Language and terminology is important. Our society recognises this fact, and in some walks of life, you cannot call yourself by certain terms unless you are appropriately qualified.

The medical field is the area where so-called “protected titles” are most prevalent: there’s a long list from “music therapist” to “dietician” to “clinical scientist” to “physiotherapist” and “paramedic”. If you read the list, you’ll be surprised, and I suspect that you’ll be reassured too: it’s good to know that when you go to see a “hearing aid dispenser”, under law they must be properly trained and qualified.

There are serious penalties for people who try to set themselves up as one of these practitioners when they are not entitled to do so: anyone using one of these titles must be registered with the Health and Care Professions Council, or they may be subject to prosecution and a fine of up to £5,000.

Interestingly, not all professional titles are protected. The words “doctor” and “nurse” have been in general use for hundreds of years to describe a variety of people, and so they are not specifically protected. The title “doctor” is used far more broadly than just for medical doctors, with a number of professions (including dentists and now vets) using it as a courtesy title, as well as people who hold academic doctorates, such as PhDs.

Similarly, the title “nurse” is not protected: as well as medical nurses, it’s used by nursery nurses in nursery schools, and sometimes by veterinary nurses.

The fact that the terms “doctor” and “nurse” are not protected can lead to issues where the public can be mislead by individuals who use the terms to their advantage (such as a person who is an academic doctor trying to pass themselves off as a medical doctor). For this reason, the terms “doctor of medicine” and “registered nurse” are protected titles, but for the public, arguably this is not sufficient to avoid confusion.

There are some professions that would like to have protected titles, but for various reasons, this is not possible. Anybody can call themselves an “engineer”, a “scientist” or a “surveyor” because these terms are said to be in such widespread use. These professions have had to add prefixes to their titles to try to minimise confusion, such as “incorporated engineers”, “biomedical scientists” or “chartered surveyors”.

Only properly qualified and registered vets are allowed to call themselves “veterinary surgeons”, but there is a major anomaly in the veterinary world: anybody, even without training or qualification, is allowed to call themselves “veterinary nurse”. The veterinary nursing profession has so far had to use the protected title “registered veterinary nurse” to be used exclusively by properly trained and qualified nurses, but there’s a strong argument that this is not enough. Most readers, I’m sure, would agree that if they were dealing with someone calling themselves a “veterinary nurse”, they would assume that the person was qualified. Unless something changes, it’s very likely that unscrupulous individuals will use this confusion to their advantage, misleading people into believing that they are qualified.

What has to change? Clearly, the term “veterinary nurse” needs to be made a protected title. The Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons, the British Veterinary Association and the British Veterinary Nursing Association all believe that this is necessary. They are asking Parliament to change the law to protect the title “veterinary nurse”, and they need as much help as possible to achieve this.

Please sign the official petition to register your support. The aim is to get 100,000 signatories which will trigger the issue will be considered for a formal parliamentary debate. The petition is currently at 20,594 signatures and the petition closes on 14th February 2016 so time is running out. The engineering profession tried a similar tactic to protect the word “engineer” last year, but the attempt failed after their petition only reached 6176 signatures.

It makes clear sense that the term “veterinary nurse” should be trusted as the recognised name for a skilled, trained and qualified profession. If you agree, please sign this petition now, and ask as many as possible of your friends and contacts to do the same.

Please follow this link to the petition.

The RCVS has also produced a short animation stating the reasons behind the petition:  watch this by clicking here.

Animals are the ones who will benefit from “veterinary nurse” being protected: so if you care, take action now.