veterinary surgeon

veterinary nurse

leadership development program

client advisor

veterinary receptionist

Vets4Pets

I deliberated over leaving a review for my employment here for many months, but my feelings towards V4P Worcester have not changed, and so I will state my experience:
If you are looking for a practice that is highly driven for gold-standard care, has extremely varied caseloads and provides excellent experience with such, if you don’t mind working regular overtime, and are very passionate about veterinary medicine and offering the best care possible, then this is the place for you. However, if you value a work-life balance and don’t want to take work home, simply do not work here for that reason alone. However, I shall state a few more reasons below.

This is a small animal practice that runs itself like a hospital. The staff, both clinical and administrative, are worked to the bone on a daily basis. An hour or so overtime is to be expected, and on weekends shifts of 16hrs aren’t so infrequent. When you attempt to leave on time, you are told that this is in breach of care for your team, instead of management taking accountability for their poor ability to manage resources appropriately. This affected my mental health, and my relationships began to suffer with my partner and with my friends. Needless to say, the responsibility for a sufficient workforce is management's problem, and the team that they claim to care for is left overworked and inadequately supported. Moreover, students were exploited for their time and were too afraid to finish on time, for fear of upsetting management.

An authoritarian blame culture is rife. If a mistake is made, fingers are pointed at people by management immediately and support is not provided, instead impromptu meetings are scheduled after the fact to essentially discipline the staff. Hierarchy is made abundantly clear - there’s management, and there’s those beneath them. I have heard firsthand management discussing individuals shortcomings (be it reception, nurses or vets) in the middle of prep in a very obnoxious and derogatory tone. 

My biggest complaint about this practice would be the head nurse. Indeed she is a fantastic nurse and is highly capable and experienced, however she lacks the qualities of a good leader. She lacks warmth, empathy, accountability - she’s quick to throw her team under the bus in front of her superiors - and embodies an authoritarian and outdated management style. She acts without acquiring the full picture of information; she acts based on assumption and does so indelicately. She seems to take joy proving her staff wrong and correcting them, rather than connecting with them and inspiring them. On a couple of occasions she personally pulled me aside to question my performance, despite my best efforts to cover an absence on my shift. Rather than offering support and getting involved with helping the team, she warned me and returned to her own work instead. This is just my own experience; my colleagues’ experiences weren’t too dissimilar. Consequently, everyone felt like they couldn’t do anything well enough or could not win, we did not feel supported, and did not feel valued. My temperament is such that I cannot abide being exploited or ordered around by people I do not respect - I cannot work under someone like her, and have since worked in actual hospitals with head nurses half her age leading teams far more effectively than she.

Clients are a clear priority over staff wellbeing. While staff may exercise the right to deny service to belligerent and disrespectful clients, there are clients whose arrogant and entitled behaviour is rewarded, purely due to long-standing relations between management and said clients. I had the displeasure of conversing with a very ostentatious, wealthy client (he made his status and station in life obnoxiously clear to me) who lacked all humility and class, purely because of miscommunication between himself and his wife regarding the consent to procedures and associated finances. I dealt with him in a professional yet assertive manner, and did not give any special treatment despite his grandeur and repetitive attempts to provoke me. Immediately, he contacted management and the JVP to complain about his treatment. To compensate his negative experience, a gift box was put together for his pet as an apology. I was appalled. From this experience, it was made clear to me where staff stood in comparison to long-standing clients.

Staff are exhausted, demotivated, have little motivation to perform to a gold-standard, and are afraid of stepping out of line by taking care of themselves. Vets have nearly passed out from sheer exhaustion. Blame is assigned and colleagues are quite frankly humiliated in front of the team. This toxicity is considered the norm by those who have no choice but to work under it. Fortunately, I was in a position to leave, however the majority of staff here are international and bound by visas to work, with most just wanting to ‘do their time’. Most are too afraid to speak up for themselves or for their colleagues. I had no reservations doing so, and had no regrets leaving. I did not fit in here, because I valued myself more than all of this.

