Lead Veterinary Surgeon Blythwood

Lead Veterinary Surgeon

Location: Bushey & Hatch End, Hertfordshire
Hours: Full-time, 40 hours per week | 4-day week | 1 in 3 Saturdays | 1 in 6 full weekends | No on-call
Salary: £70,000–£80,000 per annum, depending on experience
Up to £5,000 relocation available

Your next step in leadership. Your chance to shape what comes next.

You've built your clinical experience. Now it's time to put it to work in a role where your ideas can make a real difference.

At Blythwood Vets, we're looking for a Lead Veterinary Surgeon to join our team across Bushey and Hatch End. This is an opportunity to combine hands-on clinical work with genuine influence over how the practice develops, from improving clinical protocols and training students to developing your own areas of clinical interest.

Interested in medicine or imaging? There's real scope to grow here. We have the equipment and caseload to support further ultrasound work, creating an opportunity to develop your imaging skills and work towards an imaging certificate. Certificate development in medicine is also encouraged.

You'll work directly with the Directors, collaborate with the clinical team and help shape the future of a practice that has been part of its local community for over 40 years. Whether you're already in a leadership role or ready to take that next step, we'd love to hear from you.

Why lead Blythwood?

• Make your mark on clinical standards. Help develop protocols and processes, lead clinical audits and reviews, and influence how we deliver patient care.
• Develop your clinical interests. With scope to pursue a medical certificate or build an ultrasound caseload towards an imaging certificate, you can help shape your own professional development.
• Keep doing the clinical work you enjoy. Expect a varied mix of consultations, surgery and medical work-ups, with an approximate 40% consulting and 60% surgical caseload.
• Help others grow. Get involved in student training, share your knowledge and support the development of colleagues.
• Enjoy a four-day working week. Full-time vets normally work four days with a set day off, subject to staffing and rota requirements. There's a 1 in 3 Saturday rota, 1 in 6 full weekends and no on-call commitment.
• Invest in yourself. Benefit from a £1,500 CPD budget and five CPD days, with certificate funding available subject to the appropriate agreement, plus access to wider Linnaeus CPD and specialist expertise.
• Work with an established client base. Build on longstanding client relationships, with a high proportion of insured patients supporting thorough investigations and continuity of care.
• Join a team with personality. We're friendly, sociable and collaborative, with regular team get-togethers and a healthy appreciation for cake and biscuits.
• Relocating? Direct candidates can access up to £5,000 in relocation assistance.

What does being Lead Vet at Blythwood actually mean?

This is a hands-on leadership role where you can influence the way the practice works without stepping away from clinical medicine.

Working directly with the Directors, you'll help review and improve clinical protocols, oversee audits and reviews, contribute to process development and support student training. Clinical discussions bring the team together to share knowledge, consider best practice and continually improve patient care, informed by relevant guidance from the Linnaeus central medical team.

You'll also have the opportunity to help develop our clinical capabilities, particularly in imaging. With suitable ultrasound equipment and caseload already available, there's potential to build further in-house imaging provision and develop your skills in this area.

You'll work across Bushey and Hatch End, with one site as your main base. Previous formal leadership experience is desirable, but not essential. If you're an experienced vet who enjoys mentoring others, takes initiative and wants more influence over clinical standards, we're open to supporting your next step.

The Team & Practice

Blythwood Vets has been caring for pets in the local community for over 40 years, with closely located sites across Hertfordshire.

This role focuses on Bushey and Hatch End, where you'll enjoy a varied first opinion caseload and established client relationships. Our cases range from preventative healthcare and routine neutering to dental procedures, mass removals, diabetic patients, blocked bladders, orthopaedic investigations and respiratory work-ups, including bronchoalveolar lavage.

Our facilities include digital radiography, dental radiography, ultrasound with colour flow Doppler and in-house microscopy. You'll work alongside experienced nursing colleagues who contribute actively to patient care and inpatient monitoring, as well as running nurse and blood clinics. Visiting ultrasonography and orthopaedic specialists provide additional clinical expertise.

We're part of the RCVS Practice Standards Scheme, a Veterinary Nurse training practice and the wider Linnaeus network. This brings access to further CPD opportunities, specialist knowledge at referral centres and colleagues across a broader veterinary community. We also work with Cats Protection in Harrow.

Just as importantly, we're a friendly, sociable team who enjoy working together. We take clinical standards seriously, but we believe a good working environment matters too. We're looking for someone who will bring ideas, encourage collaboration and help the team continue to develop.

Live somewhere you actually want to live

Bushey offers leafy surroundings, a village feel, local cafés and green spaces, while nearby Watford provides shopping, restaurants and leisure facilities. Watford Junction also offers direct trains into central London in under 20 minutes.

Whether you're already local or considering a move, it's a great balance of community and convenience. Relocation assistance of up to £5,000 is available for direct candidates.

What we're looking for

• An RCVS-registered Veterinary Surgeon with at least five years' small animal experience, ideally in UK practice.
• A confident clinician comfortable with a varied first opinion caseload, including consultations, medical work-ups and routine surgery.
• Someone keen to develop clinical protocols, improve processes and contribute to clinical audits and reviews.
• A collaborative communicator who enjoys sharing knowledge and supporting student training and colleague development.
• An interest in further clinical development, particularly medicine or diagnostic imaging.
• Initiative, sound clinical judgement and the confidence to work independently while recognizing the value of collaboration.
• Previous leadership or mentoring experience is desirable, but we're happy to consider an experienced vet ready to take their first formal leadership step.

Benefits:

• 5 weeks holiday + bank holidays and birthday off (pro-rata for part-time)
• No out-of-hours (OOH)
• RCVS and VDS fees paid
• External CPD funded
• Extensive free online Linnaeus CPD program
• Career progression opportunities
• Staff discount schemes
• Enhanced sickness pay
• Enhanced equal family leave
• Wellness program including:
• Employee assistance program
• Eyecare voucher scheme
• Free annual flu jab
• Cycle to work scheme

Blythwood is part of Linnaeus and Mars Veterinary Health, the largest family-owned veterinary company in the world. Being privately owned, we can truly be driven by our purpose, to create a better world, and think long-term as opposed to being focused solely on short-term profits.

At Linnaeus, A BETTER WORLD FOR PETS starts with a better world for our people. Our Associates are over 6000 strong and empowered to speak up, step up and deliver quality services. You’ll have access to a huge network of specialists, worldwide development opportunities and an easily accessible, comprehensive wellbeing package that prioritises your physical and mental health, allowing you to focus on what you do best – care for pets.

We are committed to fostering a culture that is inclusive and diverse, we care about you and want you to be authentic, with everything you need to perform at your best. We are all individual but two important things bring us together: a commitment to excellence and our passion to achieve our purpose.

If you would like to apply for the role or for an informal chat to discuss it further, please get in touch with Joanne in the recruitment team joanne.gray@linnaeusgroup.co.uk

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