Organisational background

Independent, privately owned mixed practice consisting of 6 small animal practices and a large farm department.
Our three brands are: Rutland Veterinary Centre, Kings Veterinary Centre and Farm Veterinary Solutions.

Rutland Veterinary Centre – 4 practices:

Uppingham – Our original practice and head office, which opened in the early 2000’s as Rutland Veterinary Centre. Over the years the practice has been updated and extended as we have grown. Out of hours for RVC is based here, with 24 hours on-site care provided for patients, courtesy of the night nurse team.

Oakham – We opened in Autumn 2014, Oakham was our second practice. Originally a one vet practice based in a single window shop front building, we moved to a brand new building in February 2019 and have grown to become a three vet team.

Market Harborough – A busy rural practice which opened mid 2015 as a one vet practice. Currently in the process of adding a third consultation room to accommodate the ever expanding client base.

Priors Hall – The newest of all our practices, opened in April 2021 in beautiful brand new build premises. Serving the residents in the new Priors Hall Park community, our practice has proved popular, already expanding from being a one vet to a two vet team.

Kings Veterinary Centre – 2 practices:

Melton Mowbray – Our first practice outside of Rutland, our Melton practice opened in 2015. Out of hours for Kings Veterinary Centre is based here, with 24 hours onsite care for patients provided by our night nurse team. Originally a one vet practice, Melton has expanded to now be a four vet team, consequently outgrowing the current site. We are excited to move to our brand new, purpose built premises in 2023.

Syston – Opened as a one vet practice in April 2017, the Syston practice has grown to serve not only the town of Syston, but the surrounding areas in the city of Leicester. We moved to our current location in October 2020 and have expanded to become a busy three vet practice, with a further extension planned in April 2023.

All our practices are currently working towards RCVS General Practice status, with the exception of Uppingham and Melton who are working towards RCVS Hospital status.

Organisation aims & mission

We aim to provide gold standard care for our patients at a fair price to our clients.

We provide a safe, supportive and encouraging environment for our team.

As a practice, we strive to combine the provision of exceptional, bespoke care with progressive, current, best practices in veterinary medicine.

There is a varied caseload with a good mix of surgery, case workup and consultations.
All our practices are fully equipped with an extensive range of diagnostic facilities including:

• Digital x-ray
• Ultrasound
• Blood machines (biochemistry and haematology)
• Multi parameter monitoring
• We also have a bronchoscope at our Uppingham branch.

• Our close-knit team of vets are down to earth, friendly and willing to share their wealth of expertise.
• We are fortunate to have a large team of experienced RVN’s and dedicated support staff, all of whom share our passion for providing high standards of veterinary care to our patients.
• Certificates are encouraged as our clients would much prefer an increase in our internal expert options, rather than external referral (unless it is better for the patient!). We have five certificate holders within our practices, with five more on their way to completion.
• Our RVN’s are certificate holders too and all our receptionists are registered with the BVRA. We invest in and encourage our whole team, with trained mentors in our practices to offer support and guidance. We are also a SVN training practice.
• We offer a four-day week, as a good work/life balance is essential to maintain the high demands of veterinary life. The diary is always adjusted to make way for important appointments, family events and emergencies.
• Our clinical clubs are held every six weeks. There are a mix of training on new products, members of the team presenting their CPD, housekeeping etc. They are either over dinner in the pub or breakfast. They are also a great opportunity for our teams to mix and socialise.
• We hold in-house CPD events including ultrasound and dental – this is in addition to the personal CPD allowance.
• We have our own graduate scheme. The graduates are well supported, in a structured and encouraging environment by the team and their mentors.
• As an independent practice we listen to ideas, and our teams are fully involved in business development.
• We do not put healthy animals to sleep unless they are a danger to themselves or the public. We normally sign them over to the practice, so we can find the right home for them.
• We have quite a few rescue centres on our books – as well as rescue centres for dogs and cats, we also have guinea pig and hedgehog rescues too.
• As we are independent, we are able to work with clients regarding payment for emergency procedures.
• We hold morbidity and mortality meetings following the VDS Vetsafe programme. There is a NO blame culture – they are for learning purposes only.
• We value clinical discretion.
• We take pride in caring for our own patients out of hours on an equally shared rota. There is always a colleague on standby for help and support OOH and we also have emergency WhatsApp groups.
• At Kings Veterinary Centre inpatient care is shared with our nurses. We are currently introducing a night nurse team, so this will change slightly, with the night nurses taking the phones for the on-call vet. Whilst we know this will cost more to run than we earn, it is more important that we can offer better care for our patients.
• Rutland Veterinary Centre has a night nurse team in place already. The nurses have the phones and can call the vets as necessary.