Author Archives: Alison German

Reminders for Clinical Coaches!

Please remember that, as a Clinical Coach, you must make be an RVN or MRCVS – Please check your registration!
If you have a student wishing to start the day release veterinary nursing programmes this September you should enrol them as soon as possible as places are filling up fast! Remember if your student is under 19 years of age they will be entitled to free Advanced Apprenticeship (Level 3 Diploma) training!
The Nursing progress Log (NPL) must be fully case referenced with use of the reflective comments to record training and for the student to reflect on their experience. Justification must be provided to support competency claims and confirmation of competency. All tasks must be practically demonstrated and demonstrated back with all confirmation of competence via practical observation.

If you have any questions regarding the above please contact your Quality Assurance Supervisor.

NPL Server Maintenance – Sunday 15 July

We have been informed by the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons (RCVS) that they will be carrying out essential maintenance to their NPL Server on Sunday 15 July. This will mean that students and Clinical Coaches will be unable to access their NPL for a few hours on this date. The RCVS apologise for any inconvenience this may cause.

NVS Depot 2 Depot Charity Challenge

Six staff members of National Veterinary Services (NVS) have set themselves the huge challenge of cycling from their Mildenhall Depot to their Head Office in Stoke-on-Trent to raise money for two worthy charities.

Steve Holley (Orderline Manager), Danny Roberts (Fulfilment Services Manager), John Kay (Senior Buyer), Steve Williams (Operations Director), Martin Riley (Managing Director) and Peter Cronin (Sales and Marketing Director) have all pledged to ride the 150 miles over the forthcoming August Bank Holiday weekend to raise money for The Donna Louise Trust (specialist care and support services for children with a shortened life expectancy and their families) and TAMBA (Twin and Multiple births Associations) for Twin to Twin Transfusion Syndrome.

To support this team of novice cyclists in their challenge please visit www.justgiving.com/nvsdtdchallenge. All contributions are gratefully received.

Employer Update Evenings – Closing the RCVS Awarding Body, The Next Step…

Following on from the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons (RCVS) announcement last year of its intention to close the RCVS awarding body (RCVS Awards), The College of Animal Welfare has been carefully considering the situation and evaluating the choices in awarding body.

During the week commencing the 23 July, we will be holding a series of Employer Update Evenings where we will present to you the current situation, explain the impact of the changes on veterinary nurse training and describe our process for moving from the RCVS to another awarding body. Following on from the presentation there will be a question and answer session.

Each event will start promptly at 7pm and we aim to finish at 8.30pm. Tea and Coffee will be available from 6.30pm. Dates can be found below:

Monday 23 July 2012 Edinburgh Napier University, Sighthill Campus, Sighthill Court, Edinburgh EH11 3BN
Tuesday 24 July 2012 Holiday Inn Leeds-Wakefield, Queen’s Drive, Ossett, Wakefield WF5 9BE (M1, Jct40)
Wednesday 25 July 2012 Royal Veterinary College, Hawkshead Lane, North Mymms, Hatfield, Herts AL9 7TA
Thursday 26 July 2012 The College of Animal Welfare, Headland House, Chord Business Park, London Road, Godmanchester, Cambs PE29 2BQ

The events are free of charge, but priority will be given to CAW TPs, non CAW TPs who provide placements for our students and practices who have a veterinary care assistant studying with us.

We are anticipating high demand for these events and, as such, we require you to book in advance. Bookings are open for up to three members of your practice staff, however if you wish more staff to attend you can enrol them onto the reserve list.

VCA Becomes an Apprenticeship!

From September, students wishing to undertake the Veterinary Care Assistants (VCA) programme can do so under the Government’s Apprenticeship Scheme.

This is great news for employers and students alike; providing students with the opportunity to train as a VCA, often the starting point for progressing into veterinary nursing and providing employers with the opportunity to recruit and train nursing support staff in a structured manner.

