by Sally Linghorn, Senior Registered Veterinary Nurse, The Old Golf House Veterinary Practice, Norfolk

Nurse consult shifts, or chunks of them in the diary, can so often spark fear in those nurses already pushed and pulled in 50 directions in their day, trying to do 10 jobs at any given time! 

As a Senior RVN at a CVS practice in Norfolk, I'm pleased to see an ever-improving discourse around nurse consults and their impact in 2025.

We're thinking outside of the weight clinic and claw clip box, and putting ideas into action - with support and gusto - to create clinics that pull in more profits, build new relationships with clients, and most of all improve the care of our patients.

So how are we doing that? We couldn’t make a start without recognising changes in our practice’s client activity, and pinpointing spaces for improving, engaging more, and ensuring better client and patient care. We are fortunate to have access to all of the support routes which CVS has in place (and are always keeping fresh and “live”) to enable us RVNs to move forward with our ideas:

CVS training for nurse consults...

CVS provides us with a huge library of CPD training available via our Knowledge Hub online portal – whether bitesize insightful topics like Samantha Taylor’s Can't eat, won't eat: Management of inappetant cats webinar, through to our new and free 20 hour Nurse Consultation Leader Training CPD.

CVS resources for effective consulting...

We also have Pulse, our CVS hub of centralised information from protocols to ready-to-print client leaflets. In addition, we have our Nursing Hub resources which include Schedule 3 Delegation Guidance, through to parasite treatment. And let’s not forget our CVS Practical Nursing Companion - a trusty little spiral-bound guide to keep in your consult drawer, containing everything from blood pressure values to dentition charts. 

CVS marketing help for nurse events...

At our practice we have effectively promoted and advertised our new Veterinary Nursing Nights, where our nurses pull together a small group of clients, sometimes with their pets. Here we spend 45 minutes to an hour being as hands-on and practical as we can with common topics, from our Pet Fit Club through to Teeth Brushing and Common Pet Emergencies. Here our CVS Marketing team has provided us with posters for each month’s event and have generated emailers to send to our opt-in clients - offering a huge reach which we otherwise might not have captured!

CVS relationships...

Our innovative RVNs have also recently been working closely with our Royal Canin Veterinary Business Manager to get our weight clinics up and running efficiently. With her support, we have taken on nearly 30 new weight clinic patients since the start of the year, who are regularly visiting us and effectively losing weight to be healthier patients.

CVS Nursing Career Pathway… 

Last but by no means least, is our shiny structured Nursing Career Pathway. This is CVS’ profession-leading pathway for our RVNs. It recognises the RVN role and is driven by the performance of clinical skillset. CVS wants to improve the satisfaction of their RVNs in practice, and this pathway actually provides a clear route for our nurses to follow to feel fulfilled within CVS.

We also could not move our nurse clinic ideas forwards without being afforded the freedom to allow time to work on and make these projects happen. So for that, we have our CVS leaders, line managers, Regional Clinical Leads and Directors to thank for their support in championing and appreciating us!