New Royal Charter to acknowledge veterinary nursing as a profession

Veterinary nursing will be formally recognised as a profession when a new Royal Charter comes into effect next year, the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons (RCVS) has confirmed.

Having been approved at a meeting of the Privy Council on November 5th 2014, the charter will come into effect early next year once it has been signed by the Queen and received the Great Seal of the Realm.

It will confirm the RCVS' role as the regulator of veterinary nurses and give registered veterinary nurses the formal status of associates of the RCVS, while also underpinning many of the RCVS' other activities, such as the Practice Standards Scheme.

Enshrining veterinary nursing as a fully regulated profession will improve standards in the sector and pave the way for it to become an offence for anyone who is not suitably qualified and registered to call themselves a veterinary nurse.

Kathy Kissick, the current chair of the RCVS veterinary nursing council, said: "It makes sure that registered veterinary nurses are fully accountable for their professional conduct and are committed to lifelong learning and developing their knowledge and skills."

The RCVS was first founded in 1844 has been responsible for keeping the register of veterinary surgeons eligible to practise in the UK since the passing of the Veterinary Surgeons Act in 1966.