Lead Wards Registered Veterinary Nurse

Your work will remain primarily clinical, to include wards nursing and care for inpatients across all disciplines, upholding clinical quality standards in relation to IV catheter, fluid therapy, feeding tube, central line, urinary catheter, wound drain and trach tube maintenance & care, nutritional management, anaesthesia recovery, physiotherapy and critical care nursing. As a focused role, we recognise and appreciate your area of special interest & expertise and so your work will be scheduled and prioritised within the wards department; though may be  to help in another area within the capabilities of an RVN on occasion. The induction period will involve rotating through our services for understanding of hospital workflow and responsibilities.

Your leadership responsibilities will include providing line management and training to team members, conducting performance reviews and inductions, SOP development and coordination for all relevant personnel working within your team. This position will also share patient flow responsibilities to schedule and coordinate case throughput across all departments of the hospital alongside the other Lead RVNs. 

• Provision of a high and sustainable quality of patient care by you and your team, primarily within the wards & ICU services.  

• Prioritise inpatient care and the implementation of nursing care plans.  

• Ensure the comfort and safety of patients undergoing investigations, hospitalisation and surgery. 

• Take responsibility for the management of infectious cases, including educating other members of the team about infectious diseases, zoonotic diseases and barrier nursing. 

• Provide leadership within the nursing team, and line management to those working within the wards, ICU & multi-disciplinary teams, to include recruitment, performance management, hosting meetings and rota coordination. 

• Liaise with our Lead Twilight RVN on management of our wards throughout a 24-hour period, to include SOP development, protocol implementation and policy updates. 

• Ensure accurate record keeping is undertaken, especially regarding anaesthetic and hospitalisation records in SmartFlow. 

• Ensure equipment is appropriately maintained and serviced. 

• Ensure effective communication is maintained within the surgery & anaesthesia teams.  

• Work with the Lead Nurses, Team Leaders and HoNS where  to help develop a skills matrix for nursing requirements within wards, ICU & OOH (night). 

• Assist with stock management within your department and co-ordinate with the pharmacy & purchasing assistant.  

• Participate in team briefings and meetings to ensure effective and efficient communication.  

• Take part in team reflections of incidents and near misses, to continually improve our patient care and safety, including Halo reporting.  

• As a cat-friendly clinic, you will support the International Society of Feline Medicine (ISFM) cat-friendly standards across the hospital.  

• As a dog-friendly clinic, you will support the Dogs Trust and British Veterinary Behaviour Association (BVBA) dog-friendly standards across the hospital.  

• Take part in a range of team committees such as our Sustainability, Culture & Wellbeing or Dog/Cat-Friendly committees, to both explore areas of personal interest and help to shape our impact, culture and standards as a hospital. 

• Seek opportunities to maintain competence in other areas of nursing to ensure a strong level of general nursing capabilities are still achieved. Where suitable take part in role swaps to preserve this competence. 

At Linnaeus, we are committed to supporting the physical and mental health of all our Associates. We have an amazing team of Mental Health First Aiders (MHFA) across our practices and central support office in addition to a confidential Employee Assistance Programme which is available for everyone.

All applications with the relevant skills and qualifications will be carefully considered. If you need any support in completing your application or simply want to find out more about LVS Linnaeus or the role please contact our Talent Acquisition team at  [email protected]

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