Veterinary Surgeon

A bit about us

2024 is a big year for us as we turn 200 years young! We are proud of our long-standing history of campaigning for a better world for animal welfare. We were the first to introduce a law to protect animals and have been working hard to ensure that all animals can live free from pain and suffering. Through our campaigns we raise standards of care and awareness of issues affecting animals today. Our vision is to one day live in a world where all animals are respected and treated with compassion, and that is what we work towards every day.

We are hiring a Vet Surgeon to join the Animal Centre team reporting to the Centre Manager.

• Working week: 35 hours working Monday to Friday between the hours of 08:30 hrs and 16:30 hrs. With no on-call hours, you rarely have to stay late, and no weekends.
• On-site role: RSPCA, Felledge, Beaney Lane, Chester Moor, Chester-le-Street DH2 3BF

We role model our values through our people culture and keep connected through a daily vet team morning meeting. Your colleagues are always on hand to support or discuss cases. It's important that you feel part of our team from the get-go.

Are you ready to be part of our journey and make a difference?

Benefits

We offer a wide range of benefits to recognise your contributions at RSPCA.

• Great Annual Leave benefits - 25 days annual leave on joining increasing each year to a maximum of 31 days (pro rata for part-time)
• Additional Society day around Christmas.
• CPD/ VDS & MRCVS: RSPCA offer 5 days CPD + £1000 CPD allowance (pro rata) and are looking to offer additional professional development and funding after a qualifying period. Payment for VDS and MRCVS registration fee.
• Generous pension scheme
• Career development through our in-house Learning & Development training
• Charity worker discounts: Access to hundreds of discounts across many retailers, travel, insurance & cinema tickets.

What a day might look like for you

Here at RSPCA, we know it's a cliche but no two days are the same, as a Vet Surgeon we've added a summary of what a typical day might look like. Please also find attached a job description.

Each year Felledge Animal Centre becomes home to hundreds of animals that our inspectors rescue from cruelty, abandonment, and neglect, and we provide specialist treatment and rehabilitation to give the animals a happy second start in life.

We take a holistic and team-based approach to individual animal treatment and recognise the importance of committing as much time as we can focussing on the welfare of the animals that come into our care. This means that you get to work with some amazing, passionate, and supportive team members to focus on what is best for the animals you see.

As part of that team, you will be:

• Performing consultations and treatment of animals in RSPCA care
• Undertaking a very varied and interesting caseload
• Undertaking a wide variety of surgical procedures for the animals in our care including high-volume/quality cat neutering
• Providing veterinary opinion and support for welfare prosecution cases (training will be provided)
• Implementing RSPCA policies regarding the re-homeability of unowned animals including following a structured decision-making process (training will be provided)
• Providing veterinary advice to public clients and RSPCA colleague

What makes a great Veterinary Surgeon?

This is an exciting brand new role where you will be part of the larger Animal Centre team working alongside a Vet Nurse to deliver vet treatment. This role allows you to have a unique connection with the animals on site, from intake and rehabilitation through to rehoming, enabling a full case continuity. This role also provides access to the wider RSPCA Vet teams, allowing the potential for further opportunities and visits to other centres.

We're looking for a pragmatic vet who is ideally experienced in routine surgery and has an interest in animal welfare work and shelter medicine. You'll benefit from being a good communicator and enjoy working as part of a team.

You will need:

• Membership of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons
• Previous clinical experience, ideally one year, however, candidates will be assessed on their merits
• The ability to perform routine consultations and routine surgeries quickly and safely

Final note from us & good luck with your application!

We are really lucky that some of our roles attract a high level of interest and for this reason we review applications as they are received, unfortunately on some occasions this means roles may close earlier than advertised; so early submissions are highly recommended.

We want to ensure we do all we can to give you a positive candidate experience through our recruitment. Whilst we do try to give feedback where we can, sometimes due to receiving high levels of applications, this may not always be possible

We recognise that a diverse and inclusive workforce is essential to achieving our core mission. For this reason we actively encourage a wide diversity of applications - in particular from members of minority ethnic groups, and people with disabilities - as these candidates are currently under-represented at the RSPCA.

Should you need any support with your application or interview process please contact resourcingteam@rspca.org.uk

Our mission is to ensure animals have a good life by rescuing and caring for those in need, by advocating on behalf of all animals and by inspiring everyone to treat them with compassion and respect.

Job Types: Full-time, Permanent

Pay: £44,941.00-£52,872.00 per year

Benefits:

• Company pension
• Health & wellbeing programme
• Life insurance
• Sick pay

Work Location: In person

Application deadline: 07/05/2024