"I firmly believe that if the PSS were developed to cut out the duplication of regulation in Health and Safety and Human Resources etc and focussed on actual quality of care, then more of the remaining practices would flock to it."

Richard Hillman is passionate about general veterinary practice

"We need to find a way that eases the transition from student to general veterinary practitioner," says RCVS election candidate Richard Hillman. 

"There is a way, but it requires general veterinary practitioners like me on Council to make the College and the Universities understand that the welfare of the students and their obligation of care extends beyond graduation, such that they are impelled to provide the students with the tools they need."

Richard Hillman, clinical director of HillmanVets and founding director of West Midlands Vets, is passionate about general veterinary practice. If elected to Council, he would like to ensure the views of general veterinary practitioners are communicated to the RCVS.

"General veterinary practitioners are under represented on Council," Richard says. "It is important that Council members understand the law of unintended consequences.

"Well-meaning lay and academic councillors sometimes seem to have a vision for the profession which is impractical and/or unobtainable and Council needs people like me who have the depth and breadth of understanding about how General Veterinary Practitioners work so that the aims can be achieved more readily and without extra stress to practicing vets."

As well as improving communication between general practice and the RCVS, another priority for Richard if elected to Council is the development of the Practice Standards Scheme:

"If I were on College Council I would be asking myself 'why is it that our flagship doesn't sell to half of our customer base?' The feeling is that the College thinks that this is the fault of the practices when in reality I know that practitioners are passionate about true standards where they directly  affect the welfare of their patients.

"I firmly believe that if the PSS were developed to cut out the duplication of regulation in Health and Safety and Human Resources etc and focussed on actual quality of care, then more of the remaining practices would flock to it.   

"PSS is a good start in raising standards of care but 'what got us here won't get us there' and we can only get where we need to be by strong leadership from practitioners like me."

To read our full interview with Richard visit vetcommunity.com. Log in or sign up for a free account to discuss the elections in the VetCommunity chatter zone.