that opportunity.