New Kingswinford vets creates six jobs
An independent family-owned veterinary group that launched in the UK last year has expanded into the West Midlands and launched a practice in Kingswinford.
The £330,000 investment by Harrison Family Vets has initially created six jobs in the town.
The vets opened its doors earlier this week at Gatehouse Retail Park on Dudley Road and the practice has been completely designed around the pets it will treat.
Its waiting area features bespoke pods, which are all spaced at least two metres apart, giving clients their own space and shielding pets from the stresses of facing other pets in a traditional waiting room. Each pod has its own screen displaying pet jokes and facts through to information about pet welfare and nutrition.
There are also four high-tech consulting rooms, an on-site laboratory, full x-ray suite, operating theatre and ultrasonography. The practice has separate dog and cat wards that have been designed with mood lighting, aromas, and music to create a calming atmosphere.
The Kingswinford practice will be headed up by well-known West Midlands vet, Rosie Levene-Barry, who brings more than 15 years’ experience to the role. Most recently she worked for a Wolverhampton practice and has appeared in an ITV documentary about her innovative corrective surgery on a litter of Labradors that were born with cleft palates. In 2012, she co-founded successful pet rescue charity Raven’s Rescue UK.
This latest opening is the second practice for Harrison Family Vets, after it launched in Woodley, near Reading, last summer. A third site will open in the North West later this year.
Tim Harrison, managing director at Harrison Family Vets, said: “We’re striving to push the boundaries of pet care, customer service and employee wellbeing, in an environment that is a long way from a traditional veterinary practice.
“There are very few practices of this standard in the UK and there’s no doubt that our innovations will translate into the quality of care that our clients and their pets receive. We also offer a customer experience that’s more akin to an Apple store. We don’t have a reception desk, so our front of house team can interact with our clients and their pets more easily and crucially, only pet owners can join our team, because you can’t fully understand our culture unless a pet is an integral member of your family."
David Charlton, asset manager of national commercial property and investment company London and Cambridge Properties, which owns The Pensnett Estate and Gatehouse Retail Park, said: “We have invested significantly in our improvements to The Pensnett Estate over recent months and look forward to welcoming Harrison Family Vets to our new, prominently located Gatehouse retail parade we developed. It will join Papa Johns, which occupies the neighbouring unit.”
Harrison Family Vets is currently offering a £15 vaccination promotion which includes a full health check at the time of the vaccination, as well as a six month follow up health check. Even if a pet isn’t due their vaccination yet, new clients can register now, and the £15 offer will be honoured when the vaccination is due.
