Calling all vets, vet nurses and student vet nurses…If you have a spare 10 minutes, please take some time to complete a short survey on the use of radiography in small animal practice in the UK and Ireland.
This survey forms part of a research project carried out by Samuel Morley, third year veterinary student at the University of Nottingham. Your help would be very much appreciated and you could also enter a draw to win a £100 voucher.
Blue Cross is urgently seeking experienced temporary homes for youngster horses and ponies following a 28 per cent increase in welfare cases in this year alone. With these rises the charity desperately needs to free up space at centres and with future intakes anticipated this winter, it is even more pertinent.
The charity has also witnessed a dramatic rise in the number of in-foal mares and mares with foals at foot being admitted to its centres, already taking in 13 this year. These figures reflect the concerns voiced by leading charities, including Blue Cross, over the increasing numbers of horses and ponies needing their help. The organisations have warned that should a harsh winter be ahead they will be unable to cope with the numbers currently estimated to be at risk.*
Kath Urwin, manager of the Blue Cross Rehoming Centre at Rolleston in Staffordshire said: “That such high numbers of youngsters are being admitted as welfare cases is particularly worrying. From responsible breeding to rehoming rescue horses, everyone has a part to play in helping to turn this alarming trend around.”
Emmett Before
Emmett was less than a year old when he rescued as part of a large welfare operation by the RSPCA in January 2012. He was severely malnourished and suffering from strangles as well as a lice infestation when he arrived at Blue Cross and needed veterinary care, a special feeding regime and intensive handling to prepare him for his future.
With lots of patience and a tailor made training programme to help him bond with people and build his confidence Emmett turned a corner and became bolder and more content, and he has now been rehomed as a field-mate to another pony. He is progressing well and has settled happily into his new home. When Emmett is four years old, he will be assessed to see if he is suitable for training as a riding pony.
Emmett After
Kath explains: “If you have the facilities and knowledge to help us you might also be interested in our foster care scheme that uses suitable volunteers to provide short term respite care for some of our horses and ponies. We will provide support, guidance and training and will reimburse for costs.”
To find out more visit the Blue Cross website
BVNA are delighted to announce that their Somerset & Gloucestershire regional co-ordinator, Kate King (pictured far right), was announced the winner of the annual Bayer Animal Health ‘RCO of the Year’ competition. At the recent awards ceremony held at the BVNA Congress on Friday 11 October, Kate was presented with a prize fund of £1,000 towards future CPD meetings in her region and an additional £200 in vouchers to spend on herself.
Kate who was delighted to be winner said “I am totally thrilled to be this year’s winner. It came as a complete shock to me as I know how hard all the RCOs work at providing CPD for nurses in their regions. I plan to arrange a CPD day later in the year with the prize funds and so on behalf of all my nurses in my region I would like to say a big thank you to Bayer for their sponsorship of this award and the fantastic support they give us”.
Feature photo – left to right: James Yeates (RSPCA Chief Veterinary Officer), Louisa Baker (BVNA President), Joy Howell (Bayer Animal Health) and winner, Kate King RVN
BVNA are delighted to announce that Nowzad Dogs, which was founded in 2007 by Royal Marine Sergeant Pen Farthing is their chosen charity for the year 2013/14. The charity’s story began when Pen and his colleagues were posted to Now Zad in Helmand Province of Afghanistan. The main purpose of their visit was to provide stability for the local people but they soon realised that it wasn’t only them who needed help.
Pen Farthing with Joe at the Nowzad clinic
After hearing commotion right outside their compound the Royal Marines sadly discovered an organised dog fight and one dog later to be known as ‘Nowzad’ was being beaten as he wouldn’t fight. Pen with the help of colleagues managed to break up the fight but unbeknown to Pen, that action was to mark the beginning of not only his lifelong friendship with ‘Nowzad’ but would ignite the start-up of his charity organisation Nowzad Dogs.
