3 Nov 2025
Hilary Orpet, RVC deputy director of veterinary nursing, argues Schedule 3 of the current Veterinary Surgeons Act does not “define” nurses.
Chris Simpson
Job Title
Nurse-led clinics are an excellent way to support clients through the management of CKD. Image © Monkey Business / Adobe Stock
Veterinary nurses have been encouraged to advocate for themselves to ensure their skills are more effectively utilised in practice.
The issue was highlighted throughout the BVNA’s annual congress in Telford amid its wider theme of “progression” for the profession.
During a discussion on creating an efficient veterinary team, Hilary Orpet, RVC deputy director of veterinary nursing, argued Schedule 3 of the current Veterinary Surgeons Act did not “define” nurses.
She said: “Nurses are responsible for ensuring that those they work with are aware of their skillset; that they themselves are accountable for utilisation of those skills.
“Everyone is talking about the utilisation of veterinary nurses. We’re not tools. It is our skills that are being utilised.”
Elsewhere, in a debate on unlocking potential, RVN Lil Proctor told delegates: “Please speak up for yourself.
“It’s important to have those people to open the doors for you, but it’s important to try and kick it down first.”
Krishna Mistry, lead medical nurse at Vets for Pets Birstall in West Yorkshire, added: “Unless we champion ourselves and speak to vets and practice owners, we’re never really going to get anywhere”.
Lauren Hargrave, senior vet nurse at Companion Care Vets Southampton, said nurses “want to be challenged” and it can be “really deflating” when they’re unable to utilise new skills from CPD.
Practice owner Fiona Pitchfork backed a call from the floor for veterinary students to be given more education on the role of nurses, describing it as “an excellent idea”.
Jill Macdonald, nurse progression and development lead for the RCVS, also supported the need for increased “interprofessional education”, but argued it should go further with vets and nurses learning to solve case problems together.
She said: “That comes back to the real understanding and appreciation of the VN role. We all know what vets do, but do they all know what we can do? I don’t think they do.”
Andrea Jeffery, a lecturer at the University of Glasgow who also works for the accreditation organisation VetSill, also described how vet students had a “light bulb moment in terms of the skill sets of the nurses” after working alongside student nurses in practice.
She said she and Miss Orpet would “continue to have conversations with the veterinary education committee around education in vet schools, around what nurses can do”.
