Small Animal Veterinary Surgeon

Watkins Tasker Vets; West of England; On-site; GBP 44,000 - 60,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Salary band £44k–£60k

Unlimited CPD

Holiday entitlement

Birthday off

Private medical insurance

Health care cash plan

Death in service

RCVS fees covered

Job summary

Watkins Tasker Vets, an independent three-site small animal practice near Bristol, invites applications from a confident GP Vet who loves working with clients and pets. The role involves a varied caseload, opportunities to pursue special interests, and participation in our proactive out-of-hours service.

The successful candidate will provide high-quality medical and surgical care, work with a supportive nursing team, and contribute to clinical standards and service development.

Qualifications

• Three years’ veterinary experience required.

Responsibilities

• Consulting and managing a varied small animal caseload.
• Performing routine and non-routine surgical procedures.
• Participating in out-of-hours rota.
• Medical case management and care plan implementation.
• Collaborating with the clinical team to maintain high standards of care.
• Communicating clearly with clients to support informed decisions.
• Contributing to ongoing development of clinical standards and services.

Job description

VETERINARY SURGEON – SMALL ANIMAL

Independent 3 site Practice near Bristol seeking people-loving confident GP

We are looking for a people-loving, animal-loving, fantastic Vet to join our exceptional, inspiring, fully independent practice team. Here’s a bit about us, the role and our aspirations for you…

The Opportunity

We wish to recruit a permanent full-time Vet with at least three years’ experience. We are looking for an all-round confident GP who may have a special interest they wish to develop, or has started or completed a Post-graduate Certificate.

You’ll be responsible for providing high-quality medical and surgical care while working closely with our experienced nursing and support teams to deliver excellent outcomes for our patients and clients.

The role includes:

• Consulting and managing a varied small animal caseload
• Performing routine and non-routine surgical procedures
• Participating in our out-of-hours rota as this is one of our key commitments to our clients and their pets
• Medical case management, diagnostics and care plan implementation, including inpatient care workload
• Working collaboratively with the wider clinical team to deliver high standards of patient care
• Communicating clearly and compassionately with clients to support informed decision‑making
• Contributing to the continued development of clinical standards, practice services and quality improvement projects

Our full‑time vets work 39 hours per week split over 4 days plus 1:12 Saturday mornings, plus a fair share of the out of hours rota. We are committed to providing our own out of hours services for our clients and their pets; we use our own team, in our own premises, and with access to the pet’s records. This is not only a huge benefit for our clients and their pets, but we believe it also benefits our team’s experience and development. If you don’t want to undertake out of hours work this isn’t the role for you.

Generally, over the course of a day, you will see a mix of consults ranging from the routine healthcare to emergencies. You will have time to do procedures, dentals, medical case work ups, follow ups and have a break for your lunch. Our clients are really engaged and come to us knowing they will receive excellent pet care, a welcoming smile, transparent pricing, and a professional service throughout.

About You

Are you a Vet who:

• Will hit the ground raring to go? We love learning so bring your best ideas
• Loves a busy and varied small animal case load perhaps with an area of interest which is ready to be nurtured and developed?
• Places a high emphasis on client and patient care?
• This is why we have invested in equipment such as CT, digital x‑ray, ultrasound, dental x‑ray, tonometry, Class IV laser, laparoscopic surgery, full suite of video gastro‑ and bronchoscopes, and much more
• Loves the challenge of complex medical and inpatient work? You would be supported by, or working alongside, amazing colleagues with certificate level knowledge
• Is comfortable with all routine surgery and dentistry and confident with more complex procedures?
• Wants proactive, supported career progression to develop those skills even more?
• Sees doing our own out of hours service as an amazing opportunity for personal development, enjoyment of case continuity and giving the client/patient the numerous benefits of in‑house emergency care?
• Can communicate and translate complicated clinical options with clarity and compassion? Communication is one of our buzz words!
• Has good knowledge and understanding of our feline friends and bunny buddies?We have ISFM Gold Standard Cat Friendly Clinic and Gold RWAF Awards
• Sees the value in a holistic and multi‑modal approach to rehabilitation and pain management? Our onsite rehabilitation service, hydro.vet, offers physio, hydrotherapy, laser therapy and gait analysis
• Thrives in a conscientious yet flexible and friendly working environment?
• Thinks sustainability is something we should all be tackling? We have an Eco Team who champion sustainability within the Practice and have been awarded our Silver Investors in the Environment award
• Considers themselves as compassionate, humble and wants to be a great all‑round GP?
• Has an outstanding pet‑side manner meaning that we know the pet couldn’t be in safer hands?
• Wants to work for an independent Practice whose owners are committed, enthusiastic and 100% involved in all areas of the business?

If this appeals to you, then great! – have a read of the next bit too!

Why join us?

The benefits you would get include:

• Salary guide £44,000-£60,000, dependent on your level of experience and set within our structured pay scale
• Unlimited CPD budget - including support for certificates and further professional development
• Holiday entitlement which increases with length of service
• Your Birthday off – leaving you to enjoy yourself however you want
• No quibble time back if you work past your finish time (or help out a colleague at a weekend/OOH)Generous staff discount
• Enhanced sick leave which also increases the longer you have worked here
• Private Medical Insurance
• Health Care Cash Plan and Employee Assistance Programme
• Death in service benefit
• Scottish Widows Pension and access to free financial and mortgage advice
• RCVS fees, VDS cover and professional membership fees

About Us:

We are a proudly independent, award winning, three site Small Animal Practice based just to the south of Bristol in North Somerset. Our team are dedicated, hard‑working, fun‑loving and proud to provide the best care we can for our patients. We have a passionate vision, and our culture is built around our six core values: Respect, Teamwork, Compassion, Honesty, Trust and Excellence.

There are 57 of us working across our Practices in Portishead, Nailsea and Yatton. We have our team at the centre of what we do and love the personal feel from being truly independent.

We have regular quarterly individual catch‑up meetings (no stuffy annual appraisals here), and the Leadership Team have an open‑door policy for ideas, concerns or just a chat. We have whole Practice meetings three times a year, where we shut all the sites and get together over lunch. Our Vets, Nurses, Eco and Practice Development Team all have dedicated time to meet to check in, discuss clinical cases or plan projects.