Very poor management, double standards, unprofessional and they don't care about their employees, you are just a number to them. Give you unachievable targets. All the work load on reception on one person. Extremely stressful with the practice manager always on at you to do better. If you don't know everything you need to 100% in 3 months they replace you. 11 hour shifts daily. No work life balance. 30 min lunch break (un paid) in a 11 hour shift. The amount of information you need to know: vaccinations (what they cover, when they can or can't have them, what is compatible with them, if the animal is old enough for them and if that vac is suitable) flea and worm treatments (knowing what can't mix with what, the dose, how often they need it, how to apply it, possible side effects of it, knowing what you can sell over the counter and what can't be dispensed if you aren't qualified and are only a receptionist. Knowing what all the products are for when we dispense them over the counter. Dealing with medical calls and having to ask the vet questions but the vet saying constantly if they are worried bring the pet down, (some people just want advice over the phone, which if you aren't medically trained you can't help) they employ people with no animal knowledge and provide almost no training, you just learn the very basics (how to use the computer system, take calls, book people in etc.)
A typical day would be as follows: answering calls, registering new clients, taking payments, preparing op forms for the next day, preparing vaccination cards for the next day and all relevant forms, dealing with clients face to face, booking appointments, running back and forth getting advice from vets to try to help people over the phone, dealing with emergencies, writing debt letters, calling people for money, debt collection for care plans, dealing with clients when their animal is put to sleep, just generally helping people who have questions, signing people up to the plans, insurance claims, flea and worm treatments, ordering stock, ordering medications, cleaning the reception, daily cashing up, writing cards, writing emails and replying to emails, calling other vets for history, scanning all paper work from that day and attatching it onto the clients records, going through a list of about 30+ recalls to call clients about booster reminders etc, calling referral centres or other vets, end of day banking so calling clients and chasing them for money if they didn't pay that day or have debt, all these jobs to do while still meeting and greeting clients and its normally put on one person. The most enjoyable part of the job is seeing adorable animals and I have learnt so much and I appreciate that but you have 3 months to get everything spot on otherwise you're out. The hardest part of the daily job is when animals are put to sleep. It's shocking how the management treat their employees, the disrespect, the rules for one but the manager can do as they please, I am not impressed and I wouldn't recommend to anyone at all to work for them. They treat like you're just a number to them. All that stress and upset for minimum wage it's a joke. You are under constant pressure to be better and smarter. They want you to be doing manager jobs and acting like a manager without the pay of a manager. They expect everything from you for little back. The only perk is you get 20% off. They also take your holidays off you for bank Holidays, Christmas etc so you lose out there. They make it sound very lovely at the interview but it's not like that at all. Not worth the stress so avoid at all costs or chance it. One rule for one and one rule for another is my experience there.They expect you to drop your personal life for the job. No time off sick or you will be complained about. You are under a huge amount of stress to preform 100% constantly no questions asked. Is all this worth minimum wage? No. Thank god I am away from that toxic place. Worst work experience I have ever had to endeavour, I wouldn't wish this treatment upon any body. Going home and being very upset daily because of the treatment is very poor. I've heard many other people's stories from nurses and other receptionists, this practice needs a serious change as I'm not the only one that's been made to feel like this because I ask questions and want to make sure I'm doing things correctly. That's the gist of it all, there is more but you get the point if you read all of this, just avoid it, they make it seem lovely, it is not and don't just take my word for it. There is much more to the job than what I stated, this is already long enough but that's the main daily duties. It's made me view the company as a whole as unprofessional but it could just be that particular practice is very poorly managed.

