Small Animal Veterinary Surgeon

About Us

Orchard Vets is one of the few remaining independent small animal practices in the West Midlands. We love what we do and pride ourselves on our happy, supportive team - we want you to enjoy your day. We all look out for each other and have a long-standing team; last month, we celebrated giving out our 6^th award for 25 years of service, so we must be doing something right! We are pretty unusual in that we buy our team lunch every day to show our appreciation. We have also created our own amazing health plan for our lovely clients that includes pretty much everything, and the vast majority of them have joined the scheme. So, we have happy clients and happy vets because we can provide high-quality, no-worry veterinary treatment.

Our vets have many years of experience between them and various interests. Emma graduated from Liverpool University in 2009 and is interested in exotics and surgery, holding certificates in both. Emma undertakes most of our orthopaedic work, allowing us to keep cases in-house. Frances particularly enjoys dentistry, and Megan is happiest in front of the ultrasound machine. Kim and John are both fantastic GP vets, with John spending the majority of his time now behind the scenes, running the practice. We are supported by our fantastic nursing team of ten RVNs, two SVNs, an ANA, and our fabulous reception and admin team.  

Our Oldbury practice moved to new, state-of-the-art premises in 2020, which are fully air-conditioned, with four consulting rooms, two operating theatres, separate cat-friendly facilities and our physiotherapy and hydrotherapy unit with an underwater treadmill.

We have a dedicated rehabilitation team that includes RVNs Holly (Cert HAS, DipVetPhys), Gemma (Cert HAS), and Hydrotherapist Eve, who provide in-house follow-up care and pain management to our orthopaedic and chronic pain cases. We’re a forward-thinking practice that is happy to invest in equipment to support your interests. We have all the usual kit, including dental x-ray, ultrasound with cardiac capabilities and endoscopy.

We have regular one-to-ones and meetings to share knowledge and to keep us updated with new techniques. We aim to continually improve our standards and the services we offer and love input and ideas from the whole team. There is no hierarchy here. Everyone’s views are listened to and taken seriously, often contributing to essential changes.

The Role

We are ideally looking for a vet with some experience as this position will involve a small amount of sole charge work. We fully support career progression and will always encourage you to follow your interests and develop your skills. If you want to take on a certificate or further qualifications, we have the caseload and experienced team to support this.

We value our team's work-life balance, so our vets work a 4-day week with a fixed day off and just 1 in 5 Saturday mornings (8.30 am – 1.30 pm). We have time built into the schedule to ensure you can catch up on admin, make phone calls and enjoy a proper lunch break.  Our out-of-hours are outsourced to Vets Now, who also look after our inpatients, so your Sundays and bank holidays are free to enjoy.

Outside of work

We’re a really close-knit team that enjoys getting together socially, and we’ve had some fantastic team events over the years, whether that involved meeting up for a meal, heading to the theatre or our family fun day at the local theme park. This festive season, we’re heading off to watch the panto (oh yes, we are!). There is lots to do locally, plenty of entertainment like cinemas, clubs and restaurants, and Birmingham city centre is easily reached in 20 minutes. We also have the beautiful countryside on our doorstep and excellent travel connections with the motorway and Birmingham airport nearby.

We are offering:

• A salary of £49,000 to £66,000, including bonuses
• 7.6 weeks holiday, including bank holidays
• CPD encouraged, with certificates supported
• Lunch provided everyday 😊
• VDS and BSAVA membership 
• Private healthcare
• Happy to sponsor visas

If you want to know more about our longstanding supportive team, please call for an informal chat, or if this sounds like the practice you’re looking for, apply now!