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SPVS Senior Officer Working To Restructure VN Training

Author: SPVS
Posted: Tuesday 3rd November, 2009. 00:00:00

JACQUI Molyneux, SPVS President Elect, has announced details of the vital work she has been involved in to radically restructure and improve the training of veterinary nurses in the UK.

A link to the consultation document based on the findings is pasted below and the results of the consultation process will be published soon.

For the last 10 years the VN qualification has involved candidates sitting for an NVQ in veterinary nursing. This NVQ is however being phased out by the Government, whatever party that may be, from next September. The RCVS is therefore taking this opportunity to put in place a viable alternative qualification to improve and build upon the current structure.

Jacqui explained: "We are coming from the standpoint that, worryingly, there is a dire shortage of RVNs available for practices to employ. If we do not take this opportunity to do something now, the situation will in all likelihood deteriorate even further.

"I chair a working party convened in May which has been looking at current VN training and how to improve it. There was an initial written period of information gathering followed by three full days of face-to-face consultation meetings with invited interested parties in July and September. This period of consultation has resulted in a proposal being put forward.

She added: "The proposals are radical and in some ways controversial but have been put together in response to the feedback we have received so far. I must, however, reiterate that it is, at this stage, a proposal and we are still in a consultation period.

"At the end of the period we will have another working party meeting and reassess the proposal. This will then go to the Awarding Body Board and on to both VN council and RCVS council for full approval. I hope we will end up with a scheme that reflects the vital role nurses play in a modern veterinary practice.

The consultation document can be found here

There is also a new Q & A document (sourced from the same page), which answers some of the more common questions.

Jacqui Molyneux has served as an RCVS councillor since 2006 (elected by the members of the RCVS i.e. other vets.) She served as one of the RCVS councillors on the Vet Nurse Council from her initial election and became Vice Chair in 2008. At the same time she became Chair of the Awarding Body Board, which oversees all issues relating to the actual qualification of the nurses - the syllabus, the structure of the awards, the exams, to name but a few areas covered.

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