Stockport vets4pets is the most toxic place I’ve ever had to work. 
Poor ‘training’ - the people training hardly know what they are doing in the first place leading to poor knowledge, slow working, confusion and anxiety. 
Poor management - the place is being managed by people with no management skills or training, who care more about a gossip than actually managing. Managers have no people skills and are not approachable. Very ‘cliquey’ with one rule for them and different rules for people outside the ‘clique’, leading to a lot of colleagues not trusting management with personal info or asking for support when needed, leading to incredibly low morale throughout the team. 
Holiday system poorly thought out and managed - only allowed to book 2 single days off a year. If your single day is wanted by another colleague who wants to book a week off then they get priority and you lose your single day off.  Too difficult to book holidays in with the amount of staff and the fact that only 2 people can be off per day (unless they are management, one rule for them and another rule for everyone else. You’re also not allowed to book anything from July onwards until you’ve booked half of your annual holiday allowance, so if you’re wanting to go away in August but don’t have plans for the rest of the year yet, you have to waste your time off when you may need it at a later time otherwise someone else will book the time you want before you can get there. 
Rota - EXTREMELY poor work-life balance. Rota is done very last minute. We’re talking Friday afternoon the rota will be posted for the following week. Requesting shifts is not allowed and holidays must be requested 4 weeks in advance. Working hours are between 6:45am-7:30pm. This is an incredibly poor work-life balance as you aren’t able to make any plans since you don’t know when you’ll be working and have to be available all day every day.
Work-life balance/switch off - WhatsApp group chat for colleagues. Messages and updates will be sent in this chat. You’re not allowed to use your phone during working hours so you are expected to read and acknowledge these messages outside of working hours. Most of these messages are negative so put a dampener on your rest time at home 
Too much work for too little time and pay - insurance colleagues were ‘trained’ to deal with insurance claims, yet colleagues on the desk are still required to gather all info for the claim including contacting the insurance company AND chase up information if the client doesn’t give it for whatever reason. Colleagues on the desk are to do this at the same time as answering and making calls, emails, digital messages, speaking to clients at the desk, filing paperwork, preparing the next day’s paperwork, completing tasks given to them by vets and keeping the waiting area clean amongst other things. 
Insurance colleagues too big for their boots - well maybe just one of them. Believes she’s a  manager. She may well be a manager maybe, no one bothered to tell us if she has been promoted to manager. 
Overall just an absolutely toxic place to work. Full of two faced people who are all part of the manager’s clique. Several colleagues have left or been on sick recently because they just can’t face going to work. The morale is so low throughout the practice. Head office really need to look into this practice and the way it is run because the way this place is managed is destroying the mental health of the staff. 


Would not work there again. 
Not a very nice place to work at times. Toxic atmosphere amongst reception (other teams are fine), very cliquey, almost feels like there are 2 reception teams. The cliquey team and then the bottom of the barrel. You can have a lovely shift one day and then the following day be completely ignored the whole shift. The cliquey people will often be seen huddling and whispering and you are left to wonder if it's about you. They make you feel inadequate as if you are not worthy of speaking to unless of course the rest of the cliquey team is not working and then you may be acknowledged. You would think the managers would address this issue but they join in and are the main part of the problem. Clients speak to you like rubbish and the vets also speak to you like rubbish, the vets do it often in front of the clients. Very degrading.
Seen colleagues 'managed out' of their job, working part time for years while always asking for overtime or a full time position. Always told no, the minute they leave full time positions given to other part time staff members that have been there only months. Other staff suffering from mental health or other issues, offered no support, given unreasonable working hours and left with no option but to resign. Managers are very unhelpful and are not approachable, you approach (often by text) with sensitive issues and are sometimes barely even acknowledged if even at all. Makes you loose faith completely. 
Stay clear if you suffer with depression, or stress/ anxiety. Absolutely no support whatsoever and the owners do NOT believe in mental health. We are told to support vets with diagnosis such as adhd but the same support does not apply if you are a mere receptionist.
Holiday system is completely unfair. You can only book one weekend off a year and only book 2 single days off a year. The rest of your holidays must be taken in weeks, the week must be Monday to Sunday or it can be cancelled on you and priority given to anyone that wants the full week off. So for example if you were going away Wednesday to Wednesday you would have to book 2 full weeks off for it to be guaranteed. If you have something planned like a family holiday later in the year your holiday request would be declined until you have booked off half of your holidays up to the end of June. Quite annoying if you don't have any plans and you have to waste your holidays. 
Zero work life balance, you cannot request an early or late shift so impossible to plan in advance things like meals, cinema, gigs, theatre or shopping trips etc with family and friends. We mostly get a rota on a Friday for the following weeks starting the Monday. Far too short notice.
WhatsApp work group chat is constant and negative, completely puts a downer on your day. You have to reply 'read and acknowledged' to most messages, even if it's your day off or you are on holiday you are expected to read and reply to messages. If you don't the assistant reception manager will come and find you in work to check that you have read her message and tell you to reply with 'read and acknowledged'. It is quite demoralising and also threatening, which just adds to which is already an extremely stressful job.
They do not offer overtime out, this often leads to there being 2 or 3 people on the reception desk which is very stressful as it is sometimes hard to manage when the desk is fully staffed (usually 4 people). The odd time when overtime is offered it will just be given to one of the 'clique' and not offered to everyone. 

