Helen Rooney

Helen qualified as a veterinary nurse in 1996 and has worked in referral practice and as a veterinary nursing lecturer. She developed an interest in emergency and critical care and transfusion medicine, enjoying the fast pace and intense nursing input of these cases.

“I love the visible and profound transformation of some patients following a transfusion and I believe it to be a great area to be nurse-led.”

In 2019, Helen joined the team at Pet Blood Bank as their Induction and Training Manager and received the prestigious Pet Plan Veterinary Nurse of the Year award in 2023 for her work in this role which included authoring the Nursing Certificate in Transfusion Medicine and educating veterinary practice teams on blood transfusion practices. Although no longer working at PBB, Helen maintains close links with the charity and collaborates on training and research. In addition to her role as the Improve International NCert Transfusion Medicine course tutor, Helen currently works as the Referral Nurse Training and Development Lead for IVC. IVC are a large international veterinary group, where Helen works with senior leaders at their specialist-led referral hospitals, including the two Vets Now Emergency and Critical Care sites. She supports referral nurse training and upskilling and creates learning and development pathways that allow referral nurses to expand and progress their clinical and non-clinical roles.