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Tag: Diploma

  • RCVS VN council election manifesto: Samantha Thompson RVN

    RCVS VN council election manifesto: Samantha Thompson RVN

    SAMANTHA THOMPSON RVN

    Samantha Thompson RVN.

    Wards supervisor at North Downs Specialist Referrals (NDSR), Surrey

    T: 07736 736341

    E: samantha@thompson.co.za

    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.”

  • RCVS VN council election manifesto: Stacey Bullock RVN

    RCVS VN council election manifesto: Stacey Bullock RVN

    STACEY BULLOCK RVN

    Stacey Bullock RVN.

    VN team manager at Northumberland College

    T: 07702 064124

    E: staceybullock@vetnurse.co.uk

    Stacey started her career with an animal care course in 2000. However, she soon saw a local advert for a student VN position and got the job.

    She registered as an RVN in 2004 and by 2006 was a head nurse. After dabbling in practice management, Stacey secured TP status in 2010, after which she gained her assessor qualification, completed examiner training and her diploma in teaching. In 2012, she saw a chance to teach full-time, which she “leapt at”. She now works at Northumberland College, her third teaching institution.

    Why is she standing?

    Stacey says her main reason for standing for council is its opportunities for VN training.

    “I missed out on the green book days, but I took pride in the building of my portfolio, flourishing from year one to year two of the NVQ,” she said. “I witness many students with nursing potential simply strike or burn out from the demands of the diploma as it stands. Worse still, I have strong candidates slip through my hands embarking on animal management courses as they have no experience to secure a TP placement.

    “I believe there is a course design to cater for all gifted individuals destined to be RVNs, one that will fill the deficit in qualified workers that I believe should be a necessity in every practice, big or small.”

    Stacey wants to “address the bigger picture”, with training centres and TPs working together to make data such as work experience opportunities and predicted number of placements available.

    “I want to see a standardised approach for delivering core syllabus in all TPs and centres with better support and guidance available to all involved in training,” she said.

    Hustings highlights

    Stacey says she stands for “education and unison”, and thinks a lack of VN engagement with the RCVS could be helped with the use of regional coordinators, similar to that of the BVNA. She also believes a review of Schedule 3 could “put away the grey areas and get rid of the fear factor for all involved”.

  • RCVS council election manifesto: Christopher ‘Kit’ Sturgess

    RCVS council election manifesto: Christopher ‘Kit’ Sturgess

    CHRISTOPHER ‘KIT’ STURGESS

    Kit Sturgess.

    MA, VetMB, PhD, CertVR, CertVC, DSAM, MRCVS

    39 New Forest Drive, Brockenhurst, Hampshire SO42 7QT.

    T 01590 623033

    M 07974 017303

    E kit@vetfreedom.com

    PROPOSERS: Rob Lowe, Gerry Polton

    I qualified from the University of Cambridge in 1986 and spent six years in first-opinion practice, moving from mixed through equine to 100 per cent small animals. During this time, I gained my certificate in radiology.

    My desire to “know more” brought me back to university where I spent the next 10 years at the University of Bristol and the RVC gaining my PhD, certificate in cardiology and diploma in small animal medicine.

    Following a brief period in industry, I worked in private referral practice for seven years. During this time, I set up a small animal referral centre that rapidly expanded year on year to meet the demand for the service we provided from general practitioners.

    Since 2012, I have been 60 per cent clinical work, allowing more time to spend with my young family and pursue my other interests within the veterinary profession, particularly education and support for general practitioners through the RCVS council, the BSAVA, supporting candidates for the newer modular certificate, responding to case enquiries and providing CPD.

    I am an RCVS recognised specialist in small animal medicine and an advanced practitioner in veterinary cardiology. I have lectured worldwide to the complete spectrum of the veterinary profession, as well as writing peer-reviewed articles and textbooks.

    Manifesto

    Working with the RCVS council and staff over the past three years, I have encountered a dedicated, fascinating and rewarding group of people with a vast range of different skills, experience and knowledge.

    On council, my main focus has been on education, particularly developing and launching the advanced practitioner status. This has been very successful and will prove a major force in bringing clarity to further professional qualifications. Beyond this, the Vet Futures and the Mind Matters Initiative are exciting projects and I am keen to continue to be involved. With my broad background and experience of most areas of the profession, I feel I can bring a valuable perspective to these discussions.

    Since qualifying 30 years ago, the profession has changed hugely and this rate of change is increasing as new technologies and ways of communicating become available in a 24/7 world. The RCVS has adopted a forward-looking, proactive strategy I would like to support and help develop, ensuring there remains focus on a number of key elements that are core to the profession:

    • Communicating our skills as veterinary surgeons and scientists to the general public and government.
    • Maintaining robust, lifelong learning through achievable further professional qualifications and outcome-based CPD.
    • Promoting the health and welfare of the veterinary profession as a whole, so it remains vigorous and vibrant and continues to attract great people to work in it.
    • Ensuring governance of the RCVS continues to develop so it is transparent, accessible, relevant and responsive to our current, rapidly changing world.

    My CV clearly shows I have broad experience of the profession and have retained strong links with general practice. Allied to this, I understand the needs of veterinary education, research and business as well as the importance of good governance and forward planning.