To retrain as a vet nurse in my 40s?

[InterloperMum]

I recently re-trained as a healthcare professional (occupational therapist) and have realised it is not for me due to the lack of role clarity / definition. Currently work in NHS.

I'm thinking of re-training again. I have always loved animals. I wanted to be a vet when I was younger but knew I wouldn't be able to meet the academic requirements.

I'm a very practical person, not squemish, don't mind cleaning, good with customers and physically fit.

I have two children at school, am London based.

Has anyone ever re-trained as a vet nurse? Do you work as a vet nurse? Would you recommend it? What are the downsides? I realise the pay is not great.

How might I go about it? I would need to earn whilst training.

Any advice would be gratefully received. Thank you.

I was going to suggest this too. I changed careers and became a dog-walker in my thirties and I've never had any regrets. I work for myself, set my own hours, never do evenings or weekends unless I want to, set my own rates of pay etc.

It's fantastic.

Why is the pay so poor for a trained professional?

It seems to be commonplace.

Because vet surgeries are expensive to run - very, very expensive. To pay vet staff what they deserve to be paid, and cover all the other costs, and make a profit, practises would need to charge even more than they already do.

Coupled with the fact that many jobs that are mostly done by women tend to be lower paid, regardless of the level of skill or education needed. Double whammy

I might add too, that in my experience, very few VNs stayed in the job into their mid 40s and 50s. I think you'd be mad to retrain in such a difficult career for the reasons I mentioned, when you've got a promising qualification and career already.

You're not wrong, sadly.

If taking the vocational diploma/apprenticeship route, it can be very hard to secure a training place. It's been a few years since I worked in practice (and in a non clinical/management type role) but back then, training places went to patient care assistants who would wait 2-3 years in that minimum wage role until it was their 'turn' to have a place, then drop down to apprenticeship wages for their first year of training.

Wages on qualification remain woeful; although it's possible to pursue areas of clinical interest and earn more in emergency/critical care, referral, teaching etc. the majority of RVNs working in a regular first opinion practice will be on not a lot more than NMW.

I agree with other observations that many RVNs 40+ look to step back or sideways into admin, practice management type roles or other related industries because the role can be so physically demanding.

I agree with this.

I was a vet nurse for 20 years. I gave it up when I had my DCs, mainly due to the unsociable hours, pay and bad back.

I have worked in practices and rescue centres. I much preferred the rescues.

Thanks to everyone, this has been really helpful. It seems this is not an option worth pursuing, at my life stage.

Will explore sideways moves instead. I'm feeling a bit more positive about that now.

My neighbour's daughter is a vet, my goddaughter is a vetinary nurse. Assuming you need to earn a salary perhaps you could contact the RSPCA to see if they have spaces for a paid officer, not as a chugger though. Chugger is the term used for those people standing outsude your supermarket asking you to give your bank details and make a monthly donation to the charity and tgey get paid a fee or commission.

But an RSPCA inspector (assuming thats what you mean by officer) isn't an RVN, its an entirely different role.
They may however have paid roles as a patient care / veterinary care assistant or possibly a student RVN post.

if You are going to leave the nhs then do it for at least one of the following….better pay….better pension….better sick leave…..better annual leave….better flexible working…..because I very much doubt a vet nurse post will give you any of the above

Thank you@Cat1504 a sideways move will definitely mean staying in the NHS.

An RSPCA inspector gets paid less than a veterinary nurse. Who knew it was possible but they do.

For reference one of my vetinary nurses has been with me since we started so 9 years and we pay her 36k a year.

I qualified in 1984 and did 45 years as an RVN. Here and there I had to leave and do something else just to decompress. It's hard physically and mentally and I have been in some very very difficult situations as a result of the politics with practice. I wouldn't advise anyone to do it to be honest. Some aspects of it are frankly diabolical.

I do find it hard to believe that a vet can't spell veterinary. I suspect that's not a genuine post.

If I was qualified as an occupational therapist I’d be heading into the private sector/kids.

This is a list to hire a home paediatric OT. €80 per 40 min session after the initial OT assessment priced at 400, home assessments for medical ground extensions etc are €250.

I would love a local exercise class ran by an OT. DS has horrendous coordination. I tried him in a few classes I find personal trainers are a bit judgy towards motor issues and sensory weight gain.
Your skills are desperately needed at the moment.

Foster animals or volunteer at a shelter in your spare time

No I can spell it sorry - if you read previous comments. It was a typing error due to multitasking ( feeding a new born whilst not denying it - half asleep
) hence the reply again at 2.48 am.
its was a bit an inoffensive comment which wouldn’t really be worth my time to troll about. Happy to send proof 🤣
My concentration skills this week are at about a 0 and I can only apologise.

I agree with this.

The toll it has taken on me has been immense. I've seen things I can't unsee and I haven't been in practice since 2016 and yet there it all is, on the inside of my eyelids unless I try endlessly to get a grip! This is not the things that Joe Public has inflicted on animals as that just goes with the territory and is genuinely terrible in it's own right ( I could write a book but you would need a blindfold and a gumshield to read it) but it's the appalling things that happen as a result of politics with the staff. Assholery and fuckwittery among educated, 'professional' and degree holding adults that frankly should do better and definitely should know better! Appalling bad bad stuff and, I suspect, the reason why practices struggle to get staff, qualified staff anyway. If they have anything about them, they are gone, gone to a job that doesn't have them waking in a cold sweat at 2 am wondering if 'Rags' has that IV line around his neck (because there's no-one to watch him overnight) and why the partners won't buy morphine, expecting the poor bastard dog that has just had it's trochlear groove ground away, to manage on the equivalent of Paracetamol.

When I die, if I see a brass plate with 'Joe Bloggs' BVM & S, MRCVS on it, I will know I have gone down and not up.

Don't do it @InterloperMum Shut your tit in the car door, stick bleach in your eyes and douche with caustic soda. Hire a chipper and put both legs in. Veterinary is worse by light years!

Whilst not a vet nurse, I have worked in the veterinary industry for 10+ years. The nurses I have worked/work with absolutely love their jobs - but it is bloody hard work for very little gratitude. These people work tirelessly for the animals (as do th vets which I am disregarding just for relevance to this post- but I take my hats off to all vets). Any vet practice could not be without the nurses - they are the cleaners, the limb holders, the anaesthetic watchers, the drug getters, the post surgery cuddles, the pre surgery nerve solvers and the everything else in between. A bit like human nurses- actual angels doing it for the love of the job! Pay not great, but when the job goes well the satisfaction is so bloody high. When it doesn’t go well - you take that case home with you, it weighs heavy on you. It takes a special kind of person to be a nurse (any type- including the ANAs, the assistants, human nurses etc), and you should be super proud of becoming a nurse- and use this time wisely to think what YOU want out of the role. There are many options including retraining but th fact that you’ve come this far makes you a special kind of person- so well done you!!

Becoming an RSPCA officer is actually quite hard. There are residentials and a physical exam which includes swimming.

Very unusual outside of London. Also it’s veterinary. If you are indeed a veterinary professional you should know that

I'm a veterinary care assistant / receptionist and I love my job! But I'm on minimum wage. Us VCAs do a lot for a pittance yet the nurses (RVNs) do 10 times as much work for about 80p - £1 more an hour.

I've considered training as an RVN but as well as making more work for myself I'd also find myself rotaed (I currently have set days) and would have to work lates and weekends and Christmases and bank holidays.

There isn't really any real money in the animal industry unless you're a vet or something like a hydrotherapist or council dog warden. Or equine. I think there is money in equine services.