Theatre-based referral nursing | Advanced surgery | Funded CPD | 4-day week
When your nursing skills deserve more
If you are a confident RVN who loves theatre work and anaesthesia, but feels your current role is not stretching you clinically or supporting your long-term growth, this could be the step you have been waiting for.
The Opportunity
We are working with a referral hospital in Ellesmere Port that has built something genuinely different. An advanced yet affordable referral service, designed to ensure pets receive the care they need, regardless of their owner’s circumstances.
This is a theatre-based referral nursing role within a dedicated surgical team. You will work alongside diploma-holding surgical specialists, RCVS Advanced Practitioners in Small Animal Surgery, and an experienced group of surgical referral nurses who value collaboration and learning.
The focus here is not rushing cases through, but doing things properly. You will be central to delivering high-quality anaesthesia and peri-operative care across a varied and challenging surgical caseload, with genuine support to advance your skills and pursue further qualifications in anaesthesia or surgery.
Why This Role Is Different
A true referral-level surgical caseload
You will support advanced procedures including TPLOs, complex fracture repairs, thoracotomies, BOAS surgery, and perineal hernia repairs. These are cases that require thoughtful anaesthesia, careful monitoring, and a deep understanding of surgical patients.
A theatre role where your expertise matters
This is not a mixed role pulled in multiple directions. Your focus is theatre, anaesthesia, and surgical nursing. From patient preparation and multimodal analgesia, to scrubbing in and maintaining sterility, your skills are central to patient outcomes.
Structured support for progression
While referral experience is welcomed, it is not essential. What matters is confidence in anaesthesia and a desire to develop. Support, mentoring, and funded CPD are in place for nurses keen to work towards certificates in anaesthesia or surgical nursing.
Values-led veterinary care
This hospital operates as a Community Interest Company. Free consultations and transparent pricing remove barriers to care, allowing clinical teams to focus on doing the right thing.
Your Journey Here
In your first month, you will settle into the theatre team, learn the referral workflows, and build confidence with the equipment, protocols, and people around you.
By three months, you will be confidently monitoring anaesthesia for complex surgical cases, scrubbing in when required, and contributing to peri-operative planning and patient care discussions.
By six months, you will be an integral part of the referral nursing team, supporting advanced imaging such as CT, helping manage surgical consumables and implants, and actively developing your interests through CPD or certificate pathways.
What’s On Offer
Compensation and Time Off
- Salary £30,904 to £32,800 DOE
- 40 hours per week over 4 days
- 6 weeks holiday including bank holidays
Professional Development
- Funded CPD, including support towards certificates
- Exposure to specialist-led referral surgery
- RCVS and VDS fees paid
Security and Wellbeing
- 52 weeks sickness benefit after qualifying period
- Enhanced maternity and paternity packages
- Contributory pension scheme
- Employee Assistance Programme
- Counselling support covering mental health, financial and life matters
Everyday Extras
- E-Car scheme
- Cycle to work scheme
- High street discounts
- Charity days
- Refer-a-Friend bonus
The Candor Vets Difference
At Candor Vets, we do not push roles or rush decisions. We listen, we ask the right questions, and we focus on fit, not filling gaps.
Ready to Explore?
If this sounds like a role where your theatre skills, confidence with anaesthesia, and desire to grow will be genuinely valued, let’s have a confidential, no-pressure conversation.
Job Reference RRVN001