Since opening as a new independent small animal practice in 2007, 387 Vets has been on an exciting journey of growth and development, including two major development projects. Our most recent was the construction of a fabulous feline clinic in 2021 (The West Midlands Cat Clinic), which cats and owners love and ISFM have accredited as gold standard. Inter-connecting with our main small animal practice, the separate entrance, waiting and consult rooms provide a feline-centric stress-minimising environment, while patients still have easy access to our full range of our main practice facilities.

Being independent, co-owners Hamish and Rachel love having the freedom to make practice improvements. We are all excited about new plans for an additional sterile theatre, a separate dental operating suite, new office and meeting space and a practice roof garden - important for al fresco lunches. Building is scheduled to start in early 2024. We don’t like to stand still!

We’re proud of our multi-award winning care and customer service standards, especially being former winners of a SPVS Wellbeing Award and Petplan Practice of the Year. We have a highly skilled vet team, with 4 of our 6-strong team holding additional Postgraduate Certificates in small animal medicine, surgery, feline practice and dentistry, the last undertaken here and fully funded by us. Hamish our clinical director is also an Advanced Practitioner. Many of our RVNs are certificate holders, and all team are invested in doing their best for our pet patients. On top of our in-house expertise, we subscribe to Zoetis DX for instant specialist veterinary advice.

Whilst we have a wide portfolio of hi-spec equipment, Hamish and Rachel recognise that it’s very much the people who make the practice. Great work place culture is as important as excellent service standards. We live by team-agreed values and anyone can highlight colleagues who go the extra mile on our gratitude board. Individuals refer to the wider team as the 387 family - here everyone is equally important regardless of role or experience; everyone has a voice and plays a significant part in our collective success.

Feeling motivated at work matters to wellbeing. We see a wide range of cases and carry out much orthopaedic, dental and general surgery on site, recently introducing laparoscopy to our portfolio. We’re big believers in supporting individuals’ passions, and in helping team members to grow as clinicians and people. We encourage sharing and implementation of new learning and are generous with CPD support, an example being full funding for a vet and an RVN to attend this year’s ISFM Congress in Dublin. We recognise individual growth helps to make the whole practice stronger.

In 2016, 387 Vets was the first ever practice in the UK to become a Platinum Investors in People business in recognition of the way we lead, manage and support our team. We were delighted to retain this award in 2019 and are now working towards continuing to retain this same status when we are re-assessed in 2023.

387 Vets is open 8am to 7pm (last consult 6.15pm) on weekdays and from 8.30am to 2.30pm (last consult 1.45pm) on Saturdays. There is no out of hours, no additional weekend work, and we close on all bank holidays except for Good Friday. We hold all meetings within working hours. We recognise a good work/ life balance and time off with family and friends is precious.

As we’ve said before, it’s the people that matter. Our longest serving RVN has been here 13 years, one of our newest RVNs recently stated, “I’ve found my forever job!” and our youngest vet, who joined us on graduating in 2019, cites, "the lovely friendly/ family feel to the practice," as being one of the best things about working here.

Sound like the kind of work environment you’d like to join? We’re fortunate that many of our team have joined us through recommendation or speculative enquiry. Could this be you? If you can see yourself being an invested member of the 387 team, we’d love you to get in touch.