What is the best part of working at the company?
I’ve been with Vets4Pets for 13 years, and I can honestly say it’s been an incredible journey. Working here isn’t just a job – it’s being part of a family. The support, compassion, and care I’ve experienced from both leadership and colleagues over the years is something truly special.

Over time, I’ve had the opportunity to climb the career ladder, and I’m now proud to lead a team of amazing people. Watching them grow, supporting them the way I was supported, and building a strong, resilient team has been one of the most rewarding parts of my journey.

Yes, the job can be challenging. Some days are mentally and emotionally draining – that’s the nature of working in veterinary care. But what makes the difference is the people around you. We lift each other up, celebrate the wins, and pull together through the tough times.

The culture here is one of genuine care – not just for the pets and clients, but for each other. I’ve grown so much personally and professionally, and I’m proud to be part of a team that’s dedicated, passionate, and full of heart.

If you’re looking for a place where you’ll be valued, supported, and truly part of something meaningful, Vets4Pets is it.

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
One of the most difficult parts of my role is managing the emotional side of the job. Working in a veterinary setting means we’re often dealing with challenging situations—whether it's supporting a client through a tough decision or helping a team member who’s having a hard day. It can be emotionally draining at times.

Another challenge is juggling the many responsibilities that come with leading a team. Balancing the needs of the practice, supporting the team, and ensuring everything runs smoothly day-to-day takes a lot of energy and attention. But despite the tough moments, the rewards far outweigh the challenges. I’ve learned to lean on the support around me, and I’m proud of how we always pull through together.


What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
The work environment at Vets4Pets is genuinely supportive and team-focused. It’s fast-paced and no two days are ever the same, but that’s part of what makes it so rewarding. We all understand the pressures that come with the job, and there’s a real sense of "we’re in this together."

The culture is built around care—care for the pets, our clients, and just as importantly, for each other. It really does feel like a family. Everyone looks out for one another, celebrates each other’s wins, and steps in when someone needs help. There’s always room to grow, and you’re encouraged to develop both personally and professionally. It’s a place where hard work is recognised and people genuinely matter.


What is a typical day like for you at the company?
A typical day with Vets4Pets is incredibly varied, which is one of the things I love most about it. I get to be involved in all areas—supporting the team, working on reception, and even helping the clinical team provide hands-on care. No two days are the same, and I really enjoy being that go-to person who can step in wherever needed.

One of the most rewarding parts of my day is the relationships I’ve built with our clients. Being the familiar face they turn to for reassurance, advice, or just a friendly chat means so much. It’s not just about the pets—it’s about the people too, and the trust they place in us is something I never take for granted.

This was a brand new, state of the art, shiney veterinary practice. Everything was custom built for the practice needs and I got to help build something from the ground up. 

I was excited to work here, I loved my colleagues and I was passionate about helping to make a new business succeed. It was a rewarding challenge to show new clients and potential new clients, that we weren't a "faceless corporate company" and that we were infact owned and run by a well respected vet, that had a good reputation amongst the local population.  I put a lot of time and effort (unpaid) into practice events, going to open days and fun days to promote the practice. I didn't mind doing this, as I thought I was going to build my career here. 

Everything in the beginning was great. We were a small team, that got along well. The pay was poor, but we were promised pay increases and career progression as the practice grew.