‘Nowzad’ attached himself to Pen after the rescue and spiralling on from this The Royal marines started to rescue more dogs during their 6 month station. Despite having to spend their rest time looking after the dogs, by the end of their post they had rescued 20 dogs. Using precision planning and local resources they managed to agree the transport of the dogs to a rescue centre based in Kabul and were delighted when they received notification that nearly all the dogs had made it there safely.
The charity has grown ever since and is currently the only organisation to operate a humane stray dog control programme to reduce the spread of rabies within Kabul whilst promoting animal welfare to the Afghan population. It also operates and manages the only animal welfare shelter in Kabul, Afghanistan.
Pen Farthing founder and chairman of the Nowzad Dogs charity said “I am delighted to have the support and backing of the BVNA, this relationship can only help us to produce even better results with developing animal welfare programmes in Afghanistan”.
Kirstie Shield, BVNA President, said “BVNA are delighted to have chosen Nowzad Dogs as its charity of the year. We look forward to helping with fundraising and increasing awareness of this deserving charity over the following 12 months”
To find out more about the charity go to the ‘Nowzad Dogs’ website
The British Veterinary Nursing Association Ltd (BVNA) are delighted to announce that Kirstie Shield DipAVN (Surg) RVN, head nurse of The Hale Veterinary Group in Chippenham, was elected as President during their Annual General Meeting (AGM) held on Sunday 13th October at the BVNA Congress in Shropshire.
Kirstie Shield
Delighted at being elected President, Kirstie says: ‘I will feel honoured to serve as President of the BVNA, the only representative association for veterinary nurses in the UK. It will mean a great deal to me personally to be able to contribute towards the development of the profession that I am, and always will be so passionate about. I know that the BVNA Council and office team are looking forward to the year ahead with enthusiasm and determination to do their very best to represent our members and the wider veterinary nursing profession’.
During the AGM, Fiona Andrew RVN was elected as Vice President and remains in her role as Honorary Secretary. Fiona says ‘I am excited to be working with a president of such a high calibre and look forward to supporting Kirstie in achieving her aims and objectives for the coming year’.
Fiona Andrew
Bye-Law 5 of the Veterinary Nursing Bye-Laws 2011 states that student veterinary nurses must undertake an approved programme of veterinary nurse education that is a minimum of 94 weeks (equivalent to 3,290 hours) excluding annual leave and absence. These weeks are broken down into college time and practical training time as follows:
Theoretical programme (college time) must not be less than 700 guided learning hours.
Practical training must be carried out in an approved Training Practice for no less than 15 hours a week and must not be less than 60 weeks (equivalent to 2,100 hours) in duration.
Below is a general guide on how to record your training time depending on which type of programme you are on. If you feel you do not fit into one of these scenarios please contact the Veterinary Nursing Department at the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons (RCVS).
| Type of programme | Hours required and how to calculate |
| Part-time employed (day release) | You must show a minimum of 94 weeks (3,290 hours) in your approved Training Practice(s). As your working week includes your college day, the time declared will incorporate both practical training and college time.You must declare the dates separately on which you attended college and it must equate to a minimum of 700 hours. |
| Full-time (block release placement) | Your weeks in college need to be declared separately to the time in practice. Your college time must equate to a minimum of 700 hours.Your practical training time on placement must then be added to the number of weeks spent in college (a minimum of 60 weeks/2,100 hours).However, when your college time and training time are added together, you must still have completed a minimum of 94 weeks in training (3,290 hours). You may find that in order to meet this requirement, your practical training time in practice may be more than 60 weeks (2,100 hours). |
| Full-time (day release placement) | You must show a minimum of 94 weeks (3,290 hours) in your approved Training Practice(s).As your working week includes your college day, the time declared will incorporate both practical training and college time.You must declare the dates separately on which you attended college and it must equate to a minimum of 700 hours. |
Handy Hints and Tips!
Start with a Clean Record
It is essential that registration documentation is completed accurately and with integrity. The submission of a falsified document in support of an application to join a professional register is a serious matter, and one that could potentially bar registration. All documentation that is submitted is thoroughly checked and all signatures verified.
