Author Archives: Alison Young

Full Time Courses Enrolling Now For September!

If you are looking to work with animals, then it’s not too late to enrol onto a full time City & Guilds course starting in September!

Running from our Huntingdon centre, we are still taking applications for the following courses:

• Level 2 Diploma  Animal Care (One year)
• Level 3 Extended Diploma in Animal Management (Two years)
• Level 2 Diploma in Countryside and Environment (One year)
• Level 2 Certificate for Dog Grooming Assistants (5 weeks)

These courses are free if you are under 19 years of age; course fees apply for those over this age but please contact us for details of any funding support which you may be eligible for. For those who are unemployed and in receipt of certain benefits, you may be able to attend the Level 2 Dog Grooming course for free, please contact us to see if you are eligible.

Our next open day is on Tuesday 7 August from 6-8pm, so make sure you come along and have a look around, talk to the tutors and find out more about our courses and life here at the College.

Results of the 2012 VN Salary Survey Now Available

The British Veterinary Nursing Association (BVNA) joined forces with the Society of Practising Veterinary Surgeons (SPVS) between March and May of this year to gather data for the production of a comprehensive salary survey.

The results are now out and some of the top findings include:
• Average salary of a qualified veterinary nurse – £19,881
• Average salary of a veterinary care assistant – £15,830
• Average salary of a student veterinary nurse – £13,285

The full survey can be found here

Customer Service

BVNA Launches New Laboratory Revision App

Student and qualified veterinary nurses can now benefit from the new BVNA Laboratory App for iPhone and iPad.

The British Veterinary Nursing Association has joined forces with leading IT provider, AT Veterinary Systems, to produce a handy laboratory revision app for veterinary nurses.

Split into two sections, the app comprises a quick revision and a full revision option. The quick revision is a spot test of 20 multiple choice questions with a time limit for each question. Each score is recorded on the scoreboard to chart the user’s progress.

The second section is a quiz of up to 110 questions that can be answered at the user’s leisure, providing an in-depth review of laboratory processes in a veterinary practice.

All questions are randomly generated to reinforce every aspect of the subject in the user’s mind and the layout makes it quick and easy to use. The app is also flexible and can be adjusted for any length of study period; for example, the full revision option enables the user to adjust the number of questions to answer at any one time.

If you are a veterinary nurse in training, perhaps with approaching exams or maybe simply wanting to test and refresh your knowledge, then this app is perfect for you.

Priced at just £2.99 and available for download here

A radiology app is also available with other subjects coming soon!

RCVS Day Report Now Available

Full details on the recent RCVS Day, held on 6 July, is now available on the RCVS Website.

RCVS Day saw the investiture of the new RCVS President, Jacqui Molyneux, taking over the role from Jerry Davies who now becomes Vice-President.

The day also saw changes to RCVS Council and the Veterinary Nurses Council and the presentation of a number of awards and honours.

Full details can be found here.

RCVS Charitable Trust News: Appointment of a New RVN Trustee

The Trust has appointed Jean Turner as a new registered veterinary nurse (RVN) Trustee Jean, who is well known within both the veterinary nursing and veterinary professions, has a distinguished track-record as an ambassador for veterinary nursing.

Jean qualified with the Registered Animal Nursing Auxiliary (RANA) in November 1971 as a mature student, having previously had business training. She has served on the British Veterinary Nursing Association Council for sixteen years and is on the editorial board of the Veterinary Nursing Journal, being now responsible for news items.

Jean was an RCVS veterinary nurse examiner for several years in the 1980s, graduating to senior examiner. She built on her business experience whilst undertaking the practice management of a small animal veterinary hospital. Jean also trained student veterinary nurses until she left general practice in 1998. Her current role includes assisting a forensic veterinary surgeon with case recording and liaison with RSPCA personnel and solicitors.

Most recently, in 2011 Jean was the first recipient of the inaugural RCVS Veterinary Nurses’ Council Golden Jubilee Award, in honour of her exceptional contribution to veterinary nursing.

Jean says: “I am delighted to be appointed as an RVN Trustee and I will support and promote the Trust to the best of my ability.”

Jean will take up her post immediately and will attend the next scheduled Board of Trustees meeting in October 2012.

The Trust’s previous RVN Trustee, Tracy Mayne, retired in June this year and sadly passed away a short time afterwards.