Position: Registered Veterinary Nurse – No OOH
Salary: up to £30,000 (dependant on experience)
A rare and exciting opportunity has come up for a Registered Veterinary Nurse to become a valuable member of Castle Vet’s nursing team. This comprises of 13 RVNs, 2 SVNs and 3 Animal Nursing assistants. Castle Vets' has a focus on high standards of patient and veterinary care and being able to offer ‘advanced’ 1st opinion facilities, diagnostic and patient care. This can be seen in the team’s achievements of RCVS Practice Hospital Status, Gold Cat friendly status, Silver Rabbit friendly status, fear free trained vets and separate exotic wards, cat facilities to dog ward.
We are seeking an experienced and proactive RVN who not only shares our dedication to upholding high standards of patient care but also seeks fulfilment in managing a varied caseload. The ideal candidate is eager to join our nursing team in taking part in schedule 3 activities, always looking for new ideas on veterinary advancement and enjoys actively engaging with clients through nurse clinics.
Who we are:
We are a large busy, small animal practice situated in Reading that has recently been awarded Hospital status by the RCVS. Having been here for over 100 years we are a well-established practice with lots of bonded clients, we also offer outpatient and referral services to local practices. Our varied caseload spans routine surgeries to intricate spinal surgeries. We have a deceptively large building with 10 consult rooms and specialised rooms such as a CT room, dental suite (including dental x-ray) separate cat and dog theatres and prep areas, a dedicated x-ray and ultrasound room and separate patient wards (cat ward, dog ward and exotics ward). We are a Gold cat friendly practice and have a separate cat waiting area and reception, consult rooms, prep, ward, isolation, exercise room and theatre, all dedicated to a calm environment for our feline patients.
At Castle Vets we pride ourselves on getting our nursing team really involved with the case load. We encourage our nurses to assist with aspects such as schedule 3, imaging, triaging, nurse clinics and admitting and discharging patients and we also have a number of nurses running their own nursing clinic programmes. We are a Vets Now host practice which means that there are no out of hours or bank holiday work within this role, this also means that our patients can stay overnight without transfers to Vets Now unless unstable.
Join our experienced and collaborative team:
We have a friendly team of 8 Vets including 2 certificate holders (ophthalmology and diagnostic imaging) and 13 Nurses, some of which can often be found enjoying some of our monthly welling being activities and social events such as Christmas Wreath making, pottery painting, and enjoying a summer BBQ! We have a Clinical director, Practice Manager, 2 Senior nurse managers, a senior vet and a head receptionist to support our teams. We have a team with a considerable amount of experience, with a number of team members having been here over 20 years. We have a very friendly and supportive culture and there is always someone around to offer advice or support with knowledge sharing.
Work Schedule:
- Right candidate is essential and with the size of our team this means that working hours and pattern are flexible and negotiable.
- A standard RVN shift pattern compromises of a 37 hour week 8am to 7pm Monday to Friday
- Plus one Saturday morning shift every four weeks (8 am - 1:00 pm).
Work-life balance and wellbeing:
- 6.6 weeks annual leave, inclusive of bank holidays
- Increasing holiday allowance based on length of service
- Your birthday as a paid day off
- Private medical insurance
- Staff dedicated wellbeing room in addition to a tearoom
- Enhanced family-friendly policies, including maternity/paternity/adoption/shared parental and surrogacy pay
- Cycle to work scheme
- Pawsome benefits - reward gateway giving discounts and cashback with 100's of retailer
- Monthly in practice wellbeing activities
- Monthly social activities outside of work
- Initiatives focused on employee wellbeing, including discounted gym membership
- Non-accidental injury support
Benefits:
- Company pension- 5% Employee/3% Employer
- Discounted staff pet care
- Shop discounts
- Educational lunch and learn opportunities
- Free on-site parking
- Easy transport links
Development:
- £550 CPD allowance with 3 days paid pro rata
- Certificate support
- Learning and development opportunities via the IVC Evidensia Academy
- All our Vets & Nurses can apply for research funding
- Infection Prevention and Control Programme
- Quality Improvement Programme
- Professional Memberships VDS cover RCVS fees