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Posted: 26th July 2023

Census launched on veterinary care and nursing assistants
The census is open until 18 August.
The census will record new data about the job roles.

The Association of Veterinary Animal Care Assistants (AVACA) is asking veterinary practices to complete a new census about Veterinary Care Assistants (VCAs) and Animal Nursing Assistants (ANAs).

The census, launched 18 July, will collect the first data about how many VCAs and ANAs work in UK veterinary practices and the type of tasks they are performing.

AVACA is asking that all practices complete the census, regardless of whether they employ VCAs or ANAs, as they also aim to identify how many practices don’t employ these job roles and what the barriers are to them becoming team members.

AVACA was set up in 2022 to recognise the role of VCAs in the veterinary industry. The group aims to represent Veterinary Care Assistants, a job which can exist under various different titles including Animal Nursing Assistant and Pet Care Assistant, to promote the value of the job role and set clear standards through training and education.

The results of their census will provide information that will contribute to the recruitment, training and development of VCAs and ANAs.

The census, sponsored by Purina Petcare, is open until 18 August and can be completed by any one member of the team. They ask that only one submission is completed per practice.

Kay Watson-Bray, chief executive officer of the British Veterinary Receptionist Association and founder of AVACA, said: “With so much pressure on practices right now, the VCA role offers great potential to help manage workloads. But a picture is already emerging where the scope of the role varies widely between practices and even the name of the role is inconsistent.

“We believe that VCAs work mainly in the areas of caring, cleaning, communication, and coordination, but that’s not currently quantified. And while some see being a VCA as a route into veterinary nursing, again we don’t understand how many primarily aspire to progress into another role or how many want to become excellent VCAs.

“We’d like to clearly identify what VCAs want and need to help them develop as veterinary professionals.”

The census can be found here.



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