Our scavenger hunt enjoyed 138 entries, of which the winners and their corresponding prizes are detailed below. Congratulations to all winners – particularly our overall winner Gem Harrison, who will be the recipient of a coffee machine.
Our other winners are:
VTX COURSE: Elizabeth Woodall
VTX MEMBERSHIP: Katrina Bailey
VET CT HAMPER: Rebecca Curtis
SPILLERS GOODIES: Diane Fancourt
BVNA TICKET: Adele Jones
EMPOWERING SOCIAL MEDIA CLASSES: Emily Harvey, Rebecca Wakeham and Gillian White
THEME: Finding your nursing niche: how developing a nursing specialism can enhance your clinical career
DATE: Thursday 28 April
TIME: 8pm
Join us for this month’s VN Happy Hour while we discuss finding your nursing niche!
The event will include guest speakers including Emma Gerrard, Jack Pye and Abi Edis the discussing everything from how to find your niche to career diversification.
VN Happy Hour is a free monthly event from VN Times. For information on forthcoming VN Happy Hour events, follow us on Facebook.
“If you don’t know where you’re going, any road will get you there,” said the Cheshire Cat to Alice when she tumbled into Wonderland in Lewis Carroll’s timeless tome.
Sometimes, it can feel like we’ve fallen down the rabbit hole completely, with no sense of direction or idea of where we should go or what we should do next.
Challenge accepted
Yet, it appears RVNs can do plenty if contemplating a new challenge, as you will hopefully see in the October edition of VN Times – from volunteering with rhinos to topping up your skill set or retraining completely, all while still putting your knowledge to good use by caring for animals in need.
Research has revealed confusion still reigns around the exact nature of the role of the RVN, which suggests more needs to be done to raise its profile in the eyes of colleagues and clients.
Yet, take heart. As we speak (or indeed, as I write), steps are being taken across the profession to tackle this issue – from career advisory days to research projects on how to effect change.
What’s more, moves are also being made to boost diversity in all forms, as you will see in the pages of October’s VN Times. So, instead of existing in a career cul-de-sac, it would appear a plethora of new paths exist for RVNs to take.
Make your choice
The only real problem is choosing which exciting route to traverse first.
When Alice asked the Cheshire Cat which way she ought to go, he said: “That depends a good deal on where you want to get to.”
The question is, rather excitingly, where do you want to go? Look to the horizon; the possibilities are endless.
What a month is has been. Surely, August 2018 will go down in the annals of history as one the most prolific in the fight for animal welfare in England.
From the banning of puppy and kitten sales in pet shops to outlawing electric shock collars, campaigners have had a spate of notable victories to celebrate in a matter of weeks which, it is hoped, will enhance animal welfare and shape a better future for pets and owners alike.
Indeed, such has been the influx of news, we were still filing articles on the day of going to print, to ensure the latest news – the electric collar ban – reached you hot of the press.
But new causes and campaigns are never far away, as evidenced by the fact that, according to some organisations, cats are the latest victims of the public’s “thirst for endless novelty” with RVNs again “ideally placed” to help tackle the issue.
Every little helps
Yet it doesn’t matter if you are fighting on the front line of a campaign trail or caring for a forlorn feline in a small animal practice; every act, every consult and every action is an amazing feat and should be applauded.
You transform the lives of animals and their owners daily, and make their futures a little brighter in the process.
With so much demanded of RVNs, I imagine it could be easy to get a little overwhelmed. In the face of conflict, Second World War politicians sought to raise the British public’s morale with the ”Keep Calm and Carry On” posters. They seemed to work. Sound, and still relevant, advice methinks.
If animals could speak – from kittens in clinic to rescued horses – I am think they would say “thank you” for all your hard work. Which is what I want to say too, as it happens.
Whoever you are and whatever you do, keep up the amazing work and (to coin the phrase) keep calm and carry on. When future generations are reflecting on this pivotal time in animal care, you can say with pride “I was there”.
Public voting on shortlisted entries begins on 02 October, 2018
Whether much-loved pets, grazing livestock or weird and wonderful wildlife, little gives many people more pleasure than seeing animals out and about in the great outdoors.
So, we’ve decided on the theme of “Out and About” for the VN Times 2019 calendar, and can’t wait to see your photos of all creatures great and small at large in Mother Nature.
Maybe a dog is having the time of its life on a sunny beach walk, or a cat is frolicking in your back garden? Perhaps you’ve encountered a deer in a country park, or spotted a lion striking an unusual pose while on a trip to the safari park? Or perhaps something in a field of cows and sheep has caught your eye? Whatever the scenario, we want entries for the next VN Times calendar competition, and if it’s a good enough photo it may be used to illustrate a month, or even the front cover.
