Small Animal Vet - Wolverhampton West Midlands

My father founded Connaught House Vets in 1953 and we were one of the first practices in the country to be awarded RCVS hospital status. Since then, we have grown to be a thriving multi-centre practice with 10 full -time and several part -time vets, with our hospital at the heart of the practice. We remain proudly independent, allowing us to have excellent clinical freedom and continuity of cases.

We believe in nurturing our team and can offer lots of support, so if you’ve had a tough time in the profession over the last few years, like so many have, and are feeling a little battered and bruised, let us pick up the pieces and help put you back together. Our friendly team will build your confidence and develop your skills .  We want you to be in a place where you feel comfortable and our current team reflects that, with many of us having been here for years, or some who left and came back- twice in one case!

We appreciate that everyone has their own skill set and areas of interest, so if your ideal day is being elbow deep in surgery or if you prefer seeing consults, we can offer the flexibility to pursue your interests and develop your skills with the support of our team of experienced vets, who enjoy sharing their knowledge. Our CD, Julie, has been with us since graduating and as a GDP Advisor she enjoys teaching whilst working towards her feline medicine certificate. Zadie is also a GDP Advisor, and is always happy to share her love of surgery as she completes her surgical certificate. Elliott is passionate about orthopaedics and is nearing completion of his surgical certificate too and Kathryn our clinical director at Kingswinford has a special interest in ophthalmology. Meanwhile, Will is making good use of our excellent GE Vivid ultrasound machine whilst working towards his cardiology certificate.

There is plenty of opportunity for career development and we will fully support this, so whether you want to improve your skills or are looking to take on a certificate, we will not only fund this, but can provide the varied caseload to help you achieve this. We enjoy mentoring and watching our team thrive and have structured our days to support this – with one full week on the operating schedule, then one week consulting, taking away the stress of rushing from ops to consults. We also run our ops weeks in teams, with one of our two senior vets pairing up with the less experienced vets, providing excellent support. Most of our consultations are 20 minutes, so no need to rush with new or more complicated cases. We have a culture that you’re not alone, and we really enjoy helping each other out. But don’t just take our word for it, here’s is what one of our former vets, Isla, who’s now completing an internship had to say about her time with us:

’Connaught House Vets provided a supportive and nurturing environment in which I was able to grow my internal medicine and critical care skills. It's varied and interesting caseload equipped me with both practical skills and clinical experience, thus developing my enthusiasm and knowledge. This facilitated my transition to a multidisciplinary university-based internship and ongoing training.’

Our full-time vets work a 4-day week, but we are very flexible with our rota and are happy to discuss your preferences, so if you have other commitments to work around or would prefer to work part-time, please do get in touch for an informal chat.

Our nights are outsourced to Vets Now from 7pm daily, and our in-patients are cared for at the hospital site by our experienced RVN team, who provide 24/7 care, overseen by the vets who share the rota.  We know how important work-life balance is, so at the hospital we have combined our weekends and inpatient only rotas, so that you are only on 1:8.

This rota starts with Saturday morning consults, then only seeing emergencies and inpatients until 7pm, when the phones go over to Vets Now. Sunday follows the same pattern but just 1 hour of consults between 10-11am.  The following week you’ll be available for any in-patient advice but again, Vets Now handle the OOHs from 7pm. If you have to see any consults outside of the set appointment times over the weekend, you will receive an additional £25 payment per consult seen and £90 if a case needs further work up (imaging, surgery etc). Once your week is done, you can enjoy a 3-day week the following week and a lovely long weekend plus 7 weeks before any weekends or inpatient advice is needed again.

There is also scope (if this is something that interests you) to develop your exotics skills, as our Shifnal practice is primarily exotics based (60%) and led by diplomate Marie Kubiak, who has completed a 3year European College of Zoological Medicine Residency, the RCVS certificate in Advanced Veterinary Practice (Zoo Medicine) and the RCVS Diploma in Zoological Medicine. As a recognised Specialist in Zoo and wildlife Medicine, Marie has also published and released a Veterinary Exotics book 'Handbook of Exotic Pet Medicine'. There is also the flexibility if you wanted to do a mainly exotics role full or part-time, potentially with no inpatient rota and 1:4 Saturdays.

If you are looking to relocate, we can provide a relocation bonus of £3,000 as well as providing temporary accommodation at the practice or nearby at our lovely 2 bedroomed cottage, which is at the equine part of our practice, so you can even bring your horse! The equine and small animal side of the practice are separate, so no bumping into your clients at the cottage! Dogs are also welcome at work.

We are a sociable team and enjoy getting together, whether it’s a practice meeting with pizza or getting together outside of work, like when our staff decided to pull together and cycle 100 km to raise money for Hounds for Heroes after attending a congress where the charity founder was keynote speaker. We are big supporters of various charities, holding numerous coffee & cake mornings and selling masks a client was making during COVID for the Air Ambulance.

Situated between the historic Black Country and the beautiful countryside of Shropshire and Staffordshire, Wolverhampton has the best of both worlds being just within 20 minutes from Birmingham but a short ride to the amazing Shropshire hills. It’s also has great transport links, and is just 15 mins from the motorway network taking you all over the UK

• Salary of £32,000 to £60,000+, depending on experience
• 5 working weeks holidays plus bank holidays 
• Additional £25 paid per consult seen outside of consult slots during weekend day times.
• Flexible CPD allowance, certificates funded and supported
• Visas sponsored
• Accommodation available

If you would like to enjoy working with our close-knit, supportive team, please call us for an informal chat or apply now!