20 Oct 2021
New roles are part of Linnaeus’ “determined focus” to place real emphasis on its nursing population.
Rachael Buzzel
Job Title
Claire Roberts and Tom Reilly.
Linnaeus has appointed Tom Reilly as referral field nursing manager and Claire Roberts as primary care field nursing manager.
The newly created roles are part of Linnaeus’ “determined focus” to place real emphasis on its nursing population and comes soon after the launch of its central support veterinary nursing team strategy, which aims to develop a career framework to facilitate the skill set development of RVNs throughout their careers.
The appointments of Mr Reilly and Ms Roberts also mean further leadership positions within the group, alongside chief nursing officer Andrea Jeffery.
Mr Reilly, who until August had spent 10 years at Linnaeus referral hospital Willows Veterinary Centre and Referral Service, said: “I’m incredibly excited to be taking on this role, which is largely designed to help develop referral vet nursing within the business.
“It’s a newly created position and I think it demonstrates again just how seriously Linnaeus takes its responsibilities to its nursing population. I will hopefully be able to add a different dimension to the role thanks to a number of years of clinical and commercial experience within a busy multidisciplinary hospital at Willows.”
Ms Roberts, who has been involved in veterinary nursing for more than 25 years and joined Linnaeus in 2020, said: “I’m delighted to be taking on this unique primary care field nursing manager role. At Linnaeus, we have always placed a huge emphasis on our nursing team and my appointment is another example of that.
“I can truly say that veterinary nursing is at the heart of everything we do at Linnaeus. It is a privilege to work for a company that supports career progression and development of our nurses, and empowers our nursing population to be confident leaders who can support and drive the nursing services being delivered at site level.”
Dr Jeffery, who is the only person in the UK to sit at executive board level in a nursing capacity, has spearheaded the Linnaeus focus on nursing since joining the business in April 2019.
She said: “We want to ensure Linnaeus has a veterinary nursing population that is supported and developed to reach its full potential in its ability to deliver best patient care.
“To help achieve this, we aspire to enable our patient care and nursing teams to achieve success through supportive, well-managed training programmes, which our newly established central support team will help to deliver.
“Alongside this, the creation of our field nursing manager roles are very significant and key pieces in the jigsaw to ensure we support our nursing population in both referral centres and primary care practices across the country.
“Tom and Claire are both very skilled and experienced professionals, who we know will play intrinsic parts in the delivery of the Linnaeus nursing development strategy.”
