Millennium Veterinary Practice, UK

Organisational background

Welcome to Millennium Vets! We’ve been caring for pets in our community since 1966 and have moved with the times. We are a two-site practice. Our main practice is in Braintree with our smaller homely branch serving the Coggeshall community, just 11 minutes away.

For the past 15 years, our practice focus has switched to 100% companion animals. We have changed both our premises a few times to accommodate our growing practice and in 2001 moved our Braintree site into a purpose-built practice, on the edge of town with a large car park and green! This improved our accessibility to our clients, especially as we grew.

We have had three extension projects since then and are planning our fourth! Evolving with an ever-advancing profession is important and our staff remains our greatest asset.

Our referral side of the practice started in 2000 and grew from just orthopaedics to now five disciplines (dermatology, oncology, orthopaedics, poultry medicine, and soft tissue). We are supported by a visiting ophthalmologist and cardiologist and are fortunate to have the services of our local internal medicine specialist!

We are very self-sufficient and care for almost all of our patients here at MVP with only a small need for off-premise referral. This is helped by our more recent equipment investments including our 16-slice CT scanner, electrochemotherapy, and companion regenerative therapy.

We now have 55 members of staff which include nine full-time vet equivalents and a very active team of 13 RVNs all of whom work closely with our reception, office, and support teams.

Watch us take over VSGD’s Instagram here!

Organisation aims & mission

We all follow the same beliefs – ‘treating our patients as our own’. We have a high standard of veterinary care, believe in teamwork and offer value for money with affordable veterinary fees.

We have ongoing investment plans for both our staff and facilities. It’s not uncommon to find MVP staff members who have worked in our family team for over 15 years! Some only recently celebrated both 25 and 30 years of service!

For a long time, we were the only practice serving Braintree and the local community and are proudly the only independent practice in this area. This is where we want to stay.

Our aim is to deliver the highest standard of patient-centered veterinary care. This is driven by our 3 Directors, (Robin Creighton, Stefaan van Poucke and Lindsey Nice) and our large team of committed veterinary professionals. We all have a very strong, genuine interest in the welfare of our patients and this includes wildlife.

We have a halfway house approach to providing 24-hour care, without putting extra strain on existing staff members when offering a 24-7 service. Instead, we use VetsNow outside of our opening hours (and for practice/staff events) but nurse our own inpatients with the provision of a flexible nursing rota to allow for overnight nursing care when needed. (This means the next day off in lieu of the nurse’s night work!)

And, if you are wondering, yes we are old school and do make house calls in our practice ambulance!

Successful care and treatment come with a good relationship with our clients and are crucial to providing a patient-centered service. Our aim is to provide accessible veterinary care at affordable prices. In fact, we have been recognized by RSA and are listed as an RSA network partner for our affordable referral services.

On a more personal client need, we have members of staff who have been trained as Dementia Friends.

Our mission statement has always been ‘Treating your pet as our own’ For us this means:

• Building on our high standards.
• Challenging our knowledge, protocols, and working practices.
• Continue to foster our warm family environment where our clients can place their trust in us.
• Support our staff to develop their own personal and professional career pathway and be the very best they can.
• Work as a team where caring is based on a collaboration of minds – everyone’s opinion counts.

• Commitment, communication, collaboration and community.
• We invest in and encourage staff development. Moving with the times has meant staff interests have turned into qualifications which have strengthened our service. We have 3 Advanced Practitioners and another working towards a Certificate. Our nurses have an array of qualifications ranging from ECC and Nutrition to Exotics and Behaviour.
• We invest in the staff of the future and the profession, as a veterinary nurse Training Practice. And it doesn’t stop there.
• Many of our front-of-house staff are either trained or working towards the various BVRA awards. Our Head Receptionist holds the gold level and alongside our practice manager supports the rest of the reception team. We even have a Bereavement Support Advisor – yes, another receptionist.
• If you are talent spotted, we want to make the most of you! Appraisal and catch-up times are important for us in this respect.
• We were the first clinic in Essex to be accredited as a Silver Feline Friendly Practice and are almost in reach of the gold award and our latest refurbishment project. This is focused on adding the final touches to our cat ward facilities. We also run cat-only clinics with our feline-friendly vet/nurse team.
• We have been a Chicken Friendly Vet for some time, took part in the British Veterinary Behaviour Association (BVBA)’s Dog-Friendly Practice pilot scheme, and are working on our Rabbit Friendly Practice status. All this helps to raise our standards and outwardly show our clients we are committed to the care of our patients.
• In the last two consecutive years, we have won Best Vets in Essex as awarded by our clients through the VetHelpDirect annual practice review awards. We have also been featured in the Veterinary Business Journal practice profile pages.
• We have onboarded ‘PetsApp’ as a way of really improving our communication with our clients, making it easier for them in a world where everything is at their fingertips.

We are a friendly bunch!

Whether you have just started, have been here six months or 25 years we work as a family, supporting each other. We have a designated staff support system through our team of HR reps, line managers, and trained mental first aiders.

Headspace is important for the whole team and we are mindful of this as our team grows and their work diversifies, e.g. our vets have their own office to make calls, review cases, and relax!

The work-life balance of all our staff is important to us and MVP works well with a mix of full-time and part-time staff as we continuously adapt to our teams’ personal needs. We now offer many more variable working patterns and hours to suit personal scenarios. For example, our vet team may work: two days, three longer days, or four days a week to suit them and their growing families. Our nurses may be part-time or work a full-time four or five-day week. And this reverberates through the rest of the team.

We rely heavily on our RVNs throughout the whole practice. Whether in theatre, wards, and diagnostics or in our nurse consult room running our preventative health program and a range of services such as laser treatment and behaviour support. They are integral to the care of all our patients and work closely with our vets to provide the best possible care.

The little things matter.

• So yes, your dog(s) can come to work with you.
• Fresh fruit is available in our newly refurbished staff room (there are often ice lollies in the freezer as well as a constant supply of ice and cold water!).
• McFlurry’s do get delivered.
• Lunch on Saturday is provided.
• An outside eating area is available to all.

We have a history of out-of-work staff events including team building at Colchester Zoo (and literally being in the tiger and lions’ den!), paintballing, escape rooms, and entering (and winning) the largest themed float at Braintree Carnival to name but a few. We also have our informal running team, mud runners, some netball practice on occasion, and our staff dog walk get-together!

Finally, we should probably mention a bit about our home town, Braintree! The practice itself is less than ½ mile from Freeport Outlet Shopping Village, Braintree Retail Park, and Braintree Fitness and Swimming Centre. We have very easy access to the surrounding area being on the Norwich to London Liverpool trainline; are equally placed between the cities of Chelmsford and Colchester (both ½ hr away); the A12 / A120 are on our doorstep which means quick access to the M11 and M25 and Stansted Airport is only 20 minutes away! And a few other local gems: Chelmsford City Racecourse, Hylands Park (which means festivals galore including V and Clockstock!), and the Essex County Cricket Club. We’re also lucky to have good primary & secondary schools, local colleges, Writtle University College and both Chelmsford and Colchester Universities in close reach.

• So this is us! We hope you are reading this and feel we are right for you. We welcome friendly, dependable team players who see problems as opportunities and cares about the people around them. A GP vet or nurse at heart or a GP vet or nurse with direction – we will support you in this next part of your journey. We look forward to meeting you and hopefully welcoming you in to MVP.