Profile

Hayley Walters

Senior Veterinary Nurse in Animal Welfare

Bio

Hayley qualified as a veterinary nurse through the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons in 1999. She spent 7 years in mixed animal practice in Derbyshire before leaving England in 2006 to work for animal welfare charity ‘Animals Asia’ with Asiatic black bears rescued from the bile farming industry in China and Vietnam. She also ran dog shelter management projects in the three years she was there for dogs misplaced in the Sichuan earthquake of 2008 and dogs rescued from illegal dog meat traders. In 2012 she moved to Scotland to take up a new position as a Welfare and Anaesthesia veterinary nurse for the University of Edinburgh. Hayley was part of the anaesthesia team and was responsible for training veterinary students and nurses in all aspects of anaesthesia, handling, inpatient care, and pain management at the teaching hospital of the Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies. Hayley also taught animal welfare, nursing, and clinical skills in vet schools to veterinary students in low-middle income countries such as Sri Lanka, India, and Bosnia for the Jeanne Marchig International Centre for Animal Welfare Education. Her focus was on improving veterinary education through excellence in patient care and promoting humane alternatives to live animals in veterinary education. Hayley now works remotely for the University of Edinburgh, and is also a student liaison officer for veterinary nurse training college, Bottle Green Training, and a long-term locum for emergency out of hours provider, Vets Now. Hayley has received the RCVS Golden Jubilee Award, CEVA Vet Nurse of the Year Award, BSAVA’s Veterinary Nurse Award, and was awarded an MBE from the Queen in 2018 for Services to Veterinary Education and Animal Welfare.