Pete Van Dongen - MRCVS, CertVR, CCRT
I have been a veterinary surgeon for over 35 years now and have been an assistant, an associate, a partner, a senior partner, a director, a clinical director, a lead vet and everything in between, in small and large independent practices, in corporate owned practices, in hospitals and in referral centres. I have seen many practices, as such, and not all of them are places where I would choose to work long-term.
For the last few years, I’ve been combining running my own family owned, mobile canine rehabilitation service, together with my partner and working at Pet Practice. I have no intention to leave Pet Practice anytime soon! So why would a vet in the latter stages of his career want to keep on working in practice? And why at Pet Practice? Well, let me tell you!
Pet Practice is an independent, family-owned, group of small animal veterinary practices, run by its vet and nurse owners, very much being on the ‘shop floor’ themselves, on a daily basis. The practice is small enough to feel like a friendly family vet, where you can call the ‘boss’ at any time for advice or help, but large enough to have a huge range of modern facilities and equipment. The group of staff members, both professional and support staff, has a massive amount of knowledge, skills and expertise between them, with many certificate holders on the books, with advanced knowledge and skills too. On top of that, the practice uses multiple peripatetic specialists, in various fields, visiting the practice, if and when required, for selected cases, to avoid patients having to travel far away for specialist care.
As a vet, you have complete clinical freedom to do what’s best for each pet and personal care, service and support, for all our patients and their guardians, is of the utmost importance. There is no commercial or financial pressure ‘from above’ and this leaves vets to do what they do best, which is to give professional and compassionate care to the animal entrusted to them. For me, this is what gives me the most pleasure, even in my ‘old age’. I still go to work whistling every day and put in my all, every day. And it is appreciated both by my clients and patients, as well as management, which is refreshing.
So, if you are looking for a veterinary practice, where ‘old-fashioned’ empathetic professional care and attention is important to you, combined with modern, up-to-date, scientifically based veterinary medicine, look no further than Pet Practice.
