Medivet FAQ

The people The experience gained to help me further my career

The compassion and help is lacking for mothers to return to work. Unfortunately my experience when attempting to return to work after maternity leave, was met with obstacles that seemed unnecessary. There was no compassion to allow me to adapt to returning to work and care for my baby. The request was a four day week as opposed to five for a short time, however even after an appeal, I was faced with a come back full time or leave ultimatum. Not in so many words, but that was the general consensus. I then learnt that a month later Medivet were handing out redundancies, which I believe led to the harsh ultimatum that I was given. This was a distressing and disappointing outcome, considering I had put a lot in during the three years I was with the company. I was with the company during a transition within my department, and towards the months leading to my maternity leave, the stress and workload I (and the team) were expected to undertake became almost unbearable. There were countless communication of stress and workload to management, which was met with little or no response.

Listen to your employees. Be more compassionate to peoples circumstances.

• no blame enviroment • clinical and mental support (net of Regional Directors and Managers, free external counselling number) • gold standart care for patients available due to toys in practice and protocols • improved work-life balance with 4 day working week • RCVS and BVA fees paid • some benefits improving (i.e paid compassionate leave 5 days) • own Veterinary Nursing College • SVNs don’t need to go to work in the morning on college days anymore

• not enough RVNs, SVNs and PCAs or mobile nurses per region in general, if somebody is off or, God forbid, two people, practice is understaffed and overworked with time in lieu that can’t really be taken back much • benefits overadvertised, in general very small package, — employee discount is given in points back - no control how they are counted and, even if pet is insured money needs to go in first before points can be used. Vets are treated a bit better being able not to charge themselves for work done unless materials very costly but from RVNs down they have to pay even if they did nursing with their own pet — pension input on lowest legal level so employee pays in more than company — deals on cards and in shops available only through cards, need to go through the whole hassle of paying money in and possibly loosing some if not all used — not more benefits than legally required or just appropriate/shame if not given (maternity/paternity leave, cyckle to work scheme) • no regular pay reviews, even inflation ones • VN College does not take in feedback from students and their coaches, no safeguarding given (only in theory), nobody to contact, as in higher than Coolege Head, if one feels reaction to feedback is necessary, adult people are treated like misbehaving kids at school and problems with Moodle are treated like student’s fault • not enough support for nurses, no acknowledgement, no evident perks • no budget for team building, even three-monthly team integration outings • Marketing does not support individual practice, only the group • Support Centre is not supportive, overloaded, overworked, unresponsive, not trained and in general useless, if somebody is good they get overworked very soon and stop responding to pleas for help, i.e waiting for washing machine repair at least a week, lights in front of practice 1 year, etc

If we are to be the best for practicioners too - address all above please. We are getting there but more is required, Support Centre being the first on the list.

• no blame enviroment • clinical and mental support (net of Regional Directors and Managers, free external counselling number) • gold standart care for patients available due to toys in practice and protocols • improved work-life balance with 4 day working week • RCVS and BVA fees paid • some benefits improving (i.e paid compassionate leave 5 days) • own Veterinary Nursing College • SVNs don’t need to go to work in the morning on college days anymore

• not enough RVNs, SVNs and PCAs or mobile nurses per region in general, if somebody is off or, God forbid, two people, practice is understaffed and overworked with time in lieu that can’t really be taken back much • benefits overadvertised, in general very small package, — employee discount is given in points back - no control how they are counted and, even if pet is insured money needs to go in first before points can be used. Vets are treated a bit better being able not to charge themselves for work done unless materials very costly but from RVNs down they have to pay even if they did nursing with their own pet — pension input on lowest legal level so employee pays in more than company — deals on cards and in shops available only through cards, need to go through the whole hassle of paying money in and possibly loosing some if not all used — not more benefits than legally required or just appropriate/shame if not given (maternity/paternity leave, cyckle to work scheme) • no regular pay reviews, even inflation ones • VN College does not take in feedback from students and their coaches, no safeguarding given (only in theory), nobody to contact, as in higher than Coolege Head, if one feels reaction to feedback is necessary, adult people are treated like misbehaving kids at school and problems with Moodle are treated like student’s fault • not enough support for nurses, no acknowledgement, no evident perks • no budget for team building, even three-monthly team integration outings • Marketing does not support individual practice, only the group • Support Centre is not supportive, overloaded, overworked, unresponsive, not trained and in general useless, if somebody is good they get overworked very soon and stop responding to pleas for help, i.e waiting for washing machine repair at least a week, lights in front of practice 1 year, etc

If we are to be the best for practicioners too - address all above please. We are getting there but more is required, Support Centre being the first on the list.

There is opportunity to career progress and doesn't have a corporate feel to it. The Support Centre staff are lovely.

Company Benefits and Bathroom Space

Great leadership team with a real practice centric approach. Lots of opportunities to grow and develop both in practice and Head Office. Shared skills across the business and areas to really give great patient care.

Growing business so lots of change