Small Animal Veterinary Surgeon

Want to be part of a super-friendly, supportive team? At Ashlands Vet Centre, we’ve got you covered! A great team, career development and exciting plans for our brand-new hospital!

Ashlands Vet Centre is a 15-vet small animal practice set in the stunning Yorkshire Dales. We’ve grown a lot since opening in 2000; we now have our main practice at Ilkley and branch clinics in Skipton and Glusburn, with a fantastic team of 62. As we gear up to celebrate our 25th anniversary, we’ve also been busy breaking ground on our new purpose-built hospital premises in Ilkley, which will open next summer (2025). Whether you’re still finding your feet or are more experienced, we would love you to join us on this exciting journey towards hospital status.

No matter where you are in your career, we will actively encourage you to develop your skills and are happy to accommodate your interests. Our varied caseload supports certificates and further study, and our experienced team allows us to keep the majority of exciting cases in-house. We have Advanced Practitioners in small animal medicine, surgery, and ECC, as well as certificate holders in surgery, medicine, dermatology, and ECC. Many of our 15 RVNs have also gained certificates in ECC, anaesthesia, physiotherapy, and transfusion medicine.

We are a collaborative team that genuinely enjoys working together and values ongoing development and knowledge sharing. You will have the clinical freedom to work up your cases, knowing support is always available to chat through a tricky case or learn a new skill. We have regular clinical meetings and in-house CPD, such as the recent suturing workshop for our nurses and a CPR refresher day for the whole clinical team.

As we already support our new graduate, Lizzie, we are ideally looking for a vet with some experience. Our full-time vets work a 4-day week, and we are really flexible with the rota, so whether you’re looking for a consult-only role or have a medicine bias, we can design a schedule to support your interests.

We believe our patients and clients benefit from an out-of-hours service provided by the people they trust, but we also appreciate how important work-life balance is, and we’re always open to ideas on how to improve our OOHs rota. We introduced a buy-and-sell option for the 1:10 weeknights (Monday to Thursday), which has been very popular with the team, meaning if you don’t want to work your scheduled night on-call, you can sell it to someone who does! We also have two vets working the weekend duty; one covers the daytime only (Saturday and Sunday), while the other covers the nights (Friday, Saturday and Sunday), meaning you have support available. There is also an RVN and ACA to provide inpatient care and assist you during the weekend.

Our vets spend time at Ilkley and our branch clinics, so there is plenty of opportunity to hone and develop your skills in all areas. We usually have two vets working in the branch surgeries, supported by our amazing nursing and reception teams, and you will always have the support of the wider vet team and the option to send any complex cases to Ilkley.

We're a close-knit team that loves getting together outside of work for fun activities like our annual Halloween Quiz, with fancy dress and games, or our winter social (last year was Singo Bingo, and this year we're trying line dancing!). Socially, there’s always something happening, whether it's exploring local breweries, trying our hand at crafts, or enjoying friendly competition with board games and pub quizzes. We're also passionate about giving back; we’re busy training for next year's Yorkshire 3 Peaks Challenge, which is part of our 25th-anniversary celebrations, to raise funds in aid of Vetlife and our local RSPCA centre.

Although you can enjoy views of the beautiful Ilkley Moor and the surrounding Yorkshire Dales from all of our practices, if you love the outdoors, you’ll want to get out hiking, walking, or cycling to experience the stunning views up close. For adventure seekers, Ilkley Moor is a rock climber's paradise, with the iconic Cow and Calf Rocks towering above the town. We also benefit from excellent travel links, including easy access to Leeds, just 30 minutes away, for a spot for shopping or to catch a flight from Leeds International Airport.

We offer:

• A salary of £38,000 to £62,000, with enhanced salary for certificate holders
• 6.6 weeks holiday, including bank holidays
• CPD encouraged, with certificates supported and funded
• Professional fees paid for RCVS, VDS, and BSAVA or BVA
• Visas sponsored
• Access to an Employee Assistance Programme
• Health Shield cash plan, including offers, discounts and cashback on shopping, travel, entertainment and much more
• Enhanced maternity, paternity, adoption, shared parental leave, and surrogacy pay
• Company sick pay
• Cycle to work scheme

If we sound like the practice you’re looking for, call us for an informal chat or just apply now!