Student VNs - Forms & FAQs

Yes, but your college will need to send us a signed VN Student Change of Details form (see 'Related documents' box) along with a covering letter explaining when you are taking a break. You will no longer be classed as an active student, so when you return to training, your college will need to inform the RCVS when you return to training so that your student status can be re-activated. Your enrolment period will remain the same.

You will need to send a request to extend your enrolment period in a letter to the Veterinary Nursing department, along with a letter of support from your college and the principal of your training practice (if applicable). Requests are looked at on a case by case basis. The current one-year extension fee (2021) is £90. 

Please get in touch with your college who should be able to help you. If they cannot assist then they will get in touch with us or the awarding organisation on your behalf to resolve the issue. 

You can email, fax or write to us to change your personal details, but we cannot change details over the telephone. Please email [email protected] with your new details and name and enrolment number to inform us of a change of address.

When you begin your veterinary nurse training, you are registered by the RCVS at an Approved Centre. If you change employment and move to another practice, it is very important that both the receiving Centre and the RCVS are informed of the change immediately, using the VN Student Change of Details form.

Please ensure that you get this form signed by both your Practice Principal and Head of Centre. You should then either post it to the RCVS or scan and email the form to [email protected]. Failure to notify the RCVS of changes to your employment and/or approved centre may jeopardise your VN training.

You will need to send us a photocopy of the relevant official documentation (i.e. marriage certificate or deed poll) in order to change your name with the RCVS. This can be sent by post, fax or email using the contact details below. Please do not send original documents, as these may become lost in the post.

If you have changed your name by deed poll, you must supply the official document, which has been signed by a solicitor. If your deed poll certificate has not been signed by a solicitor, we can accept the certificate as long as you are also able to provide a copy of your valid passport in your new name (the same name as stated on your deed poll certificate).

If you are on a vocational programme (Level 3 Diploma) your college will apply to your Awarding Organisation for your final certification. The Awarding Organisations send us a list of all students who have completed the Diploma, usually once a fortnight. We will then send you an email inviting you to apply to register as a veterinary nurse.

In the meantime, you will remain on the student database, provided you are still working in your approved training practice. You need to ensure that your email address details are up to date so that your registration link is sent to the correct address.

If you are a higher education (degree) student, your university will make arrangements to send us the pass list.  Once the RCVS receives the pass list from the university, your student status is changed to graduand, that means you are no longer a student, and not yet registered, therefore cannot undertake delegated schedule 3 procedures.   However, if you have found employment, you can apply for temporary registration which allows you to work under the supervision of a named veterinary surgeon.

Temporary registration will normally be considered where there is an interval of more than four weeks between the publication of the pass list and your graduation event. Temporary registration ends on the date of the graduation event regardless of whether you have applied for full registration with the RCVS or not.

Your university will be very familiar with the process and should be able to advise you appropriately.

From enrolment through to qualification, please contact us at:

Veterinary Nursing Department
Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons
The Cursitor
38 Chancery Lane
London
WC2A 1EN

T 020 7202 0788  
E [email protected]

Post-qualification, please contact us at:

Registration Department
Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons
The Cursitor
38 Chancery Lane
London
WC2A 1EN

T 020 7202 0707
E [email protected]

Several universities and awarding organisations expressed concerns regarding student veterinary nurses’ attendance in clinical placement and employment, due to the precautions around transmission of Coronavirus. This applies to all students in all years of a programme, although there were particular concerns as to the impact this will have on final-year students being unable to complete the required number of hours in order to complete their licence to practise qualification and be eligible to apply to register with the RCVS.

There have also been concerns raised over the completion of the RCVS Day One Skills for Veterinary Nurses (DOS) should students be unable to attend their clinical placements or employment. The RCVS Day One Competences and Day One Skills for Veterinary Nurses set out the minimum essential requirements that we expect all student nurses to have met when they register, to ensure they are safe and competent to practise on day one, in whichever area of the profession they start to work.

Universities and awarding organisations requested a degree of flexibility around the RCVS VN Registration Rules and completion of the RCVS Day One Skills, in light of the Covid-19 situation.

The following therefore applies:

• Veterinary Nurses Council recognises that it should not be compulsory for students to complete clinical placements or employment during the current pandemic. This will apply to students in any year of their studies.

• It is also recognised that for students in their final year of study, it may be difficult for them to make up the hours of clinical placement or employment missed prior to completing their programme. Universities, awarding organisations and colleges should continue to support their students and explore alternatives, however any shortfall relative to the requirements should not be a barrier to completion of the programme.

• It is anticipated that both further and higher education students not in their final year of study would have sufficient time to make up the number of hours prior to completing their programme however, this will be reviewed as the Covid-19 pandemic progresses.

• Student veterinary nurses will still be required to complete the RCVS Day One Skills for Veterinary Nurses in their totality as these seek to assure competence at the point of registration. Where a student has completed the Day One Skills in fewer than the required 1,800 hours, this will be assessed on a case-by-case basis on application to register.

• The RCVS Veterinary Nursing Department has issued guidance on completion of the RCVS Day One Skills to all programme providers. This guidance includes the use of professional discussion, set tasks and simulation where appropriate.

Contact the VN team:  [email protected] / 020 7202 0788

Last reviewed: 15 February 2022