Lead Registered Veterinary Nurse

Practice: Village Vet (Highbury)

Hours: Full time, 42 hours, 1:4 Saturdays

Salary: Up to £37,275, depending on experience

If you want to advance your career and step into a leadership role, look no further than Village Vet Highbury We have a very rare and exciting opportunity to join our excellent team!

We're looking for a Registered Veterinary Nurse with at least two years post-qualification experience to join our clinical team and help our practice grow. As an ideal candidate, you should have excellent communication skills, be highly organised, and work comfortably with autonomy in a small but fast-paced practice.

The head vet and lead nurse are supported by a dedicated team comprising a Veterinary Surgeon, Registered Veterinary Nurse, Patient Care Assistant and Client Care Assistant.

The Lead Nurse role is crucial to our business's ability to provide patients with the highest level of clinical care. The Lead Nurse will ensure that nursing procedures are carried out with maximum efficiency, leading to an exceptional standard of patient care. They will work closely with their team to cultivate a positive work environment, support profitability, and foster the practice's growth.

The Lead Nurse's responsibilities include nurse consultations, inpatient care, administering anaesthesia, assisting with procedures, and providing associated peri-operative care. The role will primarily focus on clinical duties, allowing only 5% for administrative tasks.

The Nursing Career Framework is designed to support career progression and development and supports clinically focussed pathways and a people leadership pathway. 
Our Nurse Career Framework also supports a competitive salary reflecting skills, and experience held while identifying future goals and opportunities 
CPD including advanced qualifications is actively encouraged as this facilitates development of the veterinary nursing teams to ensure the team are fully utilised and able to work at the top of their licence.
 

Main purpose and goals

Work with the Head Veterinary Surgeon, Regional/Clinical Nurse Managers and the senior management team to:

• Enhance patient and client care
• Support and introduce clinical standards to ensure we maintain a high quality of nursing care.
• Provide effective line management of those in your team, including regular feedback to the Clinical Nursing Manager, who can ensure mentoring, coaching and development discussions are carried out where needed.
• Conduct Nurse appraisals if and when required by the Regional support or Nursing Manager for those who work as part of your team
• Participate in external CPD appropriate to your role plus any in-house training, ensuring post-training feedback forms are completed/cascade relevant information to appropriate team members
• Implement the Practice Standards Scheme across the practice
• Implement the International Society of Feline Medicine (ISFM) standards across the practice
• Organise the patient flow and diary management, ensuring the most effective and efficient approach to the workload is maintained
• Identifying and improving the efficiency of the patient journey from admission through to discharge
• Demonstrate and model expected professional behaviours, demonstrating an awareness of the professional responsibilities of other team members
• Provide guidance, supervision and support to Student Veterinary Nurses and/or Patient Care Assistants. Undertake relevant training and liaise with internal and external agencies as necessary
• Oversee the financial aspects of the practice to include (where required) daily and weekly banking, management of debts and/or insurance claims as appropriate
• Overseeing equipment and stock management. Including routine maintenance, placing all orders, liaising with others to reorder items promptly
• Perform regular audits (including review of stock, equipment and Vetsafe reporting (where appropriate). Share the results with the practice team and senior management to make changes where appropriate
• Completion of practice rota
• Working with other lead nurses and the Nursing Managers to achieve this
• Demonstrating an excellent work protocol in all nursing duties, including a high level of hygiene and the ability to recognise and undertake relevant actions concerning infection control.

Benefits

• 25 days holiday + bank holidays
• Additional paid day off to celebrate your birthday
• Enhanced equal family leave
• Enhanced sickness policy
• RCVS & VDS fees paid
• CPD allowance and allocated CPD days
• Access to an extensive range of clinical and non-clinical learning and development programmes
• Progression & development opportunities
• Staff discount schemes
• Discounts with PetPlan
• Wellness program, including;

• Employee Assistance Programme (EAP)
• Gym membership discount
• Cycle2Work scheme
• Eye care vouchers
• Flu vaccine voucher

• Recruitment reward scheme

About Us

Village Vet is a progressive, forward-thinking, premium veterinary group, based in London, Hertfordshire and Cambridge. We have a mix of small and medium-sized first opinion practices supported by four large 24-hour hospitals.

We have a strong recognisable brand, and we are looking for people who share our vision and our culture. We have over 400 staff members across our 30 sites and are very proud of our achievements.

We believe in supporting and investing in our staff and facilities, ensuring that our clients and their pets receive only the very best care. Our staff are motivated and encouraged to gain additional qualifications across all levels of employment and we offer a structured programme of career progression within our group.

Our clinicians are well supported by a cohesive team of nurses, students and patients care assistant’s (including a dedicated night team) all of which are actively supported in their career development as part of the Linnaeus nursing framework.

Our vision is to be recognised as an exceptional and trusted provider of primary veterinary care to our patients and clients within the communities that we serve. Every patient, every client, every visit.

We have a diverse and varied caseload, and our facilities are fully equipped to handle the services we provide. Our practice includes digital X-ray and digital dental X-ray services, a wide range of surgical equipment, and modern dental and laboratory equipment.

There are a variety of local amenities, shops, and transport links that surround our Highbury practice.

Part of an amazing global family

Being part of this amazing global group gives us the benefit of a huge network of experts and specialists, a future we can invest in and the security that allows us to concentrate on what we do best – caring for pets. We are proud to count some of the finest specialists, veterinary surgeons and nurses in the UK among our team. Being part of the Mars family of businesses provides huge development opportunities across the group for our Associates.

The future of the veterinary world is at the heart of everything we do. We are all individual but two important things bring us together: a commitment to excellence and our passion to make A BETTER WORLD FOR PETS.

Linnaeus is owned by Mars, that makes us part of their 70,000 Veterinary Health Associates who spend their days thinking about the 400 million pets of the world and how to improve their lives. Being part of this amazing global group gives us the benefit of a huge network of experts and specialists, a future we can invest in and the security that allows us to concentrate on what we do best – caring for pets.

Our Associates are fundamental to our success, and we are proud to count some of the finest specialists, veterinary surgeons and nurses in the UK among our team.

Being part of the Mars family of businesses provides huge development opportunities across the group for our Associates.

Linnaeus is an equal-opportunity employer, and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment, we are committed to fostering a culture that is inclusive and diverse for all our associates.

If you would like to apply for this role, please click the Apply Button or for more information, please feel free to reach out directly to our Talent Acquisition team at careers@linnaeusgroup.co.uk

At Linnaeus, we are committed to supporting the physical and mental health of all our Associates. We have an amazing team of Mental Health First Aiders (MHFA) across our practices and central support office in addition to a confidential Employee Assistance Programme which is available for everyone. For more information, click here https://www.linnaeusgroup.co.uk/about-us/health-and-wellbeing

Interested in learning more about our current Nurse opening and for a confidential conversation, please get in touch with our Talent Acquisition team at cherie.dean@linnaeusgroup.co.uk