Your career

Pathways into ECC

Whatever your role or career stage, explore routes into emergency and critical care and find the one that fits where you want to go next.

vets surgery

Your career in ECC

With Vets Now, you can build a rewarding career in emergency and critical care, with opportunities across our nationwide network of emergency and out of hours clinics and our specialist referral hospitals in Glasgow and Manchester.

Wherever you join us, you'll develop your skills, work alongside experienced and supportive teams, and make a real difference to pets and their owners when they need it most.

Out-of-hours clinics

Where could your ECC journey take you?

With opportunities for vets, nurses and clinical leaders across more than 60 locations, there are different ways to build your career in emergency and critical care. Choose the role family that best reflects where you are now and explore the routes available to you.

Referral hospitals

Become a specialist

Our 24/7 referral hospitals in Glasgow and Manchester are where complex, referred and critical cases are managed alongside specialists. This route is about building deep clinical expertise over time through structured internships, residency and advanced nursing progression.

Develop your specialist expertise

Our hospitals offer an array of small animal internships and residency programmes to nurture your career development.

Typical specialist pathway starts with a minimum 12-month rotating internship to provide exposure to multiple disciplines, often followed by a discipline-specific internship. Those should be done at a Specialist-Led Multidisciplinary Hospital.

Once you've successfully completed your internship(s) or have equivalent appropriate experience, a veterinary residency program supports you on the path to building the skills and knowledge essential for achieving specialist status in your chosen field. European Residency programs take a minimum of 3 years and can only be undertaken at an approved multidisciplinary specialist-led training hospital.

Develop your referral nursing career

Work alongside specialists and multidisciplinary teams and build experience across services including emergency and critical care, anaesthesia, surgery, internal medicine and diagnostic imaging.

Depending on your experience and interests, opportunities may include a multidisciplinary or single discipline nurse role, out-of-hours nursing, senior nursing and clinical management.

  • Free internal training programmes, e-learning courses and practical workshops

  • Support with CPD and professional qualifications

  • Opportunities to progress into clinical and non-clinical senior and leadership roles

  • Learn alongside experienced vets and referral nurses

60+ locations

What kind of shifts are available?

Explore opportunities across our nationwide network of out-of-hours clinics and 24/7 hospitals in Glasgow and Manchester — with roles close to home and relocation opportunities available.

two vets dog

Full and part time

Permanent roles built around clear, predictable rotas so you know where you stand.

Roving

Work across two or three clinics in your area for more variety, more shift flexibility and enhanced pay.

Weekend only

Get the best of both worlds with the weekend only contract, available for vets and vet nurses across the UK.

Backshift / Twilight

Cover the busy day to night handover (e.g. 16:00–00:00) as a supporting vet or nurse.

Veterinary Surgeon

Veterinary Surgeon - Part-Time

Barnet - Veterinary Surgeon - Part-Time Up to £85,000 DOE pro rata plus benefits Opportunity awaits at Vets Now Barnet We have an exciting opportunity available for a Vet Surgeon…

  • Barnet

  • Part Time, Permanent

  • Up to £85,000 DOE pro rata

Learn more
Veterinary Surgeon

Veterinary Surgeon - Roving

Roving Veterinary Surgeon Up to £90,000 DOE plus benefits Now for changing environments and landscapes Dive into the world of Emergency and Critical Care in our Chesterfield,…

  • Chesterfield, Doncaster, Hull and Sheffield

  • Full Time, Permanent

  • Up to £90,000 DOE

Learn more
Veterinary Surgeon

Senior Veterinary Surgeon

Senior Veterinary Surgeon – Emergency & Critical Care (ECC) Location: Chesterfield Salary: Up to £85,000 DOE Bonus: £10,000 Welcome Bonus + up to £5,000 Relocation Allowance…

  • Chesterfield

  • Full Time, Permanent

  • Up to £85,000 DOE

Learn more

Insights

Hear from people who've found their path into ECC

From students and newly qualified vets to experienced clinicians, discover how people across Vets Now have built careers in emergency and critical care through different pathways and experiences.

Mariline Ferreira 3

From Cutting Edge to Principal Vet: Mariline Ferreira’s ECC Leadership Journey

Read more
emma robers 1

Leadership, Learning and Family Life: Q&A with Emma Roberts 

Read more
Lucy Wildblood 2

Cutting Edge prepares you to be a solo vet, but you’re never really on your own says Vet Suregon Lucy Wildblood

Read more

Your pathway into ECC starts here

Explore the opportunities and flexible career routes available across Vets Now and find the pathway that fits you.