A veterinary practice owner and small animal veterinary surgeon based in South Oxfordshire has been elected to serve as the Junior Vice-President of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons (RCVS), the regulatory body for the UK veterinary professions.
Tim Hutchinson MRCVS was elected to the position by his peers on RCVS Council, the College’s governing body, at its meeting on Thursday 13 March, and will take up the mantle of Junior Vice-President (JVP) at its Annual General Meeting on Friday 4 July 2025.
Tim, who is Managing Partner of Larkmead Vets and also a Director at the independent veterinary community XLVets, graduated from Liverpool Vet School in 1994 and joined Larkmead Vets in 1998.
Speaking of his election, Tim said: “I grew up in the South Yorkshire coalfields and worked in a city centre small animal practice in Wakefield before relocating to Oxfordshire to develop the small animal department of a mixed practice. First-opinion veterinary practice has been my life since starting cleaning kennels aged 12.
“I am passionate that whilst what we do is work with animals, how we do it is by working with people: our colleagues and the owners who entrust their animals to our care. As a first-opinion vet and practice owner I have had the privilege of growing and developing my practice (team and facilities) to meet the changing needs of our local community.
“At a time of great change for the veterinary profession, with the tantalising hope for a new Veterinary Surgeons Act set against the backdrop of the Competition and Markets Authority’s market investigation of the veterinary sector, it is an opportunity to bring this experience to the heart of our College.
“It was an unexpected honour to be elected to the position of JVP and I thank my colleagues on Council for entrusting the role to me. I also reflect on my initial university application which saw a clean sweep of rejections and hope that this can inspire others from the grass roots of our profession to get involved in shaping the future.”
In addition to Tim’s election to the Officer Team, members also voted to confirm Professor Tim Parkin as RCVS President, Linda Belton as Senior Vice-President and reconfirmed Tshidi Gardiner as Treasurer (subject to her re-election), all effective from July.
In terms of chairs for the RCVS standing committees, Tim Parkin was reconfirmed as Chair of Education Committee while Olivia Cook was elected Chair of Standards Committee, replacing Linda Belton from the AGM in July.
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