Small Animal Veterinary Surgeon – Kent

Our Maidstone group of clinics are growing, and we have exciting plans afoot, so if you want to know more, and what it’s like to be part of an employee-owned independent practice, read on…. Pennard Vets hold a unique position in the veterinary world. We are the world’s largest employee-owned vet group.  What does that mean for you when you’re thinking about a new role?  The concept of being employee owned is not a new one, many people know that John Lewis partnership is owned by its employees; well, we are just like that. There is no financial buy in, but the majority of the practice’s shares are held in an employee-owned trust, which means everyone has a voice, and can feel part of something special and share in our success. It gives every team member the opportunity to influence the decisions we make for the future of our practice. It also ensures our long-term future as an independent practice. We’ve been independent for 125 years and by operating in this way, we’ll continue to thrive for the next 125 years, and beyond. What’s more, we’ve founded the British Veterinary Employee-Owned Association to empower more practices to follow our lead. We are committed to working as One Vet Team, ensuring that every member of the practice feels valued, and knows that they matter. Everyone works together to ensure we take the best care of our patients, our clients and each other. The most recent recruits to our vet team have said that the value we place on communication is unlike anything they have seen in other practices they have worked at. We focus on personal growth and development, not just in clinical skills but in communication, teamwork, and leadership – we want to help everyone enjoy their work as much as possible, and to have the opportunity to continue to improve their skills, with a real sense of shared purpose and autonomy.   “I love Pennards because of the insanely supportive and knowledgeable team! Everyone has each other’s back and it’s great to feel a part of a team :)” – Riata MRCVS “I love the people I work with, and I love having clinical freedom” Laura MRCVS The main practice at Maidstone is where all the procedures take place, it has great clinical facilities and all the usual toys including dental x-ray. We are also an ISFM silver cat friendly clinic. Upstairs we have a vet’s office and large meeting room, as well as a lovely staff area. There is also a garden area to enjoy during the summer months. We have some exciting plans for the future of the Maidstone practice. As part of our Maidstone hub, we also have two smaller consult- only clinics just 10 minutes away, at Allington and Langley Park.  We are currently a 5-vet team and are looking to expand to 6. We have two very experienced clinicians Sarla and Alberta currently based at the Maidstone practice. They have both been qualified 20 years+ and are both fantastic surgeons as well as feline GP certificate holders. Alberta in addition has the RCVS Certificate in Small Animal Medicine.  Eleanor and Kate are based at the Allington clinic, Eleanor is studying for her ophthalmology certificate and Kate has a cardiology certificate. We also have Tenielle joining us in a few months plus one of our newly qualified graduate interns two days a week. As well as the facilities and expertise at the Maidstone hub, you will also benefit from the equipment and knowledge within the wider Pennard’s team. We have many vets with certificates and further qualifications throughout Pennards, and our mentoring system means that you can benefit directly from that experience. For example, Ewan, our Practice Principal at Sevenoaks, who is also studying towards his surgical certificate, is training up Sophie on our laparoscope, so we will soon be looking to add another unit at our Tonbridge clinic to expand our service and meet the growing demand from our clients. Charlotte based at our Sevenoaks practice has a GP certificate in cardiology and can help with your cardiac cases. Emma, who holds a Cert AVP in Diagnostic Imaging, is also able to come over from our Sevenoaks practice to help with imaging.  Fotis is our resident dental champion, and we also run our own in-house physio and hydrotherapy service. We are also fortunate to have visiting specialists including Christoph Stork, RCVS Specialist in Orthopaedics who performs all our orthopaedic surgeries; Audrey Petite, an EBVS imaging specialist, Carly Mason, a dermatology specialist, and Babis Koffas, cardiology specialist who regularly visit the Pennard practices for the more complex cases.   At Pennards we developed our values together, and we bring them into all aspects of our working day; how we focus on client care and how we look after our team and work together

• Compassion – the care we offer is sensitive to both our clients, patients, and each other. We take the concerns and needs of our clients and team members seriously. We listen and use our expertise to give honest genuine support and sensitive care.
• Client focus – every client and team member receives the care that is right for them, and we want our clients to leave happy in the knowledge that they have had the best experience possible with us and believe every pet deserves care that goes beyond the ordinary!
• Continuous improvement – we take ownership of our development to improve our knowledge and expertise. We rise to every challenge, finding new and better ways to help our clients and each other.
• Clarity – we always have open and honest conversations and communicate really well with each other as a team and with our clients.

Our day runs from 8.30am with the last afternoon consult booked at 5.45pm (this is ring fenced for urgent consults). We have time set aside for admin so that we’re not writing notes and making phone calls late into the evening. We also have our own OOH service which runs from our Sevenoaks practice and is manned by our dedicated night team. This also means that there are no Sunday’s or Bank Holidays to work. All our vets work an average of 1:3 Saturday mornings and if you have worked a Saturday morning, you will have one full day off during the week. As this role involves some sole charge consulting, it is ideally suited to a vet with some experience, but that could be a confident 2021 grad to a very experienced clinician. Our philosophy is it’s all about the right team fit, rather than having mastered certain procedures, as new skills can always be taught. The salary for this role is from £35,000 – £60,000. As an employee-owned practice the whole team consulted on the benefits we offer:

• 25 days holiday plus bank holidays, plus 1 day for each additional year’s service (up to a maximum of 30 days)
• Health care cashback plus private health insurance
• Professional membership fees paid
• Birthdays off
• Life Assurance
• Unlimited CPD budget, certificates absolutely supported and encouraged
• 1-2-1 mentoring and coaching clinical, communication, business & leadership
• Visa sponsorship
• Refer a friend bonus
• Employee Pet Health Care club
• Free flu vaccines and eye care vouchers.
• Employee Assistance Program
• Long service awards – some of our staff have been with us over 40 years!
• Help with relocation

We all try to get together when we can outside of work and look forward to our all-practice summer BBQ’s and Christmas party. Maidstone is the county town of Kent and is a very attractive historic town, with great restaurants, bars, and excellent schools. It’s a beautiful part of the country with lots of walks and historic places of interest.  We are also ideally placed for travel; central London is just an hour by train; Eurotunnel, and the Kent coast are just 30 minutes away and Gatwick airport just 40 minutes away.