RVNs (registered veterinary nurses) and Vet Technicians do not get enough of the spotlight or credit for the work that vet practices do in my opinion. They are the pins holding all the cogs together, and much of our work as vets would not be possible without them.
An appreciation for vet nurses though doesn’t seem to be ubiquitous and the more I find out, the more I’m appalled by how little they receive as remuneration and in respect from clients (and sadly vets) alike.
The current salary climate for nurses
RVN’s typically get paid low to mid 20k’s when they qualify and anecdotally less as an REVN (equine). And with the current living costs exponentially rising, this gives extremely little breathing space for savings or emergencies.
According to the recent SPVS annual survey, the median pay package across the sector for vet nurses was £24,227, rising to £31,031 for head nurses.
I spoke to Molly Fiander (from Management for Locums) who is a locum RVN and entrepreneur. She described how when she qualified, she could only scrape together savings of £50 per month, and despondently felt that her long term goal of buying her own house was virtually impossible with her nursing salary in a permanent job.
When asked about the likelihood of pay-rises helping things financially, she said it was extremely unlikely to expect a pay-rise that would get her anywhere near the £30k mark.
How does that compare to NHS nurses
Newly qualified nurses entering the NHS at Band 5 will get a starting salary of £25,655 (2022). This can grow up to £31,534 after 4 years of experience. When human nurses move up to more senior roles, they jump up a band. The Band 6 (Senior Nurses, Deputy Ward Managers, Health Visitors and various specialist Nurses) pay range goes up to £39,027 however it is estimated that across the UK, the average nurse’s salary is between £33,000 and £35,000.
Essentially on average this is £10k higher than our veterinary nurses. Although almost impossible to compare the jobs directly, both involve lots of studying and hours in clinics to qualify, physical labour, stressful workplaces, long shifts requiring constant attention to detail and compassion for patients.
But should one role be worth £10k less?
A dangerous job!
The other thing that comes into the equation is whether nurses (and vets for that matter!) are fairly compensated for the danger you put yourselves in on a daily basis.
According to the 2019 BEVA survey, equine vets are in one of the riskiest civilian jobs and although nurses weren’t included in the study, in my opinion carry as much danger as us vets. It doesn’t stop with horses! Cat scratches, dog bites, this is not a normal office job.
What do future options look like?
So what can nurses do to boost their financial wellbeing? Making the move to locumming could be a great option. Molly managed to go from distant house dreams to a significant proportion of her house deposit saved after locumming for only one year! Better hourly rates and especially for night shift work can really help out RVNs struggling financially. And all your terms for when and where you work. If you want to find out more about making the move to locumming as a nurse, Molly’s instagram page is an amazing resource full of tips and help so get in touch!
Another step in the right direction is that Medivet recently announced all of their RVNs will be on a minimum base salary of £30,000 per year. Not only that, but they’re also providing each RVN and SVN with a £750 CPD budget. This is a really positive sign that hopefully the industry is recognising how important veterinary nurses are and that we need to reward them appropriately!
According to the 2019 RCVS study, out of the nearly 25% of RVNs who said they were planning on leaving the profession in the next 5 years, 77% of them noted that pay was the main reason for this. It is now 2022, and 3 years on from that study we are beginning to see the glimmer of change ahead. Long overdue? Yes.
Utilisation
Moving onto my next point of underutilisation of nurses in practice. Nurses have so many clinical skills at the time of qualification and a myriad of more which can be learnt and developed throughout their career. Yet clinics still seem to be using their RVNs as cleaners, kit packers and equipment sorters, animal handlers and the anaesthetic chart fillers.
Do people have a fulfilled and lifelong career without challenge and learning? No.
Will you get this from cleaning kennels and zero CPD? No.
Back to Molly: ‘Since being a locum, I have learned how to place jugular catheters, how to take an art sample, how to perform a basic triage scan, how to deal with difficult clients.. the list is endless’. Being exposed to practices who take the time to teach her new skills has meant that she feels challenged and fulfilled in her work, whilst being paid properly for it!
But what is stopping all practices being so proactive with their nurses? A lot of what she attributes the nurse development avoidance to is lack of time (or unwilling to sacrifice the time), money, or worry that the nurse will leave them with their new skills!
Nourishment, listening to what nurses want to do in their career and supporting them in this, is how you get nurses to stay.
Molly Fiander, Management for Locums
Yet, this could not play out more differently for practice owners in real life. If they made the time to coach and teach nurses in areas of clinical interest, they free up vets’ time for other clinical work and can charge for new nursing services – both resulting in more revenue and better outcomes for patients!
Conclusion
In my opinion, nurses should play a large role in the diagnostic work-up of many many cases in practice. Although a little more tricky sometimes in equine, both roles can be largely the same. Admitting the animal after the vet has seen it, placing a catheter, taking diagnostic samples, performing radiographs, suggesting multi-modal analgesia options or calculating fluid therapy plans – this is only the tip of the iceberg and it starts with respect and trust from vets and the support team.
And the result? Nurses who feel supported, respected, challenged and fulfilled. And hopefully in the future, our awesome RVNs will finally be compensated with salaries they deserve for their skills and care.
ThisVetCan 