About 387 Vets

At 387 Veterinary Centre, we strive to provide a very high level of care for our patients, your pets, whilst providing the very best personal and compassionate service for you, the owner, too. We run 15 minute consultations (rather than the standard 10 minute appointments you’ll find at many other vets) because we don’t believe a quality level of service can be provided in 10 minutes. The extra time allows us to be more thorough when examining your pets, and means that our appointments are more likely to run on time.

We offer you real peace of mind: owner Hamish Duncan holds the highest medical qualification in the area (Certificate holder and Advanced Practitioner in Small Animal Medicine), Carlos Boix Boente holds a Certificate in Small Animal Surgery, Emma Goncalves holds a Certificate in Feline Practice and Selenia Davolio is one of the first vets in the UK to obtain a Postgraduate Certificate in Professional Development in Small Animal Dentistry. The in-practice and postgraduate expertise of our vets means your pet’s illness and any concerns you have will be dealt with from a strong, certified knowledge base.  Click here to find out more about our practice’s standards of care.

Looking after our clients

It really matters to us that you and your pets feel as comfortable as possible when you visit 387 Vets. Wait peacefully in our bright, spacious, air-conditioned reception which is specially partitioned to ensure cats and small animals can wait comfortably, separate from dogs. Browse through our diverse leaflet displays, catch up with the latest practice news on our customised notice boards or ask one of our nine fully qualified nurses about any pet management or diet queries you may have, and take advantage of our wide diversity of nurse-led clinics.

Because it’s particularly important that a pet’s end of life experience is the best it can be for you both, we’ve invested in whole team training with Compassion Understood, a company dedicated to teaching best practice for when the time comes to say goodbye. In November 2016 we became only the second practice in the UK to receive Compassion Understood’s Platinum accreditation, their highest award, an accreditation which we retain. The course has really helped us see things from the client’s perspective. We’ve made, and continue to make, positive changes to the way we manage end of life appointments, to make the experience as peaceful and as private as we can. And we train all new team members in our end of life care protocols so that we can offer best support at this difficult time.

Watch our practice manager speaking about our team training on Compassion Understood’s video blog ‘Fresh perspectives on end of life at 387 Vets’.

Fair and competitive pricing

We believe our prices are honest and competitive.  We respect our clients and want you to feel you get excellent value for our professional care, so we always charge fairly and consistently for the service and care we provide.

A Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons Small Animal Accredited Practice

We have volunteered to be inspected by the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons (RCVS) at least every four years as part of their Practice Standards Scheme (PSS), and in 2021 passed our fourth inspection. We have to meet the RCVS’s stringent standards which cover all practice areas from equipment, staff training and hygiene to client communication, health and safety and clinical standards. Spot checks can be carried out by the Royal College at any time to ensure we’re delivering our promise of excellent care. Click here for more information about RCVS