Don’t forget to come and see us at the BVNA Congress to collect your free ‘make your CPD count’ calculator.

Why are we giving away a calculator? It’s to promote our new free Professional Development Record, which allows you to plan, record and evaluate your continuing professional development (CPD) online – and count up the hours, of course.

Visit the RCVS stand to see a demonstration – or go to www.vnpdr.org.uk to sign up.

You can also take part in our ‘record- breakers’ competition to win some iTunes vouchers. Plus staff will be on hand to answer any questions you may have about CPD, the new Code, the disciplinary system, or any other issue.

If you can’t make the BVNA Congress, you can always catch up with us at the London Vet Show at Olympia, 15th – 16th November. 

Qualifications update

The City & Guilds Level 3 Diploma in Veterinary Nursing – which in effect replaces the RCVS Awards Diploma – is going through the formal RCVS approval process with the VN Council as this goes to press. This means that colleges should have a choice of qualifications they can offer to students taking a vocational route to qualification: the City & Guilds Diploma or the Central Qualifications Diploma.

The RCVS is now no longer registering new students for the RCVS Level 3 Diploma in Veterinary Nursing. However, students already registered in the system will continue to be supported until they qualify or the end-date of the award is reached. The latter hasn’t yet been finalised with Ofqual, but is likely to be in 2014/5 (allowing current students three years in which to attain their qualification).

For more details about the new Diplomas, and the transition period, have a look at the August issue of VN Standard, the RCVS Awards publication, which is available from: www.rcvs.org.uk/publications. 

VN Council

VN Council will meet on 9th October, which will be for the first time since its new chairman, Kathy Kissick, picked up the reins.

Items on the agenda include a review of the VNC constitution, with a view to possibly adjusting the balance of veterinary surgeon and lay members to bring the Council more into line with modern regulatory expectations.

If you are interested in following any of the topics discussed, papers for the meeting will be online from early October (see http://www.rcvs.org.uk /about-us/vn-council). The minutes from the meeting will be online in early November, as part of the regular report to RCVS Council. 

Veterinary Nursing Journal • VOL 27 • October 2012 •