6 months into the business,  that's where things started to go wrong and the cracks started to show. It started with "can you not put that extra 15 mins on to your time sheet!?" (This was almost an every day occurrence, add all of that up over my 2 year stint here), to making little off hand catty comments to staff.  Things got progressively worse. The JVP was a fantastic vet, but he had no people or managments skills. On a good day, you would get the occasional grunt of "good morning", as he would slam the office door shut or at the worst -  full on swearing and shouting at you.   I continued on like this for just over 2 years, until I was burnt out and hated my job. Never once did I let my patient care or customer service standards slip, simply to protect my own professional integrity.

 I almost left the profession I loved, until I did a locum shift to cover a friend in another practice. I had just gotten used to "the way things were",that I had forgotten what a well run and managed practice looked like. 

I got offered a new job at the practice, I had locumed for. They offered me a competitive salary, good work hours and a generous CPD allowance. I took the job and I've never looked back and I've never been happier.

3 months into working for my new practice, my new boss pulled me aside and asked if I wanted " a laugh". As part of my pre employment checks, my new practice had asked Vets4Pets for a reference for me. I read the reference and my heart sank. It wasn’t "bad" as such, but far from great! The JVP had written this reference (he had signed it and stamped it). The comments he had made were far from true. It also solidified and clarified that my time, skills, effort and resilience were never valued or appreciated. I think it was the surprise of the comments, that had disappointed me most. The comments made in the reference had never been raised with me during 121's or "chats". I'm just lucky my new practice had employed me and worked with me for 3 months and knew that the comments were unfounded. My new boss even went so far as to say "are you sure this reference is for you!? and they've not confused you with someone else?".

In case you are wonder I never saw a pay rise or career progression!  If you value your professional integrity, metal health and patient care standards ... always check out the JVP you will be working with, before accepting the job. Not all Vets4pets practices are the same (there are good vets, who can be great managers). 

I was on a maternity cover contract for a year. I lasted about 7 weeks before I was sick. No help in getting me back to work, despite GP requests - they refused even small easy changes that would've meant they then still had adequate staff. 

I'm older, so seen enough workplace experiences in life to know bad management when I see it. I'm overqualified for the job (I did apply for a practice manager position, but ended up being offered reception) and always had other options, so I was lucky I could leave when I wanted to.

mostly days were busy, overall minimum pay, minimum breaks and maximum responsibility. Much blame culture, lack of handovers  -for example one day I was on reception alone, it was way too busy for a trainee to be left, someone complained online they had been left waiting and reception hadn't told them what was going on. It was put round the office on what's app. Had anybody told me that morning that they were a vet down and people were juggling appointments? NO. I was stuck at my desk with 3 lines ringing and a queue of customers. 

I tried to tell people when a job was well done, but management were more fixated on blame when things went wrong. It felt like a back covering exercise all the time. 

The other staff were mostly lovely and worked hard. often they were left with too much responsibility for their age. It wasn't a good example of a place that would encourage people to stay in the profession for years to come. Good places exist as other vets in my locality retain staff for years.

Management have no people management experience - reviews every 4 weeks with a box ticking exercise does not make good management.

Hardest part of the job was constant complaints of customers and then having to cover your back to customer and management if you were involved. 

training was minimal - although good initially, then you were blamed for making mistakes because you'd never been taught. There was a lot to learn so more training was necessary.

work life balance - my shift pattern was all over the place for a 30 hour week. (at times I did 45 hours in 5 days with a day off either side before starting again). Mostly 10 hour shifts. With a family life, it was just not practicable. 

Then they messed up my final pay. And Head Office ignored my sickness issue when I contacted them for assistance.

