29 Apr 2025
Fewer than one in five vets, and less than 7% of nurses, cast a vote in the annual polls.
Allister Webb
Job Title
Image © Freepik / Adobe Stock
Results from the annual RCVS council and VN council elections have been published today (29 April), revealing a fresh fall in voter turnout.
More vets, 20, stood in the 2025 process than any previous election this century, despite the college’s plan to replace elections with an appointment-based system.
But only 19% of vets, down from 19.7% in 2024, cast a vote in the polls, which closed on Friday, while the proportion of nurses participating dropped from 7.4% to 6.4%.
Four council seats were contested with Tshidi Gardiner (2,037 votes), Sam Bescoby (1,774), Paddy Gordon (1,639) and Danielle Greenberg (1,597) topping the polls.
Two current council members, Louise Allum and Will Wilkinson, were among the unsuccessful candidates.
Meanwhile, the two available VN council positions were secured by Bethan Pinney (934 votes) and Hannah Welsman (844).
Assistant registrar Simon Wiklund, who acted as returning officer for the polls, thanked all the candidates who stood and the clinicians who voted.
He said: “Members of the professions who spare their time to serve on our councils and committees are the backbone of our governance and decision-making structures.
“By bringing their experiences and their ideas to the fore they provide that invaluable professional input and insight into the decisions we make, and we look forward to working with those who have been elected.
“As part of the election process, we make considerable efforts to ensure that members of the professions are able to have their say during the election period and this year, in addition to the initial voting email, seven reminder emails were sent to veterinary surgeons and veterinary nurses who hadn’t yet voted.
“We also did a series of social media posts asking veterinary surgeons and veterinary nurses to check their emails for reminders and, for the very few members of the professions for whom we hold no email address, we sent them instructions via post on how to vote online.”
The full election results are available on the college’s website.
