Practice Manager

Salary: £40,000 to £50,000 per annum, depending on experience Contract: Permanent Working hours: 40 hours per week, full-time, with flexibility to meet the needs of the practice Location: Sevenoaks group: Sevenoaks 24-hour hospital and Borough Green, with oversight of the Out of Hours service on non-clinical matters Closing Date: 30 November 2026 The role The Practice Manager runs the business side of our largest practice: the Sevenoaks 24-hour hospital and Borough Green, around 60 people. You make sure the practice is well staffed, well organised, financially healthy and compliant, so that our clinical teams can focus on patients, and our Client Experience Lead can focus on clients. You work in partnership with the Hospital and Out of Hours Director. They lead on clinical matters; you lead on everything non-clinical, with authority across the whole practice team on conduct, rotas and staffing, pricing and charging, and practice policies. You have direct input into the practice’s financial planning and strategic direction. Sevenoaks is too big to be run by one person doing everything. A core part of this role is building a structure that delegates well: clear owners, team leads and champions who are trusted to make decisions, so that you, the Client Experience Lead and the Hospital Director can spend your time where it matters most. Key responsibilities Operational leadership Own the day-to-day non-clinical running of Sevenoaks, Borough Green and the Out of Hours Service, so each site opens, runs and closes to a consistent standard. Set up and maintain a clear structure of owners, team leads and champions (for example stock, debt, health and safety, rota) with defined decision rights and hold them to account. Line manage the Client Experience Lead, supporting them to lead the client care teams and deliver the Pennard Standard for client experience. Work with the Nursing Team Leader and clinical leads on capacity, appointment templates and use of the book, so clinical time is used well. Oversee stock and procurement at practice level: stock levels, ordering, write-offs and supplier performance, working with the stock and pharmacy champion and central team. Coordinate premises, facilities and equipment maintenance with contractors and the central team. Financial performance Contribute directly to the practice budget and financial plan with the Hospital Director and finance team, and own delivery against it for the areas you control. Track and act on monthly performance: revenue and EBITDAM against budget, staff costs, locum and agency spend, and controllable costs. Own pricing and charging compliance across the practice: agreed prices applied, no missed or removed charges, and estimates that match invoices. Lead on debt: walk-out (non-insured) debt, aged debt and payment at the point of care, working with the debt champions, Head Host, nurses and vets. Bring forward business cases for investment, staffing changes or new services, with clear costs and benefits. People, recruitment and staffing Plan the practice workforce with the Hospital Director: establishment, skill mix and cover, so every service and shift is safely staffed. Lead recruitment for non-clinical roles and coordinate it for clinical roles with HR and clinical leads: vacancy forms, adverts, interviews, offers and onboarding. Own rotas and leave across the practice team, delegating day-to-day rota management to team leads where it makes sense. Set and uphold expectations for conduct and behaviour across the whole team, and lead or support the HR process (absence, conduct, capability, grievances) with HR, involving the Hospital Director where clinical matters are involved. Make sure every line manager in the practice holds regular documented one-to-ones and annual appraisals, and that training and induction records are kept. Own staff morale and wellbeing across the practice: run a short quarterly pulse survey, share the results and an action plan with the team, and follow through. Understand why people stay and leave, and act on it. Compliance, standards and governance Keep the practice compliant with health and safety, fire, COSHH, GDPR and RCVS Practice Standards Scheme requirements, keeping risk assessments and evidence current. Make sure practice policies and SOPs are followed and that controlled documents come from the central SharePoint. Support complaints handling with the Client Experience Lead, taking ownership of escalated non-clinical complaints. Strategy, systems and improvement Contribute to the practice’s strategic vision and annual plan with the Hospital Director and represent Sevenoaks in group operations meetings and Operational Business Reviews. Use data from the KPI reports to spot trends early and lead improvement work. Find