26 Sept 2022
Congress was held for the first time in two years due to the pandemic and coincided with the opening of Southern Counties Veterinary Specialists’ new 30,000 sq ft referral hospital.
James Westgate
Job Title
Southern Counties Veterinary Specialists (SCVS) hosted its annual vet nurse congress following a two-year hiatus due to COVID-19.
Held at Marwell Zoo in Hampshire on 17 September, a full house of 50 delegates enjoyed a full day of CPD across various streams from ECGs to approaching the acute abdomen in dogs and cats, as well as the nursing of brachycephalic breeds.
Some of the highlights included SCVS hospital director and cardiology specialist Stephen Collins speaking about ECG, specialist surgeon Barney Dean discussing the acute abdomen and SCVS head of neurology Raquel Trevail speaking about modified Glasgow coma scales in small animals.
Some of the most experienced nurses at SCVS also joined the speaker line-up, including Katherine Mortimer (senior ward nurse, referral clinical board) and Maisie Gerghty (head anaesthesia nurse).
Dr Collins said: “Training and developing of our vets and nurses has been key to our development as a leading specialist referral hospital. We are particularly proud of the SCVS Nursing Congress and absolutely delighted to see the return of this in-person event at Marwell Zoo.
“Our SCVS nurse congresses have been entirely initiated and organised by the nursing team at SCVS, ensuring that the CPD delivered is relevant and useful. Once again, a big thank you to the nursing team for putting together yet another great congress.”
Jo Webb, SCVS nursing manager added: “The success of our veterinary nurse congress has been replicated year on year.
“Despite being unable to deliver the congress for the past two years due to COVID restrictions, the team’s desire to continue to learn, develop and adapt has prevailed.”
The congress also coincided with the opening of a new referral hospital at SCVS, which is part of the IVC Evidensia group. SCVS’ site at Ringwood has seen extensive expansion and redevelopment during the last 12 months which has doubled the current clinical area to 30,000 sq ft.
A major part of that redevelopment is the addition of a new lecture theatre, which SCVS will use to host CPD events for vet and nurse colleagues from all across the southern counties regions in the future.
The improvements are part of a programme of extensive group-wide investment by IVC Evidensia and the SCVS redevelopment is the largest in the investment programme, with the latest phase expected to complete in October 2022.
