Bicester Vets: Veterinary Surgeon Roles
What could you expect as a veterinary surgeon working at Bicester Vets?
While we don’t currently have any roles available within our team, this gives you an insight into what life is like working at Bicester Vets. If you’re interested in future opportunities within our team, please don’t hesitate to email your CV to jason@bicestervets.co.uk and claire@bicestervets.co.uk and we will keep it on file and contact you, should any vacancies arise.
About Us
Bicester Vets is an independently owned & managed RCVS Small Animal Hospital. The owners, Jason and Cliff, have worked in the practice since 1995 and 2004 respectively. Our single site practice has been at its current location for nearly 50 years and has developed from a general mixed practice to a large, high-quality small animal hospital with over 50 team members, overnight nursing care and a solid desire to do the best we can for our clients and their pets.
We are just coming to the end of a major redevelopment which has given us brand new, spacious, dog cat, exotic and isolation wards. Our CT scanner is installed and ready to enhance our imaging capabilities.
We now have a third operating space and an additional room for scanning/procedures. The recently upgraded waiting room is modern and comfortable with a separate cat friendly area.
Our Team
At Bicester Vets you will find a friendly, welcoming team. An ethos of helpful, collaboration will ensure that experienced vets and new graduates will both fit in easily. Morning rounds provides a lively discussion on in-patients and a chance for any quick updates for the day. Generally, three vets will be consulting for the morning whilst four will be operating. You’ll find a wealth of experience in our team to ensure you never feel on your own.
Our nursing team, the majority of which trained at Bicester Vets, are brilliant at ensuring your day runs smoothly – from preparing your work site, taking pre-anaesthetic bloods & placing IVs to ensuring your patient is ready when you are. Our dedicated reception team will ensure consulting periods run smoothly and assist you with administrative tasks.
“I consider the service we offer to be at an almost referral level, and to do that, everyone works very hard, as a team. The benefit of that hard work is the range of cases you see and skills you get to learn and use. No one gets pushed to the side, everyone gets a fair opportunity to do those cases.
Those with experience are happy to pass those skills on to other members of the team. A new or recent graduate can be sure that they are going to be supported and gain the skills they need to become excellent vets. A more experienced vet can be sure that they are going to be able to see the cases they want to and that our client base trusts us to work up these cases to a very high standard in house.”
– Helen Walton-Collett BVM BVS PGCertSA Ophthal MRCVS Nottingham 2012 Advanced Practitioner
We have veterinary certificate holders in Anaesthesia, Medicine, Cardiology and Surgery. There is a wealth of knowledge in soft tissue & orthopaedic surgery, medicine and diagnostics including general ultrasound and echocardiography. Our in-house lab includes extensive biochemistry and haematology, urinalysis including automated sediment examination, clotting parameters, electrolytes, blood gases and T4.
Doing our own after hours ensures vets can work up and treat their own cases to the level the owner desires. There are also a good selection of referral practices within easy reach when required including Willows (Solihull), The Ralph (Marlow), Hamiltons (High Wycombe), The Cat Clinic (Oxford) & Eastcott (Swindon).
The Vet team regularly have social catch ups outside of work and you’ll find them making extra efforts to ensure you settle into our friendly town. We are fortunate to have many great restaurants and pubs within a quick walk of the practice.
Outside of Bicester and its world-famous shopping outlet (Bicester Village) there is the beautiful city of Oxford with its “dreaming spires” and lively nightlife a quick bus ride away. We have the choice of 2 train stations which will get you to London Marylebone in as little as 45mins or Birmingham centre in 1 hour. A quick drive west will get you to Burford or Stow on the Wold in the beautiful Cotswolds.
“After spending a few summers of EMS at Bicester Vets as a student, I knew a career here could help me develop into the great vet I hope to be. I was delighted to be offered a job and have loved my four years at Bicester Vets. I felt like part of the team from day one and have had great support throughout.”
– Dr Lauren Furey BVM&S (Edin 2020)
What do we look for in our Veterinary Surgeons?