I have worked in the veterinary industry for almost 5 years for various practices and not a lot phases me, I had an excellent team here, and worked with some lovely and hardworking people however the management are horrendous and do not value the excellent team or staff they have.  I can honestly say that working for Vets4Pets has made me detest a job and an industry I have loved working in for many years, I did not think this was possible. I just wish that I would have listened to the countless people in the industry who told me to avoid any branch of Vets4Pets. The constant naggings, lectures, and general belittling from management will have you doubting yourself and your abilities within no time. No matter what you know, how well you do, it will not be good enough. Training is non-existent, so expect to be expected to guess your job and be made to feel like an awful person when you haven't been taught what has expected of!  I frightened management here with my knowledge of the industry, the people I knew and the fact I saw a lot of flaws within the practice (99% of it down to their management) and this intimidated them therefore the dodgy dealings to back me into a corner begun (this included trying to turn other staff members who I had become friendly with against me!)  before I had enough, and I have now reached that point. I am number 6 receptionist to walk out of this job within the last 2 years, but they cannot see an issue with this???? There are some seriously dodgy dealings which I cannot go into on a review, but when the JVP and Practice Manager are a married couple, what chance does anyone else stand? I will never have proof but I know I was bullied out of my job because I was too honest with personal matters within my life regarding wanting a baby and they did not want to have to pay any maternity leave.

The issue with Vets4Pets franchises is that absolutely anyone can buy them, and it doesn't matter how horrendous your management skills (or lack of) are, how clueless you are or how dodgy the way you treat your staff is, as long as your under their roof - their rules absolutely apply and they can change these daily and scream at you for not knowing what the change is! 
 
If you value yourself and your self-confidence, give it a miss.

To start with when you’re fresh in people are decent for a month or so, then it goes very quickly down hill, Unless you happen to be in the toxic clique between the head nurse and practice manager. I have quite bluntly never met people as nasty and unsupportive as my time working here. No support or help is given, you’re expected to know the answer before even being shown the system/way to do something and if you can’t do it (which surely is expected as you’ve never seen it) you get a ‘forget it I’ll do it myself’ from the manager and get spoken about by her and whoever will listen within ear shot.  Mental health deterioration in this place is massive amongst some staff members including myself, days coming home crying, struggling with personal relationships due to the anxiety of going to work to be belittled, over worked and underpaid. Only Rostered to work alone with 4 phone lines and a reception full of people, and you’re then told you need to make sure you’re answering every call and not letting any slip, unfortunately I’m not magic and neither is anyone who was expected to keep up with that nonsense. No support with difficult/angry customers other than being told it’s because of something you said/did when realistically it’s due to the ways/prices of the practice and how it’s ran, not to do with the slaves that are sweating on reception listening to someone rant. If you’re someone who would like to ‘question’ a shift or not want to do overtime or ask for a drs appointment, it won’t be convenient to them and  you’ll then be ignored for a few weeks by the clique as though you’ve done something terrible. I cannot put into words all the awful experiences and instances I had with the manager/clique, bullying tactics and silent treatment are a firm favourite of theirs, everyone is unhappy there! All except the the managers little spy friends. It has absolutely ruined my experience at my new job as I’m so anxious of running into people like this again. Genuinely scarred and cannot put people off enough.

I was employed as a VCA at Vets4pets Sidcup on June 2021. It started out well with sufficient training being provided and i was welcomed by a hard working and dedicated team however the practice was slowly declining having on-going issues with the phone systems along with a high turnover rate and being extremely short staffed with many of the newly recruited employees only been part time staff with a few weeks of training. These issues were on-going over the course of the year and were not getting resolved causing further problems.

 I was forced into a reception role after our two previous receptionists had resigned swiftly and unexpectedly (without working their notice period) where I was then expected to take on the workload that would normally be expected of two people with very little support from colleagues especially another VCA who had extreme difficulties communicating in person and over the phone. Management was very poorly with organising staff, appointments and operations where as they  would often blame others rather than take responsibility.

I had experienced anxiety due to the high pressure and stress received to the point which I had fallen unwell and was unable to work. I feel there was a lack of sympathy given from my head vet and nurse. I started to feel extremely uncomfortable working with my vet and nurse as they would gang up on me saying that I wasn't working or trying hard enough.

Clients would often make several complaints  due to being unable to contact the clinic via phone due to high call volumes and limited phone lines available along with being unable to make appointment for their pets due to the staff shortages.

I was hoping to proceed a career as a veterinary nurse but had to make the difficult decision to resign due to the on-going issues the practice was experiencing.




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