One of the UK’s leading veterinary groups has further underlined its support for nursing colleagues by offering free student membership to the British Veterinary Nursing Association (BVNA).

Linnaeus, which has more than 180 sites across the UK and Ireland, is leading the industry in its support of veterinary nurses and has now added the opportunity to join the BVNA to its unique central support nursing team (CSVNT) and nursing representation at executive board level.

The launch of its CSVNT last year, a strategy which aims to develop a career framework to facilitate the skill set development of RVNs throughout their careers, is already paying dividends for Linnaeus, with structured support for nurses at every stage of their professional journeys.

Now, this bespoke partnership will see Linnaeus offer BVNA membership to every one of its 220 population of student nurses, in turn allowing them access to further support throughout their careers. Capitals

Larissa May, pre-registration experience manager at Linnaeus, has been collaborating with the BVNA to promote the association’s student membership opportunity across the group.

She said: “Here at Linnaeus, we are excited to be able to offer this membership to all of our employed SVNs. Our nurses will be given the opportunity of yearly membership simply through registering their interest, which will allow them access to a wide range of benefits as part of the BVNA.

“We recognise the importance of not only supporting our SVNs but also giving them the opportunity to engage within the wider veterinary nursing profession.

“We hope that by opening up this doorway to the wider profession we will encourage our SVNs to further explore their career potential and, in doing so, promote a robust veterinary nursing population.”

Jo Oakden, BVNA president, said: “We are really happy with this movement by Linnaeus to support their SVNs and stand them in good stead going into the profession.

“The BVNA is there to support SVNs and RVNs throughout their career journeys, in their development and in times of need.

“There is a huge amount an SVN can get from their BVNA membership and we hope it will support them through their training and then into their career as an RVN; we are all aiming for the same goal of a profession with resilience, confidence and drive with individual who feel supported and part of the veterinary nursing community.”

Dr Andrea Jeffery, chief nursing officer at Linnaeus and the only person in the UK to sit at executive board level in a nursing capacity, has spearheaded the group’s focus on nursing since joining the business in April 2019.

She said: “We want to ensure Linnaeus has a veterinary nursing population which is supported and developed in order to reach its full potential in its ability to deliver best patient care.

“To help achieve this, we aspire to enable our patient care and nursing teams to achieve success through supportive, well managed training programmes, which our newly-established central support team will help to deliver.

“We’re delighted to be able to offer our student nursing population membership to the BVNA, which opens to the door to further valuable support and professional tools.”

For more information about Linnaeus, and veterinary nursing team opportunities within the group, visit www.linnaeusgroup.co.uk or search for Linnaeus on LinkedIn.

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