operational friction points and work with the operations and data team to test and adopt new technology, including automation and AI-supported tools, that removes them. Lead the practice through the move to Provet Cloud on the operational side. Where the line sits A starting point, to be confirmed with the Hospital and Out of Hours Director. Area: Practice Manager leads: Hospital Director leads Clinical standards: Supports with data and process: Clinical protocols, quality, clinical governance Conduct and behaviour: All non-clinical conduct, whole team: Clinical competence and clinical conduct Rotas and staffing: Implementation of rota process and management, leave, cover, recruitment admin: Clinical skill mix and safe staffing levels, vet rota and leave oversight Finance: Budget delivery, costs, debt, pricing compliance: Clinical pricing decisions and service mix Strategy: Operational and financial input: Clinical direction; final sign-off together Client experience: Line manages the Client Experience Lead: Clinical complaints and clinical communication KPIs: reviewed at six months Measured from the weekly KPI report, the management accounts, the debt report and HR records. We will agree a baseline in the first month and set the six-month targets together. Where a target is shown, it is a proposal for that conversation. KPI What it measures Proposed six-month target Revenue and EBITDAM vs budget Practice revenue and EBITDAM against budget, monthly and year to date. On or ahead of budget Staff costs Staff costs as a share of revenue; locum and agency spend. Within budget; agreed reduction in agency spend Walk-out (non-insured) debt Controllable debt at the point of care, and aged debt. Downward trend each quarter Pricing compliance Agreed prices applied; missed or removed charges from invoice review. Agreed reduction from baseline Utilisation Vet and nurse appointment slot use; same-day gaps filled. Baseline in month 1; agreed uplift Average transaction value Revenue per transaction (£). Baseline in month 1; agreed uplift Stock Stock holding against target levels; write-offs and variances. Within agreed range Staffing and recruitment Vacancies, time to fill, rota gaps, unplanned absence. Baseline in month 1; agreed targets Retention Staff turnover and leaver themes from exit interviews. Downward trend Staff morale Short anonymous quarterly pulse survey (engagement and wellbeing score, plus eNPS: would you recommend Pennard as a place to work), with themes from one-to-ones and exit interviews. Baseline at first survey; upward trend each quarter, with an action plan shared back with the team One-to-ones and appraisals Share of team with a documented one-to-one at least every two months, and an annual appraisal. 100% Compliance Health and safety actions closed, fire drills, risk assessments, RCVS PSS evidence current. 100% on schedule Escalated complaints Non-clinical complaints escalated beyond the practice. Zero Person specification Experience Essential: managing the operations of a multi-team or multi-site business; budget responsibility and working with financial reports; recruiting, managing and developing teams, including HR processes. Desirable: veterinary, healthcare or 24-hour service management; practice management qualification (for example CVPM) or equivalent; leading change or a systems migration. Skills and attributes Commercially minded and confident with numbers: budgets, KPIs, staff costs and pricing. A natural delegator who builds capability in others, sets clear expectations and follows through. Fair, consistent and firm on standards of conduct, with good judgement about when to elevate. Organised and calm under pressure, able to prioritise across competing demands. Credible with clinical colleagues and able to work in partnership with a clinical director. Confident with Microsoft 365, Excel and practice management systems; curious about new technology and comfortable trialling digital and AI-supported ways of working. Leadership behaviours Builds effective teams Drives results Financial acumen Develops talent Manages complexity Key working relationships Hospital and Out of Hours Director (line manager); Head Host / Client Experience Lead (direct report); Head Nurse and clinical leads; Group Clinical Operations Director; HR, finance, data (Sai) and marketing; Practice Managers and Principals at other sites; suppliers, contractors and external partners. Pennard Vets is an equal opportunities employer. We welcome applications from all qualified candidates regardless of background. If you need any adjustments to the application or interview process, just let us know. This job description is not exhaustive and will be reviewed with the postholder to reflect the needs of the practice. #J-18808-Ljbffr Pennard Vets