Employers who choose to take on a VCA apprentice will be required to pay them at least the National Minimum Wage for Apprentices, currently £2.60 per hour; with students needing to be employed for a minimum of 30 hours per week. The Government can also help in the recruitment process on their free online dedicated website. Adverts can also be placed, free of charge, on our new Jobs Board.

Further details, including funding eligibility, will be available on our website later this month.

New VN Council Chairman Elected

Kathy Kissick was elected to replace Liz Branscombe as new Chairman of the Veterinary Nurses Council at its meeting in May.

Liz, who has chaired the VN Council for the past three years, will become Vice-Chairman; Veterinary surgeon, Neil Smith, will be the second VN Council Vice-Chairman.

These changes come into effect on RCVS Day on 6 July.

Free Webinar to Help Vets and Vet Nurses Meet Code Requirement

The Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons (RCVS) and the Webinar Vet have teamed up to offer a free webinar to help veterinary surgeons and veterinary nurses meet one of the new provisions of the RCVS Code of Professional Conduct.

The new Codes for both vets and vet nurses state that they must maintain minimum practice standards equivalent to the Core Standards of the RCVS Practice Standards Scheme.

The Core Standards largely comprise legal requirements, such as meeting medicines regulations, employment law and health and safety. However, there are additional responsibilities, such as having in place a biosecurity policy, and a system for monitoring and discussing the clinical outcome of cases and acting on the results.

The webinar, ‘Practising to Core Standards’, will be presented by Pam Mosedale, former Senior Inspector for the Scheme, and currently a veterinary investigator for the College.

The event takes place at 8.30pm on Monday 16 July: click here to register.

Life Long Learning Accounts

Life Long Learning Accounts are a new, free, Government service to give people improved access to jobs and career development opportunities.

By opening an account you will have free access to a number of online tools, including:
• A skills diagnostic tool to identify your interests, strengths and needs
• Localised course and job searches
• A CV builder
• An ‘eligibility checker’ to identify what Government funding is available to you
• A facility to store all your personal learner information – CVs, skills tests, job and course searches – in one easily accessible place that you can share with a careers adviser.

Your account stays with you throughout your working life. For more details click here.

Personal Learner Record – Don’t Lose Your Certificates Again!

Ever needed to provide a GCSE certificate and not been able to find it???

If so, you need a Personal Learner Record!

The Personal Learning Record (PLR) is a free, official online record of the learning and achievement that you have gained – such as awards, certificates and qualifications that have already been collected by UK education bodies.

To get your PLR, please click here and register using your Unique Learner Number (ULN). If you do not know, or have, a ULN please contact your course provider.

(Please note that you will need to register at the top left side of the screen in order to then log in with your username and password).

Training Practices – Are you Ready for September?

Take a look at our summer health check for Training Practices (TPs) below and see if you are all up-to-date and ready for the start of next term:

Have you completed all the action points from your latest TP annual audit visit?
Are all your clinical coaches trained ready for September? If not, remember we offer free clinical coach training to our TPs!
Are all of your clinical coaches standardised? A list of forthcoming standardisation events can be found here. Remember standardisation events are free to all CAW TPs and clinical coaches must attend at least one standisation event per year!
Are all staff up-to-date with their CPD? Remember all registered veterinary nurses must complete relevant CPD at a rate of 15 hours per year and veterinary surgeons 35 hours per year. View our CPD courses here.
Are all your veterinary nursing students enrolled and ready for September? Remember if they are under 19 they will get the course fees fully funded, all your practice will be required to pay is the RCVS fees!
Do you have space for a placement student? Gain a keen and enthusiastic pair of hands whilst helping to train the next generation of nurses! If you think you may be able to help provide a placement or want to find out more please contact us and speak to our placement liaison team.
Is there anyone else in the practice who would benefit from training and CPD? e.g. Veterinary Care Assistants, Receptionists
Do you have a branch you would like to turn into a TP/aTP? Your branch can be approved for just £295 for the first year! Contact us and speak to our administration team to find out more.