30 Jun 2023
VNs who resigned from their posts in 2021 cite job progression as top reason, signalling, says BVNA, need for continuing action across the sector.
Image © Tom Jackson
The BVNA has welcomed the findings of new research suggesting career progression is the most common reason for veterinary nurses quitting their roles.
The issue was cited by more than one-third of VNs who resigned from their posts during 2021, according to a new study from the CVS Group.
The company said that while its overall resignation rates have fallen since the data was collected, it wants to reduce departure rates across the sector.
However, BVNA president Charlotte Pace said the paper emphasised the need for continuing action across the sector to ensure nurses’ work is properly valued.
Ms Pace said: “This study is a welcome addition to understanding why recruitment and retention are so problematic in veterinary nursing, and hopefully the conclusions drawn will be used to generate further research into this area.
“BVNA has identified this as a significant issue and [it] is another important reason to support representation of veterinary nurses through legislative change.”
The study, which has been published in Veterinary Record, examined employment data relating to 1,642 VNs who were working across 418 CVS practices at the end of 2020.
It found that over the 12 months that followed, 278 of them (16.9%) resigned from their roles, with the most frequent reason for departure being career progression, which was cited in 102 cases (36.7%).
Other common factors influencing resignations were personal reasons (12.9%), improved pay or benefits (11.9%) and work-life balance (10.1%), while relocation and not returning from parental leave were cited in only 6.8% and 3.6% of cases, respectively.
The figures do not include staff who left because of factors such as retirement or the end of a fixed-term contract, while the report also acknowledged the potential for misinterpretation based on how information was reported.
However, the report argued that while its findings may not be representative of the profession as a whole, the less frequently recorded departures of both head nurses and student nurses highlighted the need for meaningful support along nursing career pathways, and clear definitions of nursing roles.
Lead author Imogen Schofield, CVS veterinary statistician and epidemiologist, said: “We want to support the whole industry in reducing the number of nurses leaving their roles and the profession.
“Little objective industry data is available on the true reasons behind nurse attrition, and we believe this is the first study to outline the risk factors for nurse resignations using practice data, providing an important addition to the evidence-base surrounding this complex topic.
“We have since seen our attrition rate fall and our employee engagement measure increase as we have focused on developing career pathways, empowering nurses to take on more responsibilities, developing a range of well-being programmes, launching a variety of colleague benefits, and significantly investing in our practices.”
Ms Pace said the BVNA’s aim was to ensure VNs realise their full potential, but conceded there is further action the group can take, as she urged nurses who are not part of the organisation to support its work.
She said: “BVNA has done much to promote career progression, but accepts there is more still to do.
“As the representative body for veterinary nurses, the profession can best engage with us and our work by becoming a member, to help us to drive meaningful change in areas which may affect recruitment and retention.”
The association said it is also planning to launch a pay toolkit for members in August, along with new resources on leadership, including a series of webinars scheduled for later this year.
A dedicated leadership stream is also planned within the programme for the BVNA’s annual congress in Telford in October.
