RSPCA
Nursing Team Leader
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A bit about us
Are you an experienced Registered Veterinary Nurse with a passion for clinical leadership? As a Nursing Team Leader, you will play a pivotal role in our site management structure. Balancing clinical practice with line management, you will guide and supervise a dedicated team of 5.
Working alongside our Nursing Manager and Veterinary Surgeons, you will shape daily operations, drive clinical standards, and advocate for animal welfare both within our clinical settings and throughout the RSPCA.
Newbrook Animal Hospital is seeking a Nursing Team leader to join the team on a permanent basis working 21 hours per week.
Working hours:
- 07:45 until 15:15 pm, 3 days per week Monday, Thursday & Friday (with flexibility to change days), one in six weekends with time back in lieu for weekends work.
On-site:
- Your base will be at Birmingham Animal Hospital, Newbrook.
Interviews:
- Will take place the week commencing the 12th of October.
It's important to us that you feel part of our team from the start. We like to keep in touch with regular check-ins and team meetings. There's always a teammate around for support or a quick chat.
Are you ready to join our movement?
Our recruitment journey – key dates for you to note
Here's what the process looks like, no surprises, just a friendly guide:
Application
You'll be asked to answer some questions to give us a sense of your experience, skills, and potential. Don't worry if you don't tick every box - what really matters is what you can bring to the role and the team.
Panel Interview
If your application is successful, you'll be invited to a panel interview with the Hiring Manager. This is a chance to:
- Share more about what you've done and what you're proud of
- Encourage you to ask questions about the role, the team, and the impact you could make. Interviews are a two-way conversation, and we recognise that any career move needs to feel right for you as well as for us.
- Show off your skills and behaviours in a relaxed, supportive setting
If you need any adjustments during the recruitment process, just let us know - we're happy to support you.
The closing date for this vacancy is Thursday the 8th October.
What a day might look like for you
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A day as an RSPCA Nursing Team Leader is dynamic and varied, balancing clinical care, team management, operational logistics, and animal welfare advocacy across the hospital
- The day starts with allocating daily duties for our veterinary nurses, student veterinary nurses, and veterinary care assistants - taking into account staff shortages or differing experience levels
- You are responsible for making independent nursing decisions, managing triage outcomes, scheduling surgical and medical procedures, and coordinating animal transfers or admissions.
- You will need to work alongside the nursing team to deliver compassionate, high-standard nursing care aligned with RSPCA and RCVS protocols. This includes enforcing strict biosecurity and hygiene practices to prevent disease transmission. You must positively champion and support the rollout of new policies and protocols, regardless of personal views, to ensure they are communicated and implemented effectively across the team.
- You are responsible for guiding nurses, student nurses and veterinary care assistants in medical, surgical, and emergency procedures, as well as overseeing staff inductions.
- You oversee stock levels, ordering medicines and consumables, maintaining equipment, and creating standard operating procedures (SOPs)
- You will also need to balance fulfilling administrative and line management duties, including performance reviews, conflict resolution, sickness management, and handling clinical reports or referrals. Which can take up a large proportion of the role.
- You need to have excellent Health and safety knowledge. You enforce key-holding duties for controlled drugs and reinforce safety around compressed gases, anaesthetics, and radiation, and mitigating risks related to zoonotic diseases or dangerous animals.
- Daily you will need to be confident interacting veterinary surgeons, hospital managers, Inspectorate officers, animal centres, and external partners like private practices or police.
- Finally you will need to be experienced navigating emotionally demanding situations, such as supporting animals and staff through euthanasia or trauma and emergency cases.
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What will help you succeed in this role:
Essential:
- Qualified RVN with current registration (Degree or Diploma in Veterinary Nursing).
- Significant post-qualification experience in a veterinary practice setting.
- Demonstrable experience in clinical coaching, training, or supervising staff/students.
- Solid understanding of veterinary health, safety, and risk management.
- Strong decision-making, resilience, excellent communication skills, and the emotional resilience required to navigate challenging welfare and end-of-life situations.
- Management or formal supervisory experience in a clinical setting.
Desirable:
- Assessor/Clinical Supervisor qualifications (e.g., A1 Assessor Award).
- Shelter, charity, or rescue veterinary experience.
- Full manual driving licence.
Successful candidates for certain RSPCA roles will need to undergo a Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check.
Applicants must have the legal right to work in the UK as we are unable to sponsor visas.
Final note from us & good luck with your application!
We want to ensure we do all we can to give you a positive candidate experience through our recruitment. Whilst we do try to give feedback where we can, sometimes due to receiving high levels of applications, this may not always be possible.
Our vision is a world where all animals are respected and treated with kindness and compassion. Our purpose is to inspire everyone to create a better world for animals. We are building the future of a diverse Society, and our priority is to support animal welfare by finding people from all backgrounds who are committed to our purpose. For this reason we actively encourage a wide diversity of applications - in particular from members of minority ethnic groups, and people with disabilities - as these candidates are currently under-represented at the RSPCA. Your transferable skills & lived experiences could make you a valuable addition to our RSPCA Family!
We're here to support you and encourage you to let us know if you need any adjustments at any stage of the recruitment process. Please feel free to contact us at resourcingteam@rspca.org.uk or 0300 123 0685 so we can ensure the process works for you.
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