Deputy Head Nurse – Manchester

We have a very exciting, rare opportunity for a full time Deputy Head Nurse to join an amazing small animal and exotics team.

This practice has been proudly caring for the pets of south Manchester for the last 50 years and is fortunate to have a lovely client base and good reputation. They are a supportive, caring, busy practice with fantastic team work. Their aim is to provide a high standard of veterinary care, pride themselves on giving honest advice and they don’t work to targets. They are RCVS accredited, rabbit welfare accredited practice who are open 24/7 with a dedicated OOH team of vets and nurses as well as auxiliary nurses who look after in-patients OOH.

About the role:

• Up to £35,000 DOE
• £2,000 relocation assistance
• 4 days per week with a 1:5 weekend
• 6.6 weeks annual leave with your birthday as a paid day off
• Private medical insurance
• Certificate support
• Enhanced family-friendly policies, including maternity/paternity/adoption/shared parental and surrogacy pay
• Cycle to Work scheme
• Initiatives focused on employee wellbeing
• Non-accidental injury support
• 550 CPD allowance 24 hours paid pro rata

Duties for this role will include; working with the management team to aid with the smooth running of the practice, administrative duties to support and assist the head nurse, assisting/training and caring for nurses and other staff, helping manage the team, including appraisals, rotas, management meetings, holiday requests, RTW interviews.

The ideal candidate should be able to act as a mentor, teacher and role model to the staff, leading by example with a positive attitude, high work standard and strong work ethic. You should have good attention to detail and the ability to delegate fairly where necessary and be able to liase between all teams and the management

On top of the management work there is also the day to day inpatient care, admits, discharges, anaesthetics, nurse clinics, consult team, pharmacy, ward nurse, recoveries, records and of course client care. This is a great opportunity to work with a variety of species, to a high standard and to help lead a very friendly and supportive practice.

The rota is designed to give a great work life balance, based on 40 hours and a 4 day week (averaged over a 5 week rota period, with 1:5 Saturday and Sunday mornings). Should a 5 day week be preferred to suit your lifestyle better then we would happily accommodate this.

Current weekly shifts consist of:
•    8am-8pm
•    8am-4:30pm
•    8am-8pm
•    8am-4pm
•    Then a week day off each week which is on rotation.   This means that you get a long 4 day weekend (Friday to Monday inclusive) 1 in 5 weekends

Any overtime can be claimed as pay or TOIL

The weekend  work is 1 in 5;
•    Saturday 8am -11:30am
•    Sunday 9:30-11am

Exotic animal training in-house and other courses are encouraged and funded, including the exotic nursing certificate should you wish to pursue this. Any leadership experience you have would be beneficial but is not essential, however a desire to motivate and develop your team through leading is a must. What matters most to us is your attitude and your commitment to delivering the highest standards of patient care and championing our values. The team consists of 11 vets, including 1 exotic diploma holder, 2 exotic cert holders, and 2 other vets sitting ECC and ophthalmology certs. They also have 9 RVNs, many of which have the exotic nursing certificate, or are studying towards completing this.

If your looking to take the next step in your career or further expand your nursing skills, send your CV to mgl@glvets.com or phone Mia on 01291 645871.