Helen Binge runs the nurse-led floor at Blaise Veterinary Referral Hospital as the Hospital Workflow Coordinator and is key to making the hospital run smoothly.
Please summarise your journey/biography
I was a practical learner and never particularly academic at school – but I absolutely loved animals and knew I wanted to work with them. At one stage, in my late teens, I had almost 50 animals. I had two dogs, seven cats, two rabbits, seven ferrets, five guinea pigs, two skunks, plus snakes, tarantulas, Land Hermit crabs, millipedes and more. My bedroom in my parents’ house in south Gloucestershire was floor to ceiling in tanks and vivariums!
I left school after my GCSEs and after doing two years of animal management and welfare at college, I started my vet nurse training at 17. I qualified in 2008 at a first opinion and referral hospital and took on the head theatre nurse role a couple of years after, but quickly realised anaesthesia was my real interest.
They didn’t have anaesthetists and after a few years I felt I’d hit a wall and moved to Bristol Vet School at Langford Campus. It wasn’t anaesthesia at first, but it was my way of getting into a university teaching hospital and luckily an anaesthesia nurse post came up. I specialised in that for about nine years, lecturing around the country. Pre-Covid Langford were looking at how to work more efficiently and as I’d visited another hospital that had a clinical workflow coordinator, I suggested we try that, I soon took on that role full-time and really loved it.
When the chance to join IVC Evidensia’s Blaise Veterinary Referrals in a similar role, but as part of the management team, became available, I jumped at it.
Describe your typical day from waking to sleeping.
I’ve got four dogs, but one of them, Margot, comes to work with me, so we go for a walk before heading in to start the day.
We’re paperless here, so I’ll grab an iPad, log onto SmartFlow, see what cases have come in overnight and make plans for any additional procedures needed that day. At 8.30am the clinicians, clinical team leads, and a selection of nurses get together for hospital rounds, discussing every patient and what procedures are needed.
I spend my day on the clinic floor, overseeing the running of procedures and I also accept and accommodate any emergency cases. Early afternoon, I start planning the next day, booking imaging, theatre and procedure slots required for each patient.
It’s all about maintaining efficiencies and getting to see as many patients as we can in a safe manner. There is always communication and adapting to whatever comes up, be it staffing, caseload, servicing of equipment etc.
It’s a role I absolutely love but when I get home, I enjoy spending time with the dogs, in the garden when the weather allows, and ideally watching an episode of a series I’ve got on the go!
How would you describe yourself in a sentence?
I’d like to think I’m jovial, professional, organised, and compassionate.
How would others describe you in a sentence?
I’d hope people see me as approachable and diplomatic.
What has been your top success and what have you learned from this?
I think it was suggesting and then taking the lead on the new workflow coordinator role at Langford because it was a turning point in my career. I was setting this up by myself in a hospital that had very established ways of working.
Some people who had been there a long time were set in their ways and you need to navigate their concerns when you’re suggesting different ways of working. I learned how to hold myself and articulate things without being rude. So, it was finding how to communicate in a polite but assertive way. If you get people’s backs up, then that doesn’t help in achieving what you want.
What has been your biggest challenge, setback or failure and how have you overcome it? How did you grow or change as a result?
A big challenge for me has been coming to terms with my diagnosis of OCD and learning to live with it. I must have been about 16 when it started, but I didn’t receive a diagnosis until mid-20’s. I’ve had intensive courses of CBT and started on medication. It affects every part of my daily life, and it’s something I wouldn’t wish anyone to go through. In recent years, I’ve started to openly talk about it, and have even given CPD on the subject, trying to break the sigma around mental health. My OCD no longer defines who I am but is just a part of who I am.
What compromises have you had to make and what, if anything, could have helped?
The biggest one recently is upping my entire life and relocating to take this job at Blaise. I was living in a lovely little village on the outskirts of Weston-super-Mare and, although Blaise was the perfect job for me, it meant moving to Worcestershire. I had long conversations with my partner who was very supportive in us selling the house, giving it a go and not always thinking about what might have been. We’re lucky to have found somewhere rural with lovely walks nearby, but the main thing has been leaving family and friends behind and moving to somewhere we literally know no one. Having to build a new social circle from scratch is probably the main compromise.
What advice would you have given to your younger self, that you would now give to others wanting to follow your path.
Just believe in yourself. My schoolfriends all went on to university, while I was the only one that left without A-Levels and went to college. Lots of people said I wouldn’t get anywhere without getting a degree and I found that quite difficult. But looking back, I’ve done just fine and forged my nursing career without a university education. I’d want to tell the younger generation that they needn’t got down the university route to do well in their career.
I couldn’t have got where I am today without…
The support of my family, good friends, and my partner.
What are your three top likes?
Spending time with the dogs, being in the garden/redesigning the one in our new house from scratch, and socialising with friends.
What are your three top dislikes?
Judgemental, prejudiced people, unfair negative press about the profession and country music.
What is the most helpful book you’ve read and why?
I’m dyslexic, so I really don’t enjoy reading.
Many thanks to Helen for sharing her story to inspire veterinary women to aspire and grow into their full career potential.
If you would like to share your story please get in touch at info@veterinarywoman.co.uk
For exclusive access to more stories like this, subscribe to our monthly newsletter
You may also like:
Veterinary Woman Role Model Profile: Nicola Lakeman
Veterinary Woman Role Model Profile: Remi Onabolu
Veterinary Woman Role Model Profile: Janny de Grauw