To: UK Government & Parliment
Protect the title 'Veterinary Nurse'
Currently the title ‘veterinary nurse’ is not protected in law, and therefore anyone, even if they lack the relevant training and education, can refer to themselves as a veterinary nurse. The veterinary profession believes that this should change.
Why is this important?
Veterinary Nurses our your pets advocates. We are highly trained members of staff who look after your much loved family pets as if they were our own. Currently anyone can call them self a Vet Nurse. You take you family pets to the vets and expect high standards of care and for them to be looked after by fully trained and qualified staff. We spend years learning and earning our qualification, we have to know the anatomy of many different species, we take blood and other bodily fluids and look for micro organisms, we monitor anesthetics and know when problems arise and how to correct them, we work out complicated calculations and give complex medication, we are x-rays/CTs/MRI technicians, we are dental hygienists, administrators, grief counselors, and without us your pets are at risks. We take our work home with us, we put your pets before our own sometimes. We need your support. Protect your pet, by protecting us!
Under direction from a veterinary surgeon, registered veterinary nurses (RVNs) are allowed to give medical treatment to, or carry out minor surgery on, animals under (Schedule 3 of the Veterinary Surgeons Act 1966).
They commit to follow our Code of Professional Conduct, keep their skills and knowledge up-to-date and, if they should fall short of their professional responsibilities, they may be subject to our disciplinary process.
RVNs found guilty of serious professional misconduct can be suspended or removed from the Register at the direction of the RVN Disciplinary Committee.
We therefore believe that it is inappropriate for people without formal training to describe themselves as a ‘veterinary nurse’, and that to do so potentially puts animal welfare at risk.
Protecting the title ‘veterinary nurse’ is widely supported by the veterinary nursing profession and the public. This is evidenced by a 2012 HM Government e-petition, calling for the statutory regulation of veterinary nurses, which received over 2,500 signatures.
Furthermore, protection of the title is supported by the British Veterinary Nursing Association and the British Veterinary Association, the respective representative bodies for veterinary nurses and veterinary surgeons in the UK.
Under direction from a veterinary surgeon, registered veterinary nurses (RVNs) are allowed to give medical treatment to, or carry out minor surgery on, animals under (Schedule 3 of the Veterinary Surgeons Act 1966).
They commit to follow our Code of Professional Conduct, keep their skills and knowledge up-to-date and, if they should fall short of their professional responsibilities, they may be subject to our disciplinary process.
RVNs found guilty of serious professional misconduct can be suspended or removed from the Register at the direction of the RVN Disciplinary Committee.
We therefore believe that it is inappropriate for people without formal training to describe themselves as a ‘veterinary nurse’, and that to do so potentially puts animal welfare at risk.
Protecting the title ‘veterinary nurse’ is widely supported by the veterinary nursing profession and the public. This is evidenced by a 2012 HM Government e-petition, calling for the statutory regulation of veterinary nurses, which received over 2,500 signatures.
Furthermore, protection of the title is supported by the British Veterinary Nursing Association and the British Veterinary Association, the respective representative bodies for veterinary nurses and veterinary surgeons in the UK.
