Programme of events announced to celebrate 60 years of veterinary nursing

This month (July 2021), we have launched a series of Diamond Jubilee celebration events and activities, including a webinar series, podcasts, eBook looking at the history of veterinary nursing and an online Diamond Jubilee activities area. 

As well as this year marking the 60th anniversary of the first RCVS-accredited Animal Nursing Auxiliary training scheme, the profession has also recently reached the milestone of being the first year when 20,000 veterinary nurses (VNs) are registered on the Veterinary Nurses Register.

The Diamond Jubilee events will celebrate how far the profession has come and pay tribute to those who have impacted and influenced veterinary nursing over the years. The celebrations will include a series of webinars covering the past, present and future of the profession, with presentations from eminent veterinary nurses, including:

• ‘Creating diamonds: A decade of progress’ – A webinar exploring the highlights of the last ten years of veterinary nursing, hosted by VN Council Member, Jane Davidson RVN.
• ’60 years on and still shining’ – Hosted by Jill Macdonald RVN and RCVS VN Project Coordinator, this webinar will look at what career development opportunities have been made available for veterinary nurses and what has been put in place to attract the next generation of VNs.
• ‘Creating diamonds of the future’ – This webinar will be hosted by practising veterinary nurse, Carla Husband RVN, who will be looking at the future of the profession including how VNs will engage with the recently adopted proposals of the Legislative Working Party (LWP), how they can work towards the recently established Certificate in Advanced Veterinary Nursing and what the future of the profession could look like.

As well as the webinar programme, we will be running a series of podcasts with prominent members of the profession. Each podcast episode will have a different host, reflecting on an area of veterinary nursing that they are passionate about.

The first podcast will be hosted by Matthew Rendle RVN, Chair of the RCVS Veterinary Nurses Council, who will be interviewing Jean Turner RVN; a registered veterinary nurse since 1971 and the recipient of the inaugural RCVS Golden Jubilee Award 10 years ago.

The first webinar, ‘Creating diamonds: A decade of progress’ and first podcast episode, are available now to watch and listen to on the Diamond Jubilee webpage.

The Diamond Jubilee celebrations will culminate in September with the launch of an eBook. The eBook will look at all aspects of veterinary nursing, starting with the launch of the Animal Nursing Auxiliary training scheme in 1961, through to the launch of the VN Futures project and new qualifications for VNs including the Certificate in Advanced Veterinary Nursing.

Matthew Rendle RVN (pictured), Chair of the Veterinary Nurses Council, said: “The veterinary nursing Diamond Jubilee celebrations are a fitting way of paying tribute to veterinary nursing – a profession that does so much for animal health and welfare. The celebrations will look back on all that has been achieved by the profession and give us an opportunity to engage with RVNs to come up with ideas for how we can continue to advance and develop our amazing profession.

“I am particularly happy about the fact that, earlier this month, I was informed that we have reached the milestone of 20,000 veterinary nurses on the Register which is an amazing achievement. When the VN Register was launched in 2007 there were just over 7,000 members of our profession – the fact we have almost trebled in number since then shows just how far we have come in a short space of time as invaluable members of the veterinary team providing professional care for the nation’s animals.”

Anyone wishing to take part in the celebrations can share their memories or pictures of veterinary nursing on social media, using the hashtag #VNDiamonds