The British Veterinary Nursing Association (BVNA) awarded honorary membership to three deserving individuals during the recent awards ceremony held at the BVNA Congress on Friday 11th October. BVNA President Louisa Baker (pictured right) joined by Chief Veterinary Officer of the RSPCA James Yeates (pictured left) awarded Sue Badger, Anne McBride and Julian Hoad lifetime Honorary Membership for their years of dedicated work and continued support of the veterinary nursing profession.
Sue Badger MEd CertEd VN
Sue Badger has been a prominent figure in the veterinary nursing profession for many years. Sue served two separate terms as a BVNA Council member and was the association’s President during 2010/2011.
Sue has worked extremely hard in developing the BVNA members’ publication, the VNJ, into a more professional source of information/education and continues with this work as its current Editor in Chief. She also represents the BVNA and veterinary nurses on the RCVS VN Legislative Working Party, offering her insight, experience and knowledge to this important area of nursing.
Julian Hoad BVetMed BSc(Hons) MRCVS
Julian began lecturing for Margaret Moore from 1997 on her veterinary nursing course. This led to other day courses and practice CPD events for other VN education suppliers. Julian was invited onto the BVNA Congress Committee a couple of years ago and helps with selecting topics and sourcing lecturers for the scientific programme.
Julian was asked to write the Handbook of Surgical Nursing for Veterinary Nurses in 2006 and he hopes it has been useful to veterinary nurses. This year, he was asked to speak at the BVNA Roadshow, presenting a series of anaesthetic lectures around the country.
Since the time he has qualified, Julian says he has seen the profession rise in stature to a level that can now be truly measured against its peers in the veterinary profession.
Dr Anne McBride BSc PhD FRSA
Anne’s involvement with the veterinary nursing profession came when she was almost 14 years of age and went to work for her local vet at weekends and evenings, which she continued to do for the next 6 years. Anne found it fascinating but also realised that a career as a vet or veterinary nurse was not for her, she was more interested in animal and human behaviour so undertook a psychology degree and then a PhD in rabbit behaviour.
It was some 15 years later that Anne’s path was to cross that of the veterinary nursing profession again when she started working as a behaviour counsellor and setting up puppy classes.
Anne was instrumental in setting up the first course in animal behaviour counselling at Southampton University along with Sarah Heath and John Fisher. She has been a speaker on the BVNA’s Companion Animal Behaviour Course since its inception and has been asked to speak at BVNA Congress on many occasions. Anne joined the BVNA Congress committee in 2010 where she assists BVNA in putting together their scientific programme.
“I actually applied 15 minutes before the closing deadline, and I’m so glad I did”Deciding your career path and choosing your studies should be an exciting prospect but unfortunately that is not the case for everyone; like in the case of Crissy Lister who despite wanting to study to be a veterinary nurse faced the reality of having to choose to take out loans and borrow money to fund her course fees. Luckily Crissy did not have to make that decision as she submitted an application to the bursary board at City & Guilds and subsequently was awarded a NPTC bursary of £4,400 to put towards a ‘Land based Services’ qualification. City & Guilds who selected Crissy from numerous deserving applicants said “Your award really is an achievement of you demonstrating in both your application and interview; Your motivation and commitment to undertaking and completing the ‘noted’ course, as part of a longer term progression plan for yourself.”
Crissy Lister
Although Crissy is still working full time around her studies the bursary has enabled her to keep in check with her finances and ultimately has given her the freedom to study without getting into financial complications.
CAW recognise that not everyone will be aware they may be eligible to apply for a bursary or in some cases may not even know they exist so we wanted to share Crissy’s story with you. Crissy’s has kindly volunteered to help CAW spread the word about the bursary system by sharing her positive experience and by hopefully encouraging people to apply.
1. How did you find out about the Bursary?
I found out about the bursary through a Google Search. I’d looked into all other opportunities for funding and wasn’t eligible, so before applying for a loan, decided to search for: education bursaries City and Guilds; and stumbled upon their bursary page.
2. What was the bursary application experience like?
The application process was relatively straight forward. They have two application periods at which time you can apply, I applied in the beginning of the year for funding for the September start. I had to fill in an online application form, for which they suggested taking note of the questions, writing down an answer, and filling the boxes in with a pre-prepared answer all in one go. Once this was submitted, and the deadline reached, everyone who had applied had their answers reviewed, and then a selection was called for a further interview stage to assess eligibility.