Please supply the best quality and largest image you can. Avoid downsampling images for emailing purposes, choosing “Actual Size” if prompted. Most smartphones and digital cameras will take a reasonable quality photo. A minimum file size of about 1.6MB should be sufficient. Anything smaller may mean the image will be unusable.
The competition is only open to practising RVNs, SVNs and veterinary nursing assistants who subscribe to VN Times, who work in veterinary practices and are residents of the United Kingdom aged 16 years or over. Veterinary surgeons are unable to enter. All entrants will be checked against our Vetfile database and the RCVS register for eligibility.
Employees of pharmaceutical companies and veterinary companies that provide a service to veterinary practices are not eligible to enter. Any such entries will be invalid.
Entries must be received by midnight on Sunday September 16, 2018. Entries will be shortlisted and readers of VN Times will vote to determine the top 12 and one overall winner. The winners will be notified by email or telephone by Monday November 5, 2018.
We will accept a maximum of three photographs per person but please note that when it comes to short-listing only one of those entries will be able to go through to the final choice.
Photographs must be in keeping with the theme “Out and About”, (i.e. animals outside) and must be accompanied by a brief description of the subject with a maximum of 100 words.
Please supply the best quality and largest image you can. Avoid downsampling images for emailing purposes.
High resolution digital entries must be emailed to outandabout@vbd.co.uk – most smartphones and digital cameras will take a reasonable quality photo. If emailing from a smartphone, choose the “Actual Size” option if asked about reducing message size. A minimum file size of around 1.6MB should be sufficient.
Veterinary Business Development Ltd accepts no responsibility for incomplete or delayed entries.
Each entry should include the animal’s name (if known), your name, telephone number, your qualification(s), practice name and practice address.
By entering the competition you are giving Veterinary Business Development Ltd permission to publish the photograph and details in the VN Times 2019 wall calendar and for the free use of the image elsewhere by Veterinary Business Development Ltd.
By entering the competition you are giving Veterinary Business Development Ltd consent to retain your data for six months.
All photographs must be the entrant’s own work. If you are submitting a photograph of your animal taken by someone else, please supply written permission from the owner that they are happy for you to enter it in the competition and for you to receive the prize if you are a winner.
Photos may only contain animals or people if you have the owner’s/person’s prior consent. Written consent will be required from a parent/guardian/carer if any person under the age of 18 or vulnerable adult is photographed.
First prize: £1,000 Amazon.co.uk voucher. Runners-up: 11 people will each receive a £50 Amazon.co.uk voucher. All 12 winning animals will feature in the VN Times 2019 wall calendar, with the first prize-winning entry appearing on the front cover.
There is no cash alternative to the prizes.
Veterinary Business Development Ltd accepts no liability for loss or misplacement of the prizes once in the winner’s possession.
The VN Times 2019 wall calendar will be mailed with the December 2018 issue of VN Times.
Life doesn’t come with a manual, more’s the pity. How much easier would it be if we were automatons, told exactly where to go and what to do? No big decisions to be made or uncertain futures to be faced.
But then, there wouldn’t be any adventures either. With no guidebook, we have to choose our own career (great choice, by the way) and chart our own course.
You can read all about people navigating their own futures in this edition; from the nurse set to become a social media star to the RVNs behind Kent’s newest veterinary nursing school.
Indeed, education is a wonderful gift that keeps on giving, long after we have left our school days behind. Noel Fitzpatrick, aka “The Supervet”, discusses this very notion, and how it could tackle the retention crisis.
Seize opportunities
As you will hopefully see from the July issue of VN Times, opportunities are all around you; whether you want a fresh start, to take on a new role or help others on their journey (see opposite page for an inspiring mentor-student story).
You have the freedom to choose your next move, whatever it may be.
The poet Erin Hanson wrote: “And you ask, ‘what if I fall?’ Oh but my darling, what if you fly?”
Change can be scary. But it can also be exhilarating, liberating and exciting – and it happens all the time.
By the time you read this, for example, Harry and Meghan will have made one of the biggest changes possible by embarking on married life (read how some homeless hounds marked the occasion on page 1 of June’s edition of VN Times).
Closer to home, plans to open the UK’s ninth vet school in 2020 have been given the green light (page 1) and it is anticipated the collaboration between Keele and Harper Adams Universities will foster strong relationships between vets, RVNs and animal care professionals from the start.
Dare to dream
Effecting change or undertaking a challenge takes strength and bravery – from creating a district VN conference (page 2) to volunteering abroad (page 2). Yet daring to dream pays off, as you will see in the pages that follow. For my part, becoming VN Times editor is a big change, but a dream come true, and I am honoured to be penning (or rather, typing) this foreword.
