Shirley qualified as a RVN in 2003 at the Royal Veterinary College through the Bachelor of Science degree route. On qualification she worked in a large multidisciplinary specialist referral hospital for 10 years where she became theatre supervisor and helped to manage a team of 60 nurses. Shirley moved back to Northern Ireland in 2014 and worked in a busy hospital until joining NiVS late 2018.
As head nurse, Shirley leads the team of nurses, which on a day to day basis involves co-ordinating the case load of surgical procedures and diagnostic work ups and staff through the hospital. She supports the nursing team with anaesthesia training and queries they have and monitors the anaesthesia for the more advanced procedures NiVS carry out, such as implanting pacemakers and thoracotomies.
Shirley also co-ordinated the work that went into gaining the RCVS practice standards accreditation for NiVS. This involved putting together protocols and practices and sending evidence of this to the RCVS. Since the start of Shirley’s career, she has been trained and worked in specialist referral level hospitals in England where she gained an advanced diploma in Veterinary Nursing and experience. Coming back to Northern Ireland where she was born, Shirley claims she is proud to be able to share this knowledge with her team here at NiVS and maintain a standard of care that she would be happy to provide to her own pet.
When time allows, Shirley delivers external training (CPD) to qualified nurses and through nurses meetings encourages her team to provide internal CPD to each other and keep up to date with current research findings so they are always learning from each other.