The interview was a bit nerve wracking! I’m not overly confident in interview situations, but they made you feel welcome and at ease, prompting you with questions regarding your application, which are just to be answered as honestly as possible, expressing why you feel you deserve to be rewarded funding. Once the interview had taken place it was simply a case of waiting and hoping to hear back with good news. None of the waiting was excessive, a couple of weeks in between processes.
3. What course did you decide to study and why?
I chose to study veterinary nursing, as animals have always been a passion of mine. It’s been a long term goal for me to get into the veterinary nursing profession and hopefully with this course, I should be qualified in my chosen profession in two years.
4. What would of your options been without the bursary?
Without the bursary I would have had no choice but to take out loans, and borrow money to afford the course fees. Although I work full-time around my course, the number of hours I’ve had to lose to take part wouldn’t have stretched to cover my living costs and learning costs as well.
5. What are you plans after you finish the course?
Once I finish the course I hope to settle into a practice for a couple of years, build up some experience, and then I hope to travel to South Africa where I’ve spent some time volunteering, and offer them a better helping hand than I previously could for a few months. Then hopefully find a practice back in England to work in long-term.
6. Any advice for someone who may be in financial hardship and considering applying for a bursary?
If anyone was thinking of applying for a bursary, I’d just say go for it, what have you got to lose? They can only say yes or no. I was considering not applying, I left it a good few weeks from finding out it existed because I felt it wouldn’t be achievable, plenty of people would be more eligible than I would be, but my mum kept on at me asking ‘have you applied yet?’, ‘why haven’t you applied yet?’, ‘you can’t win if you don’t take part’. So in the end I actually applied 15 minutes before the closing deadline, and I’m so glad I did.
To find out more information on City & Guilds Bursaries, visit their website
For information on other possible Grants and Bursaries, check out CAW’s information sheet
Last week saw the first student visit to the Muchwood and Mary’s woodland site managed by The College of Animal Welfare (on behalf of The Woodland Trust).
The main purpose of the visit was to take the first steps in the creation of a wildflower meadow. Wildflower meadow is a seriously threatened habitat that has declined by 97% since the 1930s. Alongside the rarer plant species that have declined by almost half the common wildflowers such as cowslip and oxeye daisy are also at risk. Wildflower meadows support a wide range of invertebrates including bumblebees, insects, and butterflies, which in turn attract other wildlife species.
The CAW Wildflower Meadow Creation project used two methods for planting: the first method involved removing a 2m square area of turf, turning over the topsoil and sowing wildflower seed directly onto the soil; the second method involved introducing pot grown wildflowers into a 2m square grassy area and planting them in a group into the turf. The plants used were of local provenance and contained a mixture of cowslip (Primula veris), oxeye daisy (Leucanthemum vulgare), field scabious (Knautia arvensis), devils-bit scabious (Succisa pratensis), and small scabious (Scabiosa columbaria).
Wildflowers prefer nutrient poor soil so alongside the digging and the planting the students also tackled the removal of grass cuttings. Branches overhanging pathways were also removed to maintain the site for public access throughout the winter months.
The students did a fantastic job and all of the tasks were completed with enthusiasm despite the blowing wind and cold temperatures. Well done to the Level 3 Animal Care students!
Have you just got back from this year’s BVNA Congress? Did you collect one of our ‘Keep Cool and Trust Your Head Nurse’ cooler lunch bags? If so, why not enter our photo competition to win a £100 book voucher!
We are looking for photos of the most unusual use of the lunch bag – so get your creative hats on!
To enter, your photo needs to be in a jpeg format and no larger than 5MB. You can submit up to two photos and, for this competition, photos can be digitally altered if you wish.
Please email your photo, along with your contact details, to marketing@caw.ac.uk by Friday 1 November 2013. Full terms and conditions can be found here and the winning entrant will be announced on Monday 4 November 2013.
Good luck!