Case study: Heather Mackendrick

Heather Mackendrick started the Level 2 Diploma for Veterinary Care Assistants in May 2023. We caught up with Heather and asked her about her journey to becoming a VCA, her time on the course, and her plans for the future.

Background

I have worked within occupational health for over 20 years, performing several different roles over this time including Quality Manager, Senior Ergonomist, Account Manager and over the last few years, Regional Director for Scotland. As I approached my 50^th birthday, like many people at this age, I assessed my working life and what I still wanted to achieve. I asked myself some honest questions regarding how I would like to spend the rest of my career and what would be my ideal job.

Throughout my life I have lived with domestic pets (dogs, cats and snakes, amongst other things) and I cannot imagine life without them. I have always loved animals. Therefore, it didn’t take a huge amount of time to conclude that I would love to work with a veterinary team caring for animals and assisting their owners on this journey. Having attended veterinary practices over the years with my own animals, whilst having had some amazing experiences in terms of treatment, support and care, I have also experienced suboptimal scenarios where I felt more reassurance and empathy could have been applied. So, I concluded I wanted to change to a more fulfilling career where I felt I could really make a difference to the animals themselves and their owners.

Whilst I had some transferable skills to offer in terms of working in occupational health, and had cared for my own pets, I didn’t have any formal experience, training or qualifications within a Veterinary environment. However, I knew that working with animals was something I sincerely wished to do. I started researching how to achieve this in more detail and quickly realized that, if becoming a veterinary nurse was my long-term goal, I would need to start from scratch and firstly qualify as a Veterinary Care Assistant. So, in September 2022 I started to network with people within the veterinary world. I was initially put I touch with a “friend of a friend” who was a vet. Unfortunately, she told me I was probably too old to become a VCA and I wouldn’t have the strength or stamina for it. After that unfulfilling conversation I felt a little uninspired, but even more determined to succeed. I networked further and was put in touch with a very friendly and enthusiastic local vet called Kate who gave me the opportunity to volunteer on weekends at her practice (Hollow Park Veterinary Practice). This work experience was important to me because whilst I knew I loved animals, I wanted to be sure I had the emotional and physical constitution for it.

My first day volunteering was in October 2022. Kate introduced me to the team and they were all very welcoming and enthusiastic about my plan. Whilst there were lots of interesting cases that day, the most memorable one was a cat who had been in a road traffic accident. This involved an X-ray, operation and sadly euthanasia. I was thrown in the deep end on my first day. Whilst I was saddened by those specific events, I came home energised by what I had experienced that day at Hollow Park and I knew I wanted to work in veterinary care.

From that moment on I worked during the week in my director role and I volunteered at Hollow Park every weekend. I used this experience to log enough hours so that I could enroll on the distance learning City & Guilds Level 2 Diploma for Veterinary Care Assistants at the College of Animal Welfare in May 2023. My aim for this course was to provide me with the knowledge I needed within the veterinary world and assist both my team and the patients / patient’s owners in all areas of veterinary care. I hoped that by gaining this diploma, I would then be sufficiently qualified so that I could leave my existing career and gain employment at a veterinary practice and start my new career.

In August 2023 I was offered a full-time position as a VCA at Hollow Park which I was delighted to accept and I started working there in October 2023. On this whole journey so far, the VCA course has provided me with everything I needed and more.

Benefits of the Level 2 Diploma for VCA course

The VCA course has been of benefit to me in the following ways:

Having been in employment for 20+ years with a family to support, I would have struggled to stop work and be a full-time student again, so the online distance learning VCA course has been perfect for me. The benefit being I had the flexibility to learn / study the modules and complete assignments on evenings and rest days, thus permitting me to still work and earn money day to day.

All materials related to the course are delivered via distance learning on the Virtual Learning Environment (VLE). The materials are in a structured, detailed and digestible format in manageable sections, and this has been perfect for my learning and consolidation. Starting with unit 201 with the basics in terms of animal accommodation, care, feeding, handling, transportation and first aid was perfect for someone like me who was starting from scratch. It gave me the foundations and knowledge to then progress on to the more detailed parts of the course in unit 202 in terms of radiography, anaesthetics, veterinary conditions and medication. Also, module 203 on the principles and practices of administrative duties gave me the structured approach to medical reception based duties and the importance of health and safety elements.

The learning plan and associated assignments I was given by my tutor were manageable and well thought out. I knew what section I needed to focus on each week and the associated assignment I needed to complete and by what date. This helped with planning my week in terms of deadlines.

The combination of practical and written assignments was also excellent. The practical side meant that my vet and mentor could spend time with me working on my knowledge and understanding of the task and checking my progress and competence in that area. The written tasks then allowed me to demonstrate to my tutor that I was able to apply the theory from the course to the practical application with the practice.

Having regular learning and progress reviews with my remote CAW tutor provided great reassurance and assistance. My tutor could not have been more supportive, informative, flexible and encouraging.

Overall, the Level 2 Diploma for VCAs course has given me the ability to be employed at the practice whilst learning. It has given me the confidence that what I was learning on the course was of the standard required of a VCA and I could practically apply it to the best of my capability at work. All of the course was relevant and is very tailored to being a VCA. Every section within the three modules is wholly applicable and relevant to the daily tasks I perform as a VCA. For that I am delighted that I enrolled on this course. The course is ideal for those looking to gain a formal qualification in veterinary care, whilst training with qualified professionals in a veterinary practice. My mentor and vet also believes that what I have brought into the practice from the course has benefited the practice in terms of raising standards and ensuring that the practice is as current as possible.

Next Steps

Now that the VCA course is almost complete, I am excited about what my next steps are. I am passionate about learning and improving, so I am currently deciding whether to do a deeper dive into general anaesthetics by enrolling on the CAW City and Guilds Level 2 Certificate in Assisting Veterinary Surgeons in the Monitoring of Animals under Anaesthesia or Sedation or to enrol on the Level 3 Diploma in Veterinary Nursing. Whatever I chose to do, I have great confidence that I am applying the best knowledge given from the diploma to the best of my ability within the practice. I cannot recommend the course more strongly to someone in a similar position to myself and more widely CAW as an institution.

Thinking about studying the Level 2 Diploma for Veterinary Care Assistants? Find out how…