Experienced Small Animal Veterinary Surgeon

What if you could enjoy the variety of being a GP vet, but with the team, facilities and clinical support to take your cases much further? At Green Pastures Vets, we believe there’s huge value in being a great first-opinion vet. General practice is varied, interesting and rewarding, and we want to keep it that way. For us, that’s about having the confidence and experience to manage a varied caseload, the curiosity to work cases up thoroughly and the support and facilities to take them further.

You don’t need to arrive with a particular certificate or niche interest. If you’re an experienced GP vet who enjoys variety and providing great first-opinion care, you could be exactly who we’re looking for. We’re an independent, family-run small animal practice in Weston-super-Mare, and for almost 30 years we’ve continued to develop around one simple aim: to provide the best possible first-opinion care for our patients.

First opinion, with more at your fingertips

We’ve invested heavily in giving our team the facilities and expertise to investigate and manage more cases in-house. Most recently, we completed a new extension to house our brand-new CT scanner, adding to an already excellent range of facilities, including two operating theatres, a dedicated imaging suite, a dental suite with dental X-ray, and an endoscopy suite. The practice has also been designed around low-stress veterinary visits, with completely separate cat and dog sides, each with its own entrance, waiting rooms, consulting rooms and hospitalisation areas. We’re ISFM Gold Cat Friendly and RWAF Silver accredited, reflecting our commitment to making the experience as comfortable as possible for our patients.

Whether your day involves consulting, surgery, dentistry, imaging or inpatient care, you’ll have the equipment and people around you to work cases up properly and provide a high standard of care without automatically having to refer elsewhere.

A team with plenty of experience to share

Across our 13-vet team, we have certificate holders in cardiology, dermatology, surgery, ECC and feline medicine, while our nursing team brings additional qualifications and expertise in anaesthesia, consulting, ECC and imaging. It creates a genuine knowledge-sharing environment, with plenty of experience to draw on when you want to discuss a case, seek a second opinion or learn from each other. You’ll benefit from all that expertise whether or not you choose to specialise, and can continue enjoying the breadth and variety that makes general practice interesting. If you do have an interest you’d like to develop, we'll encourage that too. We fully fund certificates and don't work to a fixed CPD budget – if development will benefit you, our patients and the practice, we're keen to support it.

A workplace independently recognised for its people

We can tell you that Green Pastures is a supportive place to work, but we think it means more when our people say it for us. We recently achieved Investors in People Silver accreditation, following anonymous feedback from across the practice and individual staff interviews. We were delighted to improve our score by around 30 points since our previous assessment – an improvement that has also seen us nominated for Business of the Year in our Investors in People category. For us, that recognition reflects something we've worked hard to build: a practice where people feel valued, recognised and able to have a say in how things develop. That includes fortnightly clinical governance meetings, six-weekly whole-practice meetings, regular team surveys, Employee of the Month and our ever-popular Treat of the Month. And sometimes it's simply about spending time together. We recently held our summer party with live music and pizza, and there’s always a Christmas celebration to look forward to as well.

The role

We’re looking for an experienced Small Animal Veterinary Surgeon who is confident managing a varied first-opinion caseload independently and enjoys the everyday variety of general practice. You might already have a particular clinical interest, be keen to develop one, or simply enjoy being a strong all-round GP. What matters most is finding the right person for our team. With excellent surgical, dental and imaging facilities, including CT, you’ll have plenty of opportunity to continue developing your skills across all areas, supported by experienced colleagues who are always happy to share their knowledge. Most importantly, we’re looking for someone who enjoys being part of a collaborative team, is comfortable taking ownership of their cases and wants to bring their experience and ideas to the practice.

This is a full-time role of 40 hours per week over 4 days, though we're happy to discuss flexibility for the right person. There are no out-of-hours or night duties. Weekends are 1 in 5, with two vets working together on Saturdays. Sunday shifts alternate between a shorter morning consulting shift and a longer inpatient/ECC day shift.

Still independent. Still developing.

Green Pastures has changed considerably since it was established almost three decades ago, but we remain proudly independent and family-run. Our recent extension and CT investment are part of that continued development, and we have further expansion plans progressing too. We want people to bring ideas, suggest ways we could do things better and play a genuine part in where the practice goes next.

Life outside the practice

Weston-super-Mare gives you the coast on your doorstep while keeping Bristol within easy reach. The Mendip Hills and wider Somerset countryside are nearby, Bristol is around 30 minutes away by road or train, and with the M5, Bristol Airport and direct rail connections, getting further afield is straightforward too.

What we can offer

• Salary £45,000 - £70,000 depending on experience
• 40-hour, 4-day week, with flexibility open to discussion
• 1 in 5 weekends, with no night duties
• 5 weeks' holiday plus bank holidays
• No fixed CPD budget – development actively encouraged
• Certificates fully funded and supported
• RCVS and VDS fees paid
• Brand-new CT alongside excellent surgical, imaging and dental facilities
• Investors in People Silver accredited workplace
• Cycle-to-work scheme and onsite parking
• Regular team socials and events
• The freedom and involvement that comes with working for an independent practice

If you’re an experienced vet who loves the variety of general practice and wants the facilities and support to do more with the cases you see, we’d love to hear from you.