Your career

Veterinary student placements

Looking for clinical EMS experience? Spend one or two weeks alongside experienced emergency teams, gaining exposure to real cases across selected Vets Now clinics.

Experience real emergencies

Emergency cases can feel daunting when you first encounter them. An EMS placement with Vets Now gives you the opportunity to experience emergency and critical care in a supported clinical environment.

Across our nationwide network of clinics and hospitals, our teams see more than 204,000 emergency and critical care cases each year — creating valuable opportunities for veterinary students to learn from real emergencies.

You'll spend time alongside experienced ECC teams, observing genuine cases and gaining insight into the clinical reasoning, teamwork and communication involved in emergency care. Placements are available throughout the year covering evenings between 7PM – 2AM and weekends.

Real emergency cases

Gain exposure to genuine emergency and critical care caseloads.

One or two weeks

Choose a placement duration that supports your EMS requirements.

One-to-one support

Learn with guidance from an experienced clinician throughout your placement.

UK wide opportunities

Explore placement opportunities across our nationwide clinic network.

Plan your EMS placement.

Our clinical EMS placements are designed for fourth and fifth year veterinary students looking to build their experience outside the lecture theatre.

Gain real experience

Spend one or two weeks in one of our out-of-hours clinics, learning alongside an experienced ECC team.

Placements take place during evenings and weekends, so exact working patterns will depend on the location and dates selected.

Placements are reserved for veterinary students' university clinical EMS and are not available for school work experience or general animal care placements.

You'll gain insight into:

The assessment and triage of emergency cases
Clinical decision making and stabilisation
Communication with pet owners
Teamwork in a fast paced environment
The realities of nights, weekends and bank holiday care

Help with the cost of your placement

Financial circumstances shouldn't prevent students from accessing valuable clinical experience. The Inspiring Vet Care EMS Student Bursary can provide financial support for eligible UK veterinary students undertaking clinical EMS at a Vets Now or Inspiring Vet Care practice.

Applications are open to students who have arranged or are in the process of arranging an eligible placement. Priority is given to applicants experiencing financial hardship, with opportunities released throughout the year. The IVC EMS bursaries will be released in four stages throughout the year; October, January, April and July. This will allow for multiple application deadlines and ensure students have every opportunity to apply.

Explore EMS bursary funding

Work while you study

Gain valuable work experience

An EMS placement isn't the only way to experience life at Vets Now. We also recruit students into animal care assistant and receptionist roles, with opportunities often available during evenings, weekends and busy holiday periods.

It's a chance to earn alongside your studies, become part of an out-of-hours team and develop experience that can support your future veterinary career.

Roles and availability vary by clinic. Check our current vacancies for opportunities in your area.

Animal Care Assistant

Support our clinical teams with patient care, clinic preparation and the practical tasks that help emergency shifts run smoothly.

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Receptionist

Be a reassuring first point of contact for pet owners while supporting the communication and organisation of a busy clinic.

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Hear from our EMS students

Discover what other veterinary students learned from their time with Vets Now — and what it's really like to experience emergency care first hand.

The placement was brilliant. Two very informative vets, lovely hands on nursing staff, and welcoming team. So well structured and organized. Sometimes it is sink or swim at EMS placements and this felt like they actually wanted me to be there which I really appreciated.

I was made to feel so welcome by the team and I was always asked for my opinion on a case which was just really lovely. Often on placements you're made to feel like an outsider, but that simply wasn't the case here. I was able to develop so much clinically and personally from the placement.

It was a great experience with a super friendly and engaging team. All were willing to teach and give me lots of clinical opportunities. A very rewarding experience and one I would highly recommend to anyone who has the opportunity. Lots of case exposure and a team that actively get you involved with cases and communication.

I was given the chance to help the vets with many different consults. I had a goal set to work on my POCUS skills, which I feel much more confident with now that the vets allowed me to do multiple scans.

It was amazing being so involved and continuously being given the opportunity to do things instead of having to ask myself. It was clear my learning and experience was thought of by everyone and I wasn't a second thought or forgotten about.

We had a few neurological and toxicity cases so got to practice my neuro exams and do a neurological case work up. Got to practice writing up a lot of clinical notes i.e. history, treatment plan, discussion with owner etc. Learnt about CRIs. Learnt about stabilising emergency patients and which drugs to use for what symptoms. Talking to clients and doing consults.

Advice and insights