We look for vets who are happy to join our out-of-hours rota on a 1 in 8 basis as outlined elsewhere. Doing our own after-hours work creates a better experience & case continuity for our patients and gives an excellent opportunity for vets to gain knowledge, skills and independence.
You will need to be a team player, looking for a role where you will find friends as well as colleagues. You will be open to new ideas and be willing to share your thoughts about cases with the experienced team around you. If you have veterinary experience, then we’d like you to share your knowledge so that we can learn also.
You will need to be a hard worker who isn’t afraid of challenging cases and you must be prepared to develop your surgical, imaging, diagnostic and dentistry skills to ensure you can provide the very best care for our patients.
For a new graduate we will provide mentoring and support, back-up on call and a large variety of cases to develop your skills and confidence quickly and smoothly.
“I think we are a good team, helping each other out, collaborating with cases so that we all learn, and do the best for our patients. There is an atmosphere of enthusiasm to learn and develop, as individuals, and as a practice and enjoy a good rapport between ACAs, nurses, vets, reception and office staff. Everyone has pulled together during hard times, through COVID and pressured days; there is support within the practice and from the Directors.”
– Rachel Marsden – MA VetMB CertVC MRCVS – Advanced Practitioner
Full-time Vet Rota – Currently 1 in 8
• 7 in 8 – standard work week of 4 days 8.30am – 6.30pm (Only 3 days after weekend on call)
o Day off is variable and can be requested in advance to suit your plans
• 1 in 8 – 5 days of night duties
o Mon- Fri 2pm-9pm then on-call overnight
o Day starts at 2pm where you might help finish off the op list, do a house call, or assist with the inevitable “emergency”.
o There are repeat prescriptions to complete, perhaps some phone calls
o There are early evening appointments which start at 6.10pm for an hour. These are followed by “Red” appointments between 8-9pm which aren’t routinely booked, but are there to enable you to encourage owners to bring ill animals in at a reasonable hour, rather than waiting till midnight to call.
o If things are quiet, then you can leave the practice at 9pm in the capable hands of the overnight nurse who will take phone calls and contact you if necessary.
• 1 in 8 – Saturday shift 8.30am – 2.30 approx.
o Consulting from 8.30am
o Assist with procedures after consults
• 1 in 8 – full weekend duty
o 8.30am Sat to 8.30am Monday
o Saturday morning – care of inpatients, procedures, hospital admissions
o From 2.30pm Saturday – on-call for the remainder of the weekend
o Nurse at the practice at all times to take phone calls, give medications and nursing care
o Monday & Tuesday – off after weekend for recovery
Full time Vet Terms & Benefits
• 7 weeks annual leave
o 7 x 4 day week = 28 days paid leave
• £1800 inc. vat annual CPD allowance
• Certificates encouraged and funded above standard CPD budget
• 5 paid CPD days (7 days for advanced practitioners)
• Salary for a new graduate would be around £38,000 plus benefits and up to £65,000 plus benefits for an experienced vet
• RCVS fees paid, VDS insurance paid
• Enhanced company sick pay, workplace pension
• Excellent staff discount for your pets
• Regular CPD with pizza nights
• Christmas party for you and a partner – drinks, food and entertainment provided
• Summer staff BBQ for staff and their immediate families with food cooked by the Directors, drinks and team games by the swimming pool.
Equipment
• Separate dog, cat and exotic wards plus Isolation facilities
• In-house laboratory (including blood gas, clotting and urine sediment machines)
• Digital radiography – DR with floating table
• CT Scanner
• Ultrasound – incl. cardiology, linear & convex probes
• Dental room with digital DR dental x-ray, 2 x air powered dental machines
• Ventilator and several Multi-parameter machines for monitoring critical and anaesthetised patients
• Laparoscopy – ovariectomy, cryptorchid dogs, abdominal organ biopsy
• Ophthalmology – tonovet for IOP, slit lamp, operating/examination loupes
• Rigid and flexible endoscopy,
• Monopolar and bipolar cautery
• Orthopaedic equipment incl. plating, external fixation, MMP cruciate
If you’d like to be considered for future roles, please email your CV to our team below
