Surveys offer insights into veterinary and veterinary nursing professions

We have now published the results of our latest professions-wide surveys, conducted with veterinary surgeons and veterinary nurses last year.

All members of the respective professions were invited to take part in the surveys – including the non-practising and overseas-practising veterinary surgeon members – which asked a wide variety of questions on demographics, work status, type of work undertaken, type of organisation worked for, wellbeing, views on the professions, continuing professional development (CPD) and views on the RCVS. This is the seventh time such a survey has been undertaken for veterinary surgeons and the fifth time for veterinary nurses.

The response rate for the survey for veterinary surgeons was (including partial completes) 42.6%, while the response rate for veterinary nurses (also including partial completes) was 44.3%. The College has produced a series of infographics illustrating some of the key statistics, which can be found alongside the full reports on our Publications page. 

In terms of the survey of veterinary surgeons results, some of the key trends and results were:

• An increasingly diverse profession – this was particularly evident in terms of nationality, with almost one-quarter of respondents having qualified in a non-UK EU country, but also in terms of black and minority ethnic respondents, who made up 3.5% of respondents in 2019 as opposed to 2% in 2010– a small but significant increase. 
• An overwhelming majority (79%) of those working in the profession intend to stay within it for the foreseeable future, while 11.5% intend to retire at some point over the next five years, and just 9.5% intend to leave the profession at some point over the same period for reasons other than retirement.
• The percentage of men who work part time (14%) has increased considerably since 2006, when it stood at 5%; the average age of women working part time is 44, compared to 59 for men.
• Corporatisation – some 35.5% of respondents working in clinical practice worked in a practice that was corporate-owned, with another 6.4% working in an independent practice with some shared centralised functions and 4.6% working in a joint venture with a corporate group. This compares to 41.6% who worked in fully independent, stand-alone practices.
• A more feminine profession – male respondents had a significantly higher average age (51) than female respondents (40) with the survey showing that graduates from the past 10 years were overwhelmingly female and that men will be retiring from the profession in greater numbers than women for the foreseeable future.
• In terms of social mobility, of recent qualifiers (2016 onwards) who lived entirely or mainly in the UK while growing up, 59% have a parent/guardian with a degree, 75% went to state schools and 15% lived in household that at some point received income support; these percentages compare favourably with broadly comparable groups of medical students and doctors in postgraduate training.
• The most frequently-cited work-related benefits reported by veterinary surgeon respondents were paid time off for training/CPD, financial support for training/CPD, RCVS retention fees paid whole or in part, and professional indemnity insurance. For example, 64.7% of respondents had their retention fees paid for them by their employer whole or in part – this compares to 48.9% of respondents in 2014 and 39% in 2010.
• Changes in type of work – the number of veterinary surgeons working in dedicated small animal practices had risen since the 2010 survey (45.8% in 2010 to 52.6% in 2019) with an accompanying decline of members of the profession working in mixed practices in the same time period (22.1% in 2010 and 11.7% in 2019 ). The survey also saw an increase in the proportion of respondents working in referral/consultancy practices, with 6.4% in 2019, compared to 3.7% in 2010.

Respondents were also given the opportunity to give a ‘free-text’ answer on their concerns about the future of the profession. Some of the themes identified by respondents included:

• Concern over workforce supply, with some respondents feeling that newly-qualified veterinary surgeons had unrealistic expectations of working life and therefore needed additional support from more experienced colleagues.
• A lack of work-life balance, with a need for employers to give further consideration to flexible hours, out-of-hours shifts, and workload as this was identified by respondents as having an impact on health, particularly mental health.
• Concern over increasing corporatisation and the impact that this could have on patient care, the professional development of younger veterinary surgeons and small veterinary businesses.

In terms of the results of the veterinary nurse survey, some of the key trends and results were:

• Clinics and expertise – an increasing proportion of respondent veterinary nurses (some 80.3%) were participating in clinics compared to previous years. Examples of clinics include parasite control, weight management and nail clipping. Furthermore, 91.9% of respondents considered themselves to have ‘expertise’ in at least one area of their role with anaesthesia, parasite control, nail-clipping and weight management being the most commonly-cited examples. In 2014, only 70% of respondents believed they had expertise in at least one area.
• In terms of social mobility, of those veterinary nurses who lived entirely or mainly in the UK while growing up, 21.3% have one or more degree-educated parents or guardians, 93.5% went to state schools, 19.8% lived in households that at some point received income support, and 17.5% received free school meals. This means that the VN profession is relatively accessible.
• Some 72% of respondents plan to stay in the VN profession for more than five years, 3.2% plan to retire at some point over the same period, and 24.8% (compared to 15.4% in 2014 and 22.6% in 2010) plan to leave at some point over the next five years for reasons other than retirement. For those planning to leave, the top two reasons for doing so are the same as in 2014 and 2010: pay, chosen by 77.3%, and not feeling rewarded/valued (non-financial), chosen by 59.8%.
• The three most commonly-cited workplace benefits received by veterinary nurse respondents are paid time off for training/CPD (77.4%), RCVS retention fees paid in whole or part (74.3%) and financial support for training/CPD (69.7%). In 2014, just 46% had their RCVS retention fees paid by their employer so this, in particular, has seen a big increase.
• Respondents were positive about the RCVS with the overwhelming majority (90.1%) using the online Professional Development Record (the platform is now the 1CPD platform) to record their CPD compared to 52.4% in 2014, for example. There was also strong support for a mandatory RCVS Practice Standards Scheme.

As with the veterinary surgeons, veterinary nurse respondents were also given the opportunity to give a ‘free-text’ answer on their concerns about the future of the profession. Some of the themes identified by respondents included:

• A desire to see the RCVS protect the title ‘veterinary nurse’ so that only those suitably qualified and registered can legally call themselves a veterinary nurse.
• The extension of the role of veterinary nurses so that those with suitable expertise and experience could do a greater amount of work, as well as encouraging further qualifications and expertise to be rewarded. This includes doing more to encourage veterinary nurses into management and leadership roles.
• The need for better pay as well as public recognition in order to keep veterinary nurses in the profession.

Many of the results and trends identified have fed into our 2020-2024 Strategic Plan, which was recently approved by RCVS Council.

Lizzie Lockett, our CEO (pictured right), commented: “These surveys are an interesting and informative snapshot of where the professions are and how they are feeling at a particular moment in time, but they won’t be left on a shelf to gather dust as we will be using the data to inform many of our projects and initiatives. These surveys also help us to build an historical picture of the professions and spot long-term trends.

“The results of the surveys have already been incorporated into the five-year Strategic Plan and will continue to feed into our work over the next few years.

“I am glad to say that much of the College’s work has anticipated some of the issues raised by the respondents – for example, our recently approved Graduate Outcomes proposals, which seek to better prepare and support new vets into life in practice, and our first steps towards developing a more structured and rewarding career path for veterinary nurses with our new Certificates in Advanced Veterinary Nursing.

“There are some causes for concern in these results – for example, around veterinary nurse pay and retention, lack of work-life balance and retention of recent graduates – and, while not all of these are in the College’s remit or power to resolve, we will continue to work with our partners and stakeholders within the professions to better understand the identified issues and how we can contribute to the debate.”

The full results of both surveys can be downloaded from our Publications page.