Northvet Veterinary Group is a mixed, independent, RCVS accredited veterinary practice on the Orkney Islands.  Twelve Veterinary Surgeons work at the practice, 2 are small animal vets (certificate holders and one AVP) and each week 2 mixed vets also enjoy taking part in our small animal work.  Our nursing team is made up of 4 RVNs, 3 SVNs and a trainee VCA.  We have a Practice Manager, 2 AI technicians, 4 RAMAs’ and a team of administration staff and receptionists.  Our Kirkwall branch is the main small animal hub with 2 vets in theatre each day.  We have a branch in the port of Stromness open for consultations three afternoons per week and a branch in Harray for large animals.  We are a fully equipped modern practice and partly due to our location, our experienced team enjoy dealing with medical and surgical cases that would often be referred elsewhere.  We are part of XLVets, a community of independently-owned, progressive veterinary practices that work together to achieve the highest standards of veterinary care.

Each day the nursing team for inpatients consists of two nurses and a student nurse.  Another nurse assists with vet consults, processes samples in the lab (idexx suite), deals with repeat prescriptions and runs nurse clinics.  Typically, a full-time post would consist of four days per week working in theatre / prep / looking after inpatients and one day per week assisting with vet consults and running nurse clinics.  Members of our nursing team also take turns working at our Stromness branch on the afternoons we have clinics there and occasionally help out with equine or farm visits.  

For a wee look at the practice and Orkney https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IA4LVOaywQg

Main Duties & Responsibilities

Theatre & Preparation room

• Preparation of theatre, preparation area, equipment and patients
• Pre, peri and immediate postoperative care
• Assistance with induction and maintenance of anaesthesia (multiparameter monitors provided)
• Assistance during surgical procedures
• General maintenance of hygiene and equipment in and around the theatre
• Sterilising of equipment, cleaning floors, emptying bins etc
• Dispensing of post op medications
• Charging up of operations

Kennels

• Admission and discharge of patients
• Nursing of patients
• Drug administration
• Updating case histories, charging of hospitalisation
• General hygiene of dog and cat wards
• Washing of bedding, towels etc
• Handling of clinical waste etc

Nurse Consultations & Clinics

• Pre and post op checks, bandage changes, administering regular injections
• Puppy and kitten checks / weight clinics / parasite control
• Assisting vets in consulting room as required
• Making up & checking of prescription medications
• Assisting vets on home visits as required

Radiography

• Preparation of equipment and patients
• Assistance with and performance of radiography procedures
• Processing of radiographs
• Maintenance and care of equipment
• Radiation badges

Laboratory

• Obtain blood / urine / skin samples
• Run samples / maintenance of analysers (Idexx suite)
• Packing and sending of samples to external laboratories
• Disposal of samples after testing / maintenance of clean and tidy dispensary
• Updating of lab record books

Reception

• Reception shifts are few and far between (holiday / sickness cover)
• Answering the telephone & routing calls
• Dealing with clients when they arrive for appointments / over the counter sales / enquiries
• Monitoring of PetsApp messages
• Making appointments for consultations, surgical procedures and vet visits
• Processing payments and invoices
• Maintaining records
• Maintenance of a clean and tidy reception / waiting room
• Setting up the transfer of incoming calls to the vet on duty in the evening and the reverse of this procedure in the morning
• Assistance with other tasks as reasonably requested eg dealing with mail, stocking up shelves, vaccination reminders, insurance claims etc

Hours of work

Monday to Friday 8.30am to 5.30pm with one afternoon off per week, plus Saturday mornings as per the rota (at the moment approximately 1 in 5).   Due to the nature of the job, flexibility with these hours is appreciated.  A part time position would also be considered.  

Salary

The salary is negotiable depending on qualification and experience.  Salaries are paid monthly in arrears by BACS and an auto-enrolment pension scheme is in place.  We pay the annual veterinary nurse registration fees and CPD is encouraged and funded.  We provide medical insurance, dental insurance and local active life gym membership.  We have a discount scheme in place for staff pets and all employees receive 28 days full pay for sickness per annum (pro-rata).  Hours worked beyond 37.5 per week are considered overtime and are paid at one and a half times basic hourly rate.

Holidays

These are 26 days per year and we are closed for two days at Christmas and two days at New Year.

Start Date

As soon as possible.

Uniforms

Tunics, scrubs, fleeces and theatre shoes etc are provided along with a 3 in 1 Northvet jacket.

Applications are invited to: 

lynn@northvet.co.uk

Lynn Wilson, Northvet Veterinary Group, 33 Junction Road, Kirkwall, Orkney, KW15 1AG.  Feel free to email or call for an informal chat about the role on 01856 873403.