Head Veterinary Surgeon Employment Contract UK

Responsibilities reflected in the contract

• Lead clinical standards and case governance.
• Support vets with complex decisions and escalation.
• Oversee rotas, competence and clinical development.
• Review incidents, medicines and record quality.
• Advise practice leadership on clinical resources.

A realistic working scenario

An adverse outcome and a controlled-medicine discrepancy arise on the same weekend. The head vet protects patient welfare, secures the clinical and medicine records, coordinates the immediate reviews and escalates provider, HR or external-reporting decisions through the practice's governance structure.

Outputs to agree

• high-quality clinical leadership and case oversight
• safe rota, referral and medicine arrangements
• evidence-based learning from incidents and complaints

Records and evidence

• Clinical audit and case-review note.
• Rota, supervision and competency record.
• Medicine discrepancy and investigation file.
• Complaint, incident and improvement action.
• Work records.
• Handover notes.

Reporting relationship

Typically reports to Clinical Director, Practice Owner or Managing Director. Confirm the employer's actual reporting structure in the builder.

Authority and escalation

• The head vet may direct clinical service within delegated authority and personal competence. Major expenditure, formal employee sanctions, ownership decisions and actions reserved to another authorised professional require the practice director, HR or provider.
• May allocate routine work and make operational decisions only within documented staffing, financial, contractual and policy limits.

Supervision

• Lead clinical standards and case governance.
• Allocate and review assigned work within delegated authority and escalate formal people matters through the Employer's procedures.

Tools and systems

• Care planning systems.
• Mobility equipment.

Workplace context

• Regulated care, clinical, education or service premises.

Training and certification

• Complete employer-required safeguarding training.
• Complete employer-required health and safety training.

Contract priorities

• clinical and management time
• on-call and referral cover
• registration, indemnity and competence
• medicine, incident and team-leadership authority

Information the employer should prepare

• the sites species and leadership remit
• the caseload and protected leadership time
• the clinical people and spending authority
• the medicine incident and audit responsibilities
• the on-call referral and governance structure