Established for 7 years, this practice has a maturing client base and a caseload that is growing more varied day by day. Their routine vs. non-routine split is round 50/50.

 

They are a Practice Standards Scheme accredited clinic, with 4 outstanding accolades (Team and Professional Responsibility, Consultation Service, Client Service and Inpatient Care). They are also a Gold Cat Friendly Clinic and have the Silver Award for being Rabbit Friendly.

 

They have a learning mentality here with lots of case discussion happening throughout the day, but also dedicated time to discuss cases with their twice weekly clinical vet meetings.

 

Work Life Balance

 

Although covid has been tough for everyone, a lot of great things have come out of it for this practice. The practice owner has been brave enough to go against the grain and make certain decisions that most practices wouldn't, including shortening their weekends so they only work 10am - 3pm, and closing the practice an hour earlier at 6pm rather than the traditional 7pm.

 

There is a fixed rota to provide continuity, consistency and predictability. All but one of their vets has children, so a fixed rota is important to the team.

 

Each day, you work 9am - 6pm with a 1 hour paid lunch break. If you ever do any overtime, anything over 30 minutes is logged, and you get paid for it.

 

Weekends are worked on a 1 in 4 rota.

 

The Culture

 

Although a team of 13 women, they work really really well together. They have all different age groups here and a diverse range of personalities. What allows them to work well together is their team spirit and family atmosphere.

 

They also make a lot of decisions as a team, including the hiring of new team members.

 

What is also helpful is that they have autonomy in their decision making. Standards and expectations are clear, therefore decisions can be made around clinical care, client care and animal welfare in the absence of the practice owner.

 

There is also a clear expectation of bringing something up if it is bothering you. The whole team are on board with the idea of facing problems when they arise, addressing issues as they come up instead of letting things fester and having something turn into more than it needs to be. Therefore, it’s not the type of practice where there’s any division or whispering going on. 

The same goes if you make a mistake. Nobody is immune from making mistakes, and there's no blame culture here, and the team work together to solve problems.

 

In a practice of this size, there's a huge focus on the customer experience. They take the time in those day to day cases (the ones you can do with your eyes closed), to focus on communication and bonding, so that when the same client presents a more complex case, you've already got the bond and the trust there which makes the tricky cases flow much easier. You're not starting afresh with a client, you've already built the foundation of the relationship. This is something that is often missing from a larger practice with a higher churn of clients.

 

The Team

 

There are 3 full time vets and 1 part time vet here, with 20, 17, 6 and 6 years experience, and interests in ultrasound, internal medicine, small furries, acupuncture, exotics and dermatology.

 

There are 3 RVNs and a student nurse, plus 4 receptionists.

 

Support

 

The practice owner is incredibly supportive of professional development in the form of CPD and certificate funding, but also by helping people in practice to increase their skills. If you are a younger vet who needs surgical support, your ops day will be the same as the owner's to ensure you're operating together, until you're ready to go it alone. 

 

As a team, they support each other exceptionally well. Sometimes even an experienced vet might need an extra pair of hands in surgery, or might ask for a nurse or an extra vet to scrub in, and that's perfectly okay here. Even a vet doing a routine procedure can ask for an extra pair of hands and there's the flexibility within the team to make that happen.

 

The point is, the practice owner doesn't just want people to cope, she wants the practice to be well staffed so that they can pull someone out of the consultation diary to help in ops if needs be. They are a forward thinking and proactive practice and always thinking about how they can make life easier and more straight forward for the team, and to prevent any unnecessary disruption.

 

The practice owner supports her team more than most people do. She's the type of leader who will notice when someone looks not quite themselves, and she will bend over backwards to accommodate someone in their time of need. There is deep mutual respect between employer and employees here.