Nurses CPD

Re: Nurses CPD

Gillian Mostyn — Thu, 13 Dec 2012 21:06:37 GMT

Haha - only just seen this! Ian was at work, I was at home, so I had no idea we'd both replied at almost the same time. Spooky.

Re: Nurses CPD

Alan Tevendale — Thu, 13 Dec 2012 19:47:11 GMT

I could pretty much echo what Ian, Gillian and Hanna have said. We generally suggest a £500 limit but if it's worth it for the practice we'll invest more. Extra qualifications for our nursing team are very highly valued.

Re: Nurses CPD

Hanna Bennett — Thu, 13 Dec 2012 19:41:28 GMT

we have £500 buget for our VNs but like Gillian and Ian we are flexible, have one nurse with an advanced diploma, and another on her way to it, and the benefit this brings is worth the outlay in our book/

Re: Nurses CPD

Ian Mostyn — Wed, 12 Dec 2012 18:56:42 GMT

I find a text message much more effective

Re: Nurses CPD

Michael Woodhouse — Wed, 12 Dec 2012 18:07:15 GMT

2 replies 3 minutes

Do you email each other "what's for tea"?

Re: Nurses CPD

Gillian Mostyn — Wed, 12 Dec 2012 18:00:39 GMT

[quote user="robloxley"]But you don't require your £1000 and 5 days to be justified?[/quote]

Kind of. They are free to pursue their own interests so as long as it is a reasonable request we are happy to pay for it - whether we feel it is either needed by the person (or not) or relevant to the practice. Most people have no wish to waste their time going to rubbish courses so it it is unlikely to be wasted. Above £1000 it would need to be beneficial to the practice- such as achieving a skill or a qualification the practice could directly benefit from.

I have to say, in the last 9 years very few staff members have even reached their allowance, let alone asked for more. The only ones that have are the people undertaking extra qualifications. I think it is one of those situations where it is worth having a very flexible attitude, as it takes away resentment - if you set a low or inflexible limit you will probably find that people make sure to use it just to make their point!

Re: Nurses CPD

Ian Mostyn — Wed, 12 Dec 2012 17:57:41 GMT

[quote user="robloxley"]But you don't require your £1000 and 5 days to be justified?
I'm half serious, as many CPD courses seem poor value for money, and one might wonder how they should survive... [/quote]

I am a Yorkshireman so it all has to be justified and some courses seem to be taking the michael but I will happily pay £10,000 for a course if I think I would get a good return on that investment. What Gillian meant is that there is no upper-limit if we can quantify the benefit to the practice. One of our vets is doing a certificate at the moment and within reason there is no hard limit. There is actually quite a lot of good cheap CPD through universities, drug companies and local groups. Personally, I would say BSAVA congress offers poor value for money

Ian

Re: Nurses CPD

anthony chadwick — Wed, 12 Dec 2012 12:32:33 GMT

I used to let them go to one of the conferences and then after I set up Webinar Vet, my nurses all got free membership

As a little plug, Webinar Vet nurse membership is only £140 plus VAT. They get full access to our over 170 hours of CPD which is mainly vet orientated but nurses enjoy and we did a nurse webinar a month- last one on puppy parties

Best of luck with the new venture

Anthony

Re: Nurses CPD

Rob Loxley — Tue, 11 Dec 2012 23:26:09 GMT

[quote user="Gillian Mostyn"]they get £1000 and 5 days but we will pay more as long as it can be justified![/quote]

But you don't require your £1000 and 5 days to be justified?
I'm half serious, as many CPD courses seem poor value for money, and one might wonder how they should survive...

Re: Nurses CPD

Gillian Mostyn — Tue, 11 Dec 2012 20:02:06 GMT

What Ian didn't mention is that the £250 (and 2 days off) is what they are allowed automatically. If they wish to undertake specific training, it is also covered even if it is more expensive, as long as we can see a benefit to the practice. For example, our head nurse did her C&G in exotic nursing last year, which cost approx £1000 over 2 years.

The same system applies to vets - they get £1000 and 5 days but we will pay more as long as it can be justified!

Re: Nurses CPD

Ian Mostyn — Tue, 11 Dec 2012 17:10:20 GMT

All of our non-vet staff get £250 per year to spend how they like. Some use it for BVNA / VPMA membership, others for various CPD courses. Liverpool Uni do loads of good courses as do the local BVNA group and most of our CPD budget goes that way. Our receptionists get the same allowance and have all been on courses this year. Our formal nurse training costs aren't included in this and they get their courses paid instead but once they qualify (or before they start) then the £250 counts.

Ian

Re: Nurses CPD

Mark Hedberg — Tue, 11 Dec 2012 14:44:18 GMT

I was *much* more discreet (falls off the moral high ground)

Re: Nurses CPD

Cat Henstridge — Tue, 11 Dec 2012 13:50:09 GMT

At the risk of a blatant plug; you could always send them our way! All our nursing courses are £150+vat, which is pretty good value in comparison to many other companies (although obviously not the free stuff!)

Re: Nurses CPD

Rob Loxley — Mon, 10 Dec 2012 23:32:12 GMT

[quote user="Michael Woodhouse"]

[quote user="robloxley"]

Enough so RVNs can do their 15hrs/yr?

[/quote]

Don't know many vets that would get a full 35 hours per year fully funded

[/quote]

That's not what I said. My point was to start from the RVN requirement and work out what time/resources/money you provide to fulfil this.

[quote user="Michael Woodhouse"] Some people seem to just want to do courses here and there to spend the money without any great plan.[/quote]

I have come across a number of nurses who have spent most of their time at BSAVA collecting pens - bloody expensive those free pens must work out!

Re: Nurses CPD

Michael Woodhouse — Mon, 10 Dec 2012 21:07:48 GMT

[quote user="robloxley"]

Enough so RVNs can do their 15hrs/yr?

[/quote]

Don't know many vets that would get a full 35 hours per year fully funded. Some of it should be taken as private reading, free evening courses etc.

It's easy to expect the employer to fund it, but there are benefits to the employee too.

When employed I had a small budget stated (£600) but if there was a good course that would benefit the practice and I put my case it was paid for - irrespective of the budget. If I was employing people I think I'd phrase it quite vague in the contract. Some people seem to just want to do courses here and there to spend the money without any great plan.

One year you might want to spend £1000 another give them some time to do a few webinars and a few rep presentations over dinner with no financial outlay whatsoever. If you are a new practice and budgets are tight you can get a hell of a lot of good quality CPD for free.

Re: Nurses CPD

Claire Fisher — Mon, 10 Dec 2012 19:32:45 GMT

Our nurses have an annual budget of £500, I think they could get travel/accommodation costs on top if nec but they mostly do local stuff.

Re: Nurses CPD

Mark Hedberg — Mon, 10 Dec 2012 14:48:58 GMT

Some do, some don't. Some practices expect the nurses to self-fund or just use free resources; others are quite generous and pay for travel, expenses, courses, and so on. I expect a great deal has to do with the size of your practice, turnover, and the amount you can actually afford to pay.

Cheers,
Mark

Re: Nurses CPD

Rob Loxley — Mon, 10 Dec 2012 13:32:05 GMT

Enough so RVNs can do their 15hrs/yr?