I have long admired the profession and am constantly inspired by, and in awe of, your dedication and commitment – not only to animals you care for, but owners, colleagues and people outside the veterinary sphere, who you help in so many ways on a daily basis.
Danny Kaye once said: “Life is a great big canvas; throw all the paint you can at it.” I invite you to use this magazine as your own canvas to share your news, views and ideas.
Wonderful things occur in the profession every day – from fund-raisers and scientific breakthroughs, to personal achievements and team victories, and I, for one, cannot wait to hear all about them.
So, as we step into the future together, I urge you to be proud of who you are and what you do, and embrace change. Exciting times are ahead, and who knows? Perhaps the best is yet to come…
Helen has had a varied career. Qualifying in 1996, she started in general nursing before concentrating on consulting. In 2004, she left practice to work for Petplan, but quickly realised she missed practice life.
Returning in 2007, Helen opened her own practice, employing the vet, finding the premises and having them fitted out. In 2013, she sold it, recognising its growth required more than a sole VN.
Helen now works for Onswitch as one of the trainers on its Bertha Bus, and is a project manager at Mojo undertaking various veterinary projects including working alongside International Cat Care.
Why is she standing?
Helen says she will “fight for VNs to have their voice heard” if she is elected.
“I am proud to call myself an RVN and be part of a dedicated, caring and hardworking profession,” she said. “I am passionate about getting our profession heard.”
This passion is evident when you see how Helen has been promoting the VN title petition. She has written to her MP, generated an article in her local newspaper and even contacted the Chris Evans breakfast show on BBC Radio 2 on the eve of BVNA Congress for the past two years – “VNs would have heard their profession mentioned in the ‘representing the nation’ section,” she said.
Helen believes her daily contact with vet professionals of all kinds is a strength. “Working as a trainer and PR, I meet many VNs, student VNs, vets and receptionists, which keeps me in touch with the issues in our profession,” she said.
Attempting to protect the title is “only the beginning of a great VN future”, says Helen, which should open up more opportunities for VNs and lead to the profession “gaining the recognition we deserve”.
Hustings highlights
Helen thinks Defra’s promise to review Schedule 3, and the possibility of having a tiered system where VNs undertake post-registration qualifications, could be a good thing for career engagement.
“As we qualify, our skills develop from our day one skills and our interests grow, with some VNs preferring more clinical roles in practice and surgery, and others preferring more client contact. Until you’ve experienced that, you don’t know where you want your career to take you,” she said. “By including post-registration qualifications, maybe this would help career development, VNs feeling they had a career and that it was worth staying in the veterinary profession.
“I know this is a main area for why people leave the profession, so I think it is good we work on career development,” she said.
Summerleaze Veterinary Hospital in Maidenhead was where Samantha gained her NVQ in veterinary nursing in 2009.
Shortly afterwards, she began working at North Downs Specialist Referrals (NDSR), where she achieved her Graduate Diploma in Professional and Clinical Veterinary Nursing from the RVC. After four years at NDSR, Samantha had a brief spell at Moor Cottage Veterinary Hospital in Bracknell before taking the medicine nurse team leader role at Chester Gates Referral Hospital. After a year she moved back to Kent and took up the wards supervisor job at NDSR. She also teaches the Diploma in Veterinary Nursing at Hadlow College.
Why is she standing?
“Exciting” and “dynamic” are the two words Samantha uses to describe the veterinary nursing profession right now, with VNs being seen “more and more as professionals in [their] own right”. “I hope this is only going to get better,” she said.
Samantha also says she would bring “enthusiasm and dedication” to the council, as well as her passion of educating student nurses.
“I always strive to improve my knowledge and nursing skills and have the drive and determination to help mould the profession moving forward,” she said. “I have been privileged to work with a number of amazing nurses and I would like the profession to get the recognition it deserves. I believe it is moving in the right direction with lots of exciting changes on the way, but I cannot imagine a better time to get involved with the profession’s future.”
Another challenge she’s ready for, says Samantha, is the role of RVNs within practice.
“As the qualification and further qualifications increase in skill level, it would be rewarding to see this acknowledged with further delegation to RVNs,” she said.
Hustings highlights
Samantha said she is standing for VN council because, “like a lot of people”, she was not sure “what the council did” and “wanted to play a more active role in the decision-making process of the profession I feel passionately and strongly about”.
As a teacher, it was all about education in Samantha’s video.
“I think our pre-registration education possibly needs reviewing,” she said. “Training placements are scarce and quite hard to find, and this is something we need to work on with employers and course providers to improve for nurses who want to train in the future. On post-registration education… I think RVNs really need to see the value of CPD and I think it should be something that should be undertaken and enjoyed and something we should be able to use in the future.”
