Update from CEO

A brief update on a few things: Voluntary bonding scheme for Veterinarians is as promised by the Minister being reviewed. MAF Policy folk undertook a successful (from what we hear from members) tour of New Zealand visiting rural centres and talking to practices and individual veterinarians about their thoughts thus far. We expect a report sooner rather than later which we also hope will include some of our recommendations. NZVA and VCNZ have updated their MOU and the respective boards will sign off in November. While our remits are not identical I think we all agree that by working together when projects align with both our objectives we can achieve more than by going it alone. Developing a simple and cost effective mechanism to record, report and verify CPD activity is one good example. The council are also working to ensure that any changes to the Veterinarians Act work for plans to regulate technicians and nurses in the future. SciQuest 2 should be ready to go by the time you renew your subs for 2010 - quicker, easier with potential to add much more material more efficiently are just some of the benefits of the recent upgrade. Animal welfare - a timely reminder to help your farmer clients when they need it and to ring us or the MAF Hotline if you need advice at anytime. That's it for now. Julie