Description
Contract: Permanent, full time
Salary: £26,208 plus £3,954 London Weighting Allowance per annum
Location: Merton animal hospital, London SW19 1BD
Closing date: Monday 28th April 2025
Interview date: W/C 6th May 2025
We’re recruiting a full-time Animal Care Assistant to join our Merton animal hospital team. In 2023, our Blue Cross animal hospital in Merton were very proud to win the first BVA Wellbeing award for our team’s efforts to make this a great place to work!
More about the role
Blue Cross animal hospitals and pet care clinics play a vital role in providing veterinary treatment to sick and injured pets, particularly when their owners are unable to afford private veterinary fees. Our veterinary care services are accessible to pets whose owners receive certain means-tested benefits and reside within the catchment area of one of our animal hospitals or pet care clinics.
Since June 1999, we've been a cornerstone of the Merton community, delivering veterinary services to approximately 6,000 unique pets every year. From routine procedures like neutering to intricate surgeries and advanced diagnostics, our hospital offers a comprehensive range of treatments.
Our Animal Care Assistants have a key role in our fast-paced hospitals, providing a high standard of care to the pets in our hospitals and providing support to their owners. They do this by providing the highest level of animal care and customer service with empathy and a non-judgmental mindset in all situations.
Each day will see you providing care to the pets in our hospitals which includes cleaning, feeding, exercising, grooming, laundry and administering treatment, dealing with clients on our busy reception, dispensing medication and taking payments. You will be monitoring our patient’s health, wellbeing and behaviour as well as those recovering from anaesthetic.
Working closely with our Vets and Nurses, you will be assisting them with the preparation of preparation of patients and operating theatre for surgery.
This is full time role working 42 hours a week with a one hour paid lunch break on a rota to include weekends and public holidays.
Due to the nature of the work of Blue Cross, and this post, it may be necessary to exceed these hours when the workload demands.
If you excel in an environment where you can see the difference you make every day, then this is the role for you. Interested? Then apply and let’s work together to see if this is the role for you.
About you
The ideal candidate for this role is someone who has previous experience in a similar role such as a Veterinary Care Assistant, Animal Care Assistant or Animal Nursing Assistant.
With great communication skills they will be able to speak to a wide variety of people. Working in an animal hospital can involve supporting clients that are distressed, therefore, you will be able to work in an emotionally charged environment and have excellent ‘bounce back ability’ and resilience, with ability to keep calm under pressure and re-prioritise tasks where needed. This person will be emotionally intelligent, showing empathy and knowing how to support clients and colleagues.
You will have a genuine desire to improve the lives of pets and their clients and be proactive in the promotion and delivery of Blue Cross aims.
Knowledge, skills, and experience
* Experience working or volunteering in a veterinary practice or within a similar role
* Experience within a reception or client care role
* Good communication skills, both written and verbal
* IT literate with MS Office and web-based databases and platforms
* The ability to demonstrate, understand and apply our Blue Cross values
Although not essential, it would be great if you also had:
* Experience within a reception or client care role
* Qualification in Animal Care or similar
* The ability to observe changes in animals health and wellbeing
* The ability to interact face to face with clients and visitors and communicate effectively with a range of people
How to apply
Click the apply button below and complete the online application process before the closing date on Sunday 27 April 2025.
We reserve the right to close this vacancy early should we receive an overwhelming response.
Blue Cross benefits
Our people are the most important part of delivering our purpose. If it were not for their amazing efforts and commitment, we would not be able to make the difference that we do today.
In return, Blue Cross wants to ensure we provide you with the best working environment we can. We want you to be happy working for us and will do everything we can to make sure you are.
Our generous benefits package includes:
* Full time equivalent of 38 days holiday rising to 43 with service (including Bank Holidays)
* Programmes for physical and mental wellbeing support
* Free access to GP via MetLife- 24/7 GP services, private prescriptions and more for you and your family
* Free physiotherapy advice and face to face intervention
* Health cash plan
* Unlimited access to an employee assistance programme
* Pension scheme with enhanced employer contribution
* Professional fees paid with Continuing Professional Development and personal development support.
* Life assurance
* 20% discount on Pet Plan pet insurance
* Enhanced family friendly policies
* Recognition scheme
* Annual volunteer days
* Charity worker discounts across a variety of retailers
To read more about the benefits Blue Cross has to offer, please visit the 'why work for us' page on our website.
If you’d like to learn more about Blue Cross, our mission, and the work we do to support animals and people, take a look at our About Us page