About the practice and about the area
Aldeburgh Vets is a 100% companion animal, first-opinion general practice which opened in November 2020 and is now 5 years old.
* We are a day-practice which is open from 8 am until 6 pm.
* OOH is outsourced to the local MiNight Vet ECC.
* Consultation slots are 20 minutes, with each consulting session lasting 2.5 hours maximum.
* The Practice has passed the RCVS Practice Standards Scheme GP Level since 2021
* The Practice has also been a Nurse Training Practice since 2022.
* The practice is independently owned by Brian FRCVS & Georgia Faulkner MBA, and Jess Bartman MRCVS.
* It is a single-site, single-storey, fully air-conditioned premises laid out as below.
* 75% of the patients are dogs, 24% cats and the occasional rabbit and virtually no exotics.
Aldeburgh is a very affluent, small seaside town. The practice is located on a former farm, next to a garden centre, café, butcher and pet shop. There is ample parking at the door.
The practice clientele is mostly aged between 50-80 years old. They are affluent, polite and compliant if options and recommendations are articulated to them clearly and succinctly. Many of the clients do not like to drive in the dark, and the practice winds down at around 5pm in the winter.
All staff leave the premises by 6 pm 99.99% of the time (all year round) as the yard is locked at 6pm.
The practice is brilliantly organised and very well run in order to improve outcomes and minimise stress. Brian Faulkner is a management consultant to the profession and has to practice what he preaches! Georgia Faulker is the Practice Director. Ellie Ridgard is the Practice Manager and absolutely on top of support-team staff rotas, general HR administration and H&S.
Clinical facilities include
* 3 consultation rooms (with option of a fourth)
* Spacious Prep room
* 3 operating theatres: 2 for sterile procedures; dental theatre with integrated dental radiography
* 2 vets currently able to perform Lap Spays
* Regular visiting peripatetic surgeon who does everything except spines
* Full diagnostic equipment in both lab and imagery
* In-house lab processors: Biochemistry / Haematology / Hormones
* DR radiography, ultrasound, endoscopy, CT scanning
* PMS: Teleos Systems
Our Team
Vets (superscript depicts number of years qualified)
* Brian Faulkner 30 BSc (Hons), BVM&S, CertGP(SAM), CertGP (BPS), MBA, MSc(Psych), FRCVS
* Jess Bartman 13 BVSc, MRCVS
* Niamh Lingley 15 MVB, PGCertSAM, PGCert(Ophthal), MRCVS
* We currently have 2 South African vets (man & wife) who return to RSA on June 30th (latest) due to visa. We recruited 2 as they came as a pair, but we really only need 1 FTVE
Nursing Team
* Sarah Winter Head Nurse, RVN
* Chloe Tucker, RVN
* Ula Hall, RVN
* Ruby Enskajt (VCA)
Reception
* Anna Hind, Client Care Lead
* Kayla Barr, Client Care
* Meg Sculley, Client Care
Management and Administration
* Georgia Faulkner, MA, MBA: Practice Director: Executive Finance
* Ellie Ridgard, BSc(Hons): Practice Manager
* Anna Hind, Insurance and accounts
We have an all-practice WhatsApp group for all-team comms.
We have a Vets-Only group to share updates, expectations & advice regarding clinical cases.
We also have a group with our peripatetic surgeon who willingly gives us advice on surgical cases, CT results, and expected costs of procedures. We use this group to book his services, which is simple, convenient and efficient.
About the role
The role is a typical first opinion GP, and the day incorporates a combination of out-patient consultations and in-patient ‘ops’.
A typical ops day is 4 patients – but can vary from 2-8.
Ops include neutering, dentistry, soft-tissue surgery (lumps and the usual intra-abdominal procedures), lap spays, and imagery, including CT (which the nurses usually do).
The typical day starts at 8.30 am and finishes at 6 pm.
If consulting, start at 9 am until 11 am (which means 8 consultations max)
If on ops, start at 9 am and finish around 1 pm. We expect our ops team to ‘get on’ with starting ops early and efficiently and not take ‘all day’ to do standard procedures, as this impacts everyone’s ability to have a lunch break, cleaning up, discharge appointments, and makes the days unnecessarily time-pressured….and even worse, other colleagues – especially nurses – start leaving the practice! Brian has seen the consequences of operational inefficiencies countless times in the practices he coaches, and they are entirely avoidable.
Consulting vets join in with the ops if required after their morning consults.
Afternoon consults are offered as a ‘middle session’ (1-3 pm) or a later session (3-5.40 pm). Colleagues do one or the other of these, never both.
Full-time vet:
* First opinion, companion animal
* 40 hours per week over 4 days
* We would accept 30 hours over 3 days.
Rota
* No OOH (outsourced to MiNight Vet locally – who have been excellent!)
Weekends
* 1 in 4 Saturdays: 8.30-12 noon.
* Sick patient calls received on the day.
* This is the only time the vets are sole-charge.
Salary & Benefits
* Depends on skills/experience but between £45-65k
* 5 weeks pro-rata plus bank holidays
* RCVS registration paid for
* VDS cover included
* Healthshield cash plan (can claim back regular ‘life’ medical expenses) and Employee Assistance Programme
* Private Health insurance
* CPD budget and time – by mutual agreement. Basic allowance of £1,500 per annum, but we are always happy to invest in further CPD if we feel there are mutual benefits and commitment to the practice.
Facilities near the practice.
The practice is located 500 yards from Aldeburgh centre, with countless cafes and shops.
Next door, there is a Co-Op and Tesco’s Metro.
Aldeburgh is one of East Suffolk’s most treasured coastal towns with its colourful seafront homes overlooking shingle beaches and historic architecture. Located within Suffolk’s Heritage Coast, Aldeburgh is renowned for its artistic heritage (home to composer Benjamin Britten and the world-class Aldeburgh Festival at nearby Snape Maltings, which is a well-renowned hub for music, arts and independent shops. The high street features an array of boutique retailers, galleries, artisan food stores and the famous Aldeburgh Fish & Chips. Aldeburgh sits within the Suffolk Coast & Heaths Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, offering miles of coastal paths, heathland, wildlife reserves and picturesque cycling routes, sailing and kayaking on the River Alde to birdwatching at RSPB Minsmere.
Life in East Suffolk is defined by space, safety and community. Excellent schools, low crime rates, and easy connections to Woodbridge, Ipswich and London ensure both convenience and serenity.
The Woodbridge and Framlingham area (where Ed Sheeran’s “Castle on the Hill” is located!) is an excellent area to live and enjoy market town ambience and recreation, including a mixture of sports and arts clubs.
The practice will be able to provide a modern 4-bedroom accommodation to enable a new vet to settle without the hassle or risk of finding a property.