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A link to the online survey was sent to around 17,000 members of the veterinary nursing profession and shared on social media , with responses submitted between 1 May and 30 June 2024 . There were 1,866 respondents to the survey , including a range of VNs , line managers and educators .

Respondent profile

The majority of respondents ( 95.5 %) identified as female , with 4 % identifying as male and 0.4 % as non-binary ( 0.1 % preferred not to say ); this is similar to other data collected by the RCVS on the number of males in the profession . The biggest proportion of respondents ( 25 %) were aged between 41 and 50 years .

A quarter of respondents had been qualified for more than 20 years . However , it is not known whether they have been in practice continuously or have had a career break to raise a family or try another job ; this could be explored in future VN Profession surveys .

It is worth noting that it has been assumed that those who have been qualified for less than 17 years will have automatically qualified as an RVN and will be on the Register . Future survey questions will distinguish between years qualified and years on the Register .

Working environment

Of the survey respondents , 20 % said they worked in the south-east of England . Unsurprisingly , 61 % of respondents worked in a corporate practice , which is to be expected as around 60 % of practices in the UK are owned by one of the six main corporate groups . The majority of respondents worked with small animals in general practice .

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