Thirty new veterinary graduates are embarking on their new careers with leading charity PDSA at its busy Pet Hospitals around the UK.
The new recruits have started a 15-month supportive programme, which enables their knowledge and skills to be put into practice immediately. On-the-job learning is the main focus, with support from a dedicated clinical coach and the whole Pet Hospital team. Due to demand for the charity’s vital services helping communities in need, the grads will see a high volume of cases, allowing them to gain experience and skills in managing their own first-opinion cases quickly and effectively.

PDSA’s Director of Veterinary Services, Richard Hooker, said: “We’ve been blown away by the talent and the enthusiasm shown by this year’s graduate vet recruits. Our hospitals are very busy but with carefully planned support and mentoring from our experienced and capable veterinary teams, they will flourish. We are fortunate to see so many interesting, varied and challenging cases. The diversity of our clinical caseload provides our grads great learning opportunities.

“We have a well-organised, supportive programme, designed to provide a solid foundation for a rewarding long-term career. Many previous graduates have chosen to stay at PDSA, helping people and their pets in some of the UK’s most deprived areas – something we’re very proud of.”

As well as treating sick and injured pets with responsibility for their own case management, a big part of the new graduates’ role is promoting pet wellbeing. The supportive environment includes off-rota time to allow time to focus on professional knowledge development, as well as other unique opportunities associated with a charity. This includes attending events and community outreach, together with raising awareness of issues through media activity and social media.

Commenting on the scheme, former graduate vet Zoe Reilly, who works at one of the capital’s busy Pet Hospitals in Thamesmead, said: “I can’t recommend PDSA’s graduate scheme highly enough. Not once did I feel overwhelmed or on my own. My surgical skills progressed much quicker than I could ever have imagined, and the support you can draw on from other new graduates was invaluable – sharing stories of both successes and failures!

“I’ve also enjoyed helping the charity’s service users and feeling like you are making a difference, which is a unique benefit of working for PDSA. And the work/life balance is amazing!”

PDSA has been caring for the pets of people in need for over 100 years. Today, it runs 48 Pet Hospitals across the UK. Applications for the next graduate programme open in March 2020. For more information about the graduate scheme, visit www.pdsa.org.uk/careers/pdsa-graduate-programme