Getting to know Ed Gillams
Despite being one of the younger candidates standing for RCVS Council 2012, Ed has already accumulated a great deal of experience, having worked initially in a mixed practice before joining the Southampton branch of the RSPCA as senior vet.
Last year, he founded his own company and works predominantly as a locum in small and mixed practice, with his main interests lying in canine arthritis and chronic pain management.
A graduate of the University of Bristol, Ed has retained relations and was last year elected to be a convocation representative to the Court of the University.
MRCVS.co.uk asked Ed about current issues at the RCVS and what he hopes to achieve should he be elected. His answers are outlined below:
1. The McKelvey report identified serious deficiencies at the RCVS that are not satisfactory for a professional body. What would you change?
2. The RCVS has been accused of being disconnected from its members. What do you think can be done to improve this?
3. How would you restore trust in the RCVS, if elected?
4. How can the RCVS become more transparent in the future and what part would you play in this?
- I believe all resolve around one issue, namely that once elected the councillors by and large represent their own views and interests rather than those of the profession.
- If the 24 elected Council members can harness this wisdom we could have a better represented, regulated and governed profesion.
- RCVS councillors should not take on the role because they can spare a couple of days a year to RCVS; they should be prepared to make the effort and to put in the time to ensure that they speak with the voice of the profession.
- This means engaging with the profession at every level, not just through meet the college days, but via email, forums, Vet Times, at conferences and congresses.
- We are a self regulating profession, not a profession regulated by the elite for the elite
- On other forums it has been suggested that it is wrong for RCVS council to spend our fees canvassing the profession and I could not agree more, but it is right that our representatives should spend their time canvassing the profession.
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?
- All regulation has a cost, and therefore anyone who is regulated unfortunately must pay that cost.
- However it is unfair and unacceptable if anyone is forced to pay more for regulation than the regulation needs to cost, and it is wrong if the regulation produces red tape for red tape’s sake.
- There has been a case made that the new 'regulatory fee' is at an 'acceptable' level as it represents similar costs to those faced through previous schemes but this is missing the point.
6. In the current climate of de-regulation and reducing costs, what cuts would you advise in RCVS expenditure and activities?
- From outside the College looking in, it is harder to see what needs to be done in the future than to see what has been done poorly to date, for example, a re-branding exercise.
- I understand that there is no such thing as RCVS’s money. There is only member's money, and unless I am confident that the members would chose to have their money spent on a re-branding exercise or similar, I pledge that I will not be voting for YOUR money to be spent.
His manifesto can be viewed here.
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Please note: We have a number of other candidate interviews to be published shortly, so you may wish to read these before voting.
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