Lead Registered Veterinary Nurse

Salary: up to £40,000 – dependent on experience

Location: Village Vet Winchmore Hill

Hours: Full time, 42 hour working week. Working 8 hour shifts either 8am-4.30pm, 9.30am-6pm, 12pm-8.30pm. Share of the Saturday rota and 1 bank holiday a year.

Winchmore Hill are seeking an enthusiastic RVN looking to take that next step into a leadership role. Work alongside our lead vet and Clinical Nursing Manager to support the team of 6 RVNs and 2 PCA's to deliver gold standard care to all our patients.

Overview

As an experienced veterinary nurse in a lead nurse role, you will be critical to the provision and leadership of high standards of client and patient care and line management responsibility. In this role you will be a key member of the nursing leadership team, working collaboratively with the senior leadership team; Clinical Director (CD), Practice Manager (PM), Clinical Nursing Manager (CNM)/Group Nursing Manager (GNM), and clinical teams, to passionately deliver quality patient care, an unrivalled client experience through teamwork, clear communication and utilisation of your knowledge and skills. Approximately 90-95% of your role will be spent undertaking clinical duties, providing support to your clinical teams to deliver an excellent service to patients, including a full share of the on-call rota as required. You will ensure that patients are managed effectively from a nursing perspective to support the financial health of the practice. You will provide direct line management to allocated members of the nursing team. You will embrace our culture with a growth mindset, leading by example with a passion for self-development to support yourself and others.

Main purpose & goals

• To lead yourself and others to deliver high-quality patient care, utilising your experience, and skills and delegating where appropriate.
• To provide direct line management to allocated members of the nursing team.
• Actively involved in recruitment and the provision of induction support.
• Work and communicate effectively with colleagues and clients.
• Demonstrate the ability to be reliable, adaptable, understanding, and empathetic.
• Being accountable for the maintenance of accurate client and patient records.
• Contribute to an outstanding client journey.
• Always provide an efficient, courteous, and helpful service to all clients, suppliers, and external contacts.
• Lead a culture of respect, collaboration, and engagement in the practice team to support well-being, quality, and productivity.
• Ensure the highest levels of patient and client care are achieved through active leadership and line management of the nursing team.
• Uphold and engage in Clinical Standards & Quality Improvement and demonstrate a commitment to continued professional development.
• Understand and implement practice and group policies and comply with regulatory requirements.
• Contribute to the financial health of the business by understanding and controlling costs in the areas that nurses can impact.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead and deliver high-quality patient care.
• Undertake all general nursing duties within the practice, utilising your nursing skills to maximise the provision of nursing care within the remit of your qualification.
• Understand and utilise all Associates’ skills to maximise provision of services appropriate to clinical qualifications and roles within the business; collaborate with other teams in the practice to ensure a team approach.
• Ensure accurate clinical record keeping, including anaesthetic sheets, hospitalisation forms, and clinical notes.
• Uphold premises and patient areas to a high clinical standard, adhering to stringent infection control protocols and maintenance of equipment, reporting faults and damages.
• Work alongside the veterinary and nursing leaders to deliver an efficient quality service.
• Be accountable for any specific tasks or responsibilities delegated.
• Support appropriate delegation across the clinical teams.
• Responsibility for improving quality patient care by seeking feedback at site level and group level audits, contributing to incident reporting, and reviewing.
• Engage and lead Associates in the delivery of high-quality patient care initiatives alongside the CNM/GNM/CD.
• Participate in relevant CPD appropriate to your role, engage with Linnaeus, and in-house training opportunities.
• Actively share learnings with team members, contributing ideas to improve patient care.
• Provide direct line management to allocated members of the nursing team.
• Lead your Associates through the Five Principles and Linnaeus behaviours, displaying enthusiasm with a sense of purpose.
• Demonstrate drive and motivation to ensure your Associates work effectively together, creating a positive, friendly and engaged team and where needed, identify and action any areas for improvement.
• Effectively communicate with your Associates and your line manager around opportunities and feedback.
• Support the creation of annual Associate survey impact plans for your Associates, working collaboratively with the clinical nurse manager, lead nurse team, lead vets and SLT, and ensure regular follow through and progress of the plans.
• Responsible for ensuring your Associates have regular performance conversations, including a mid-year and end-of-year performance development review, using the performance ratings.
• Ensure your Associates understand their roles and responsibilities and have clear business and development objectives, utilising the Leadership Academy where applicable.
• Own any HR procedural requirements within your team to ensure HR processes are completed accurately and promptly, seeking advice from your line manager and the onsite HR contact when needed.
• Responsible for the recruitment and induction of recruits into the team.
• Ensure that any job-related changes are updated promptly onto the HR system and in line with the correct job profile and banding.
• Support your Associate’s wellbeing whilst at work and signpost any support or interventions where required.
• Follow the absence management process for Associates and seek advice from your line manager and the onsite HR contact when needed.

5-10% time allocation for line management responsibilities.

Contribute to an outstanding client experience

• Always provide an efficient, courteous, and helpful service to all clients.
• Build strong positive relationships with clients, demonstrate empathy, and offer an excellent level of service with clear and appropriate communication.
• Obtain informed consent, accurate and documented estimates and support the understanding of treatment recommendations.
• Provide nursing and patient care updates according to practice protocols.
• Have an awareness and understanding of how you can influence the practice’s Net Promoter Score (NPS), applying this knowledge to encourage positive client feedback.
• Guide less experienced members of the team to help them deliver an outstanding client journey.
• Promote a culture of respect, collaboration, and engagement in the practice team to support well-being, quality, and productivity.
• Communicate clearly and respectfully within your practice team.
• Actively engage with performance development reviews (PDR) and informal meetings.
• Utilise meaningful conversations with your line manager and peers to reflect your communication style and identify opportunities for improving your communication outcomes, where necessary.
• Champion self-awareness and use coaching and mentoring to support civility within the workplace.
• Adopt and lead a ‘Just Culture’ to help create an environment where individuals feel free to report errors and learn from mistakes. Being able to raise suggestions or concerns through appropriate channels.
• Ensure that emails, information, protocols, and general communications are read and adopted promptly.
• Access the Linnaeus intranet (The Link) regularly to keep up to date on business news.
• Embrace our mission and adopt the values of being part of the Linnaeus and Mars Veterinary Health Family.
• Engage with Associate surveys as requested to support your practice, Linnaeus, and the wider business.
• Welcome and support any new Associates, locums, or visitors to nurture a positive relationship that promotes our values.
• Ensure the highest levels of patient and client care are achieved through active leadership and line management of the nursing team.
• Provide effective line management to those in your team as agreed with the CNM/GNM.
• Ensure all members in your area are aware of their role responsibilities.
• Work with the Clinical Nursing Manager to help support the identification, prioritisation and implementation of learning, development and CPD for nurses in your area where required.
• Perform regular meaningful conversations (1-2-1s) and performance development reviews (PDRs) with your direct reports.
• Actively support your direct line reports to achieve their business and personal development objectives.
• Identify any performance issues within the nursing team, and seek to understand reasons for this. Feedback to the CNM/GNM who can support you to implement improvement plans.
• Attend relevant nurse meetings and share any updates to the nursing team and Senior Leadership Team (SLT).
• Proactively cascade appropriate communication to your team.
• Support recruitment and induction of new starters alongside your CNM/GNM.

Uphold and engage in Clinical Standards & Quality Improvement

• Maintain clinical standards and engage in quality initiatives e.g., RCVS Practice Standards Scheme, International Society Feline Medicine (ISFM) cat friendly clinic.
• Contribute and encourage others to engage with incident reporting and reviewing.
• Understand and support others understanding of health and safety (H&S) risks. Read all information supplied to enable you to comply with all H&S policies about clinical activities e.g., controlled drugs and radiation safety policies.
• Participate in relevant CPD to ensure compliance with the RCVS/VCI registration requirements.
• Lead and contribute to clinical audits in compliance with current professional standards that support the review of standard operating procedures (SOP).
• Understand and implement practice and group policies and comply with regulatory requirements.
• Comply with all relevant statutory and other regulations including HR policies, GDPR, and H&S.
• Complete all safety learning modules as directed by the business.
• Contribute to the financial health of the business by understanding and controlling costs in the areas that nurses can impact. Ensure correct charging to include services, medicines, and consumables.
• Work in a responsible manner that focuses on reduction of unnecessary waste, reducing financial and environmental impact.
• Support practice stock management.
• Engage with marketing initiatives.

Tier 3/Established lead nurses have good financial awareness to contribute to budget discussions where appropriate.