Mobile Hospice Vet 

In-home Euthanasia and Palliative Care Veterinarian Required, Home Counties

Are you a compassionate veterinarian who loves helping older pets at the end of their life?

Are you an empathetic listener who is capable of helping families navigate an emotionally challenging time?

Are you OK with some solitude when working and spending time on the road?

Do you generally like stability and clear processes, but have the ability to be adaptable and think on your feet when things don’t quite fit the normal mould?
 

If this sounds like you, then please read on. We think we have a role that you might enjoy.

About You

You’ll be a veterinarian with at least two years of experience in general practice. During this time you’ll probably have worked out that getting along with clients is really important. We want to hear from you because you’re empathetic to the needs of others and care to help them get what they need.

GP work was fun, but a bit too chaotic. Now you’re now looking for something where the workload is more predictable and manageable. 

Along the way, you’ll have discovered a love of helping the older grey muzzled pets. You might even be one of those vets who runs past the puppies and makes a squishy, coo-ing noise whenever you see an older dog or cat in the waiting room!

As a vet, you’ll have reached the point where you have a feel for how to help clients make good decisions, even if they are difficult ones. A part of which will be the skill of taking complicated information and distilling it down to simple terms so the families understand their options.

You’ll be someone who likes to have the certainty of a process to follow, but can take that process and apply it as the situation requires. You’ll be euthanising pets in their favorite locations - like in the garden, or on a bed - so being adaptable to the situation is really important.

It’s also really important that you are an organised person who prides yourself on both your professionalism and attention to detail. This is because we need someone who is reliable at the administrative side of this role like getting your medical notes done, tags applied correctly, answering emails and communicating the plan for a pet in a timely way. We know that this is not everyone’s forte, but it is yours because you know, the first and especially the final appointments are the most important and impactful interactions vets have with pets and their families.

About Us
 

Roundwood Pet Hospice is a new service which exists to help pets live well right to the end, and leave families with enduring, happy memories. As hospice care vets we’re focused on the end of a pet’s life when diagnostics or surgery are no longer needed. We solely focus on end-of-life care advice, palliative medicine and in-home euthanasia. Much of our work is helping the family prepare to say goodbye. Then, when the time is right, performing a gentle and unhurried euthanasia in the familiar and loving surroundings of the pet’s home.

Palliative care is appropriate in the weeks or perhaps days when pets enter the final stages of a terminal illness and lifesaving or life extending therapies are, for whatever reason, no longer an option.

In these cases, animals face some challenging but common problems with pain, incontinence, senility or poor mobility. This transitional phase, between life and death, is also one of the hardest periods for pet owners to navigate. The fear of letting go is often accompanied by anticipatory grief, guilt and confusion about when is the right time to say goodbye.

Our team is specially trained to deal with these issues so pets can live their best life, right to the very end.

We are a start up business which is going to initially service the London and home counties areas, where things go from there depends a lot on demand (and our sanity!).
 

In terms of what we are like as a practice, we think of ourselves as being a bit like a family doctor. We are definitely here to help the local community and their pets. We believe in giving clients the time and attention they need to make good decisions for their pets and in building strong relationships with clients and each other. Though the work we do is with families who are sad, the work itself is usually very uplifting and our clients are incredibly grateful for our work.
 

And last, but in no way least, a word on our culture. We have a set of values which are baked into our being. These matter because when we live our values, we create an amazing culture. So here they are in short form: Honesty, Conscientiousness, Kindness, Teamwork, Fun and Growth. We’ll happily expand on them in long form when we meet. If you share these values we’ll get along. 

When you join this practice, you’ll also become eligible to gain share options in the practice in return for doing a good job and helping to build our culture. We’re doing this because we believe that everyone who works hard to make our practice a success deserves to share in that success. To that end, we also have a profit share bonus scheme.

About The Job

OK, so thanks for reading all the way down. We'd better talk about this role then.

We are looking for a full-time vet to be available for appointments in the London/home counties areas five days each week. The days at forest glance seem quite long, and there will be weekend work every other weekend. However, teh daily work volume is very low and though flexibility is needed, you’ll be likely to building to an absolute maximum of five appointments in a day.

Between appointments you’ll therefore have lots of downtime to yourself.

This role is basically perfect for an empathetic vet who is done with the mayhem of general practice life. Someone who wants to help families make the big decisions. Someone who is happy in a car, willing to think outside the box to help families, and probably loves a good podcast or audiobook while driving.

The day structure needs a bit more explanation, but we’ll get into the details of this when we talk. There is no on-call associated with this role. And no stress associated with worrying about complications of surgery. You’ll rest in your bed each night without the stress so many other experience. 

Your role as a Roundwood Hospice Veterinarian will involve many tasks including:

1. Offering in-home euthanasia services to patients across your area. 

2. Offering advice and hospice care to geriatric and terminally ill pets - this will be done in home and also via telemedicine.

3. Assisting families with quality of life decisions.

4. Visiting local practices to spread the word about what we do and foster strong bonds with partner practices.

5. You will be driving, so a valid driver's license and a well-organised vehicle capable of safely transporting pet bodies for aftercare is essential.

6. Dropping pets off at collection locations prepared for cremation. 

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Salary and Benefits

• Base from £40,000/year

• Performance bonus

• 28 days of paid leave each year plus your birthday

• Additional holiday for every year of service

• CPD budget

• Health insurance

• Perkbox rewards

• Mileage claim.

Next Steps

If this role sounds exciting and our culture sounds like a place you’d like to work then we’d love to hear from you. To apply, please send your CV and a short cover letter introducing yourself and telling us a bit about you to dave@roundwoodvets.co.uk.

If you want an informal pre-application chat then please reach out to me on instagram @drdavenicol and message me. I’m always happy to talk through your questions. 

Call 020 8459 4729 to know more about our services

Our friendly team are ready to answer your queries from 8:30 am - 8:00 pm Monday - Friday or 8:30 am -12:30 pm Saturday.