Student veterinary surgeon support for and knowledge of veterinary nursing professional regulation in the UK

In recent years many advances have been made by the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons (RCVS) in respect of the developing profession of veterinary nurses (VNs). This includes the introduction of a non-statutory register of VNs in 2007 and the development of the first edition of the Code of Professional Conduct for Veterinary Nurses (RCVS, 2012a). The register introduced compulsory continuing professional development and from April 2011, disciplinary procedures for registered VNs. Ultimately the goal of those driving the changes in the profession is to achieve statutory regulation for VNs; this would involve the protection of the title ‘Veterinary Nurse’ under law, ensuring that only qualified individuals registered with the RCVS could work under this title (Branscombe, 2011).

In October 2011 an e-petition was launched to bring the subject to the attention of Parliament (HM Government, 2012a). Branscombe (2011), on behalf of the British Veterinary Nursing Association (BVNA), urged members of the veterinary and veterinary nursing profession (VNP) to sign the petition and encourage colleagues to do the same. When the petition closed in October 2012, just over 2500 signatures had been gathered. With 100 000 signatures needed for the issue to be discussed in the House of Commons (HM Government, 2012b), the petition did not achieve its goal. This literature review aims to discuss why the statutory regulation of VNs is important to the veterinary profession and identify the reasons for limited support within the profession.