Organisational background

We are the UK’s leading veterinary charity. With 48 PDSA Pet Hospitals, we deliver vital services across the UK, providing more than 2.7 million treatments and helping more than 470,000 pets every year. PDSA has been a lifeline for sick and injured pets for 100 years. In that time we have provided a staggering 100 million free treatments to more than 20 million pets.

Our services are run by the dedicated vets and vet nurses at our hospitals and cost more than £60 million a year to provide. This is funded entirely by public support; mainly through gifts in wills, donations and our charity shops.

Organisation aims & mission

To care for the pets of people in need by providing free vet services to their sick and injured animals, and promoting responsible pet ownership.

Our mission

Together we will improve the life of every pet by:

• preventing illness, suffering and unnecessary death of pets.
• educating people about the welfare needs and values of pets.
• treating sick and injured pets needing our help within communities across the UK.

What we plan to achieve

To achieve our mission we intend to:

• increase the uptake of pet health and welfare.
• expand the accessibility of our veterinary services.
• promote the role of pets to society.
• drive awareness and support for PDSA’s work.
• deliver exceptional service.

In order to do this we have to:

• maximise income streams to pay for our services.
• inspire and enable our people to provide and deliver these services.
• ensure we have the right infrastructure, systems and processes to deliver these services.

Head and Heart

Expertise with understanding. At PDSA, we combine expertise with understanding to help deliver a happier and healthier future for pets and their owners.

Better together

Empowering through unity. We can achieve more if we work in partnership with everyone who touches the life of a pet. Working together, PDSA, owners, supporters and the public can all have a positive impact on pets’ health and happiness.

Passion with Purpose

Driven in our dedication. We can all make a difference in creating a world where no pet suffers. We must improve and deliver more today than yesterday, making every pound deliver even more benefit. Our passion and dedication drive us to continually achieve more.

So, why join PDSA? John Faulkner, Principal of Regional Vet Services, explains why we are different:

“We are passionate about what we do and supporting our Pet Hospital teams during the pandemic is our top priority as a senior team. Safety and well-being are critical to us and we are doing everything we can to keep clients and colleagues safe in these challenging times. Our pet hospitals are just as busy and we’ve had to find new ways of working; our vets and nurses are still managing a varied diagnostic and surgical caseload, alongside consults at the pet hospital and remotely from home. Most importantly, everyone, whatever their role, will have all the benefits of working for PDSA and, now more than ever, they will experience a flexible approach to work with a good work-life balance.”

The benefits of working for PDSA include:

• Allocated CPD funding.
• RCVS fees paid.
• Part and Full time opportunities.
• 5 weeks annual leave.
• Contributory Pension Scheme.
• Life assurance – 4 x annual salary.
• Flexible working opportunities.
• Plus Working in a covid safe environment where your safety is our top priority.
• Support for both your physical and mental well being.
• Working for one of the Sunday Times Top 100 Not for Profit Organisations.
• Managing a varied and interesting caseload.
• Contributing to the work of the UK’s leading veterinary charity.

Stuart Insley MRCVS, previous Area Veterinary Manager and now OOH Project Manager shares his thoughts on why PDSA is such a great place to work:

Describe in one sentence the best thing about the role of a vet at PDSA:

“You get to help people who have nowhere else to go and would otherwise not be able to experience all the amazing benefits of pet ownership. It’s a real combination of helping people and pets.”

What have been the best things about your personal experience with PDSA?

The culture is so supportive. Yes, it’s demanding, but you have everything there behind you to help you succeed.

The chance to get involved with things that you are passionate about, including initiatives like the Pet Wellbeing Task Force.

The focus on teams’ wellbeing (both mental and physical) in the last 18 months has been incredible.”

What key qualities do you need to be successful as a vet in PDSA?

“Empathy for people and pets! You need to be non-judgemental as you never really know what other pressures our clients are under. A team player as our PH team perform best, and the job is most enjoyable, when we’re all working together to focus on the what needs to be done. A passion to make things better (I don’t mean just pets) – PDSA is a charity that will really listen to its team members so you’ll get the best out of yourself and enjoy the job more if you really want to engage with making things better – suggestions for improving things are genuinely asked for, listened to and acted on.”

What sets PDSA apart from other veterinary employers, in terms of benefits, working hours, rota and quality of life?

“Definitely working hours. You pretty much always get a lunch break and finish on time. Most sites don’t do any OOH work. Other than a few Saturday mornings a year, there’s usually very little weekend work.”

“Also the supportive teams. You get time to develop, PDRs, genuinely interested and visible senior managers, most of whom have worked in Pet Hospitals during their career and really understand the challenges our front-line teams face.”

Did you know we also have a whole top tips video series that you can share with your small animal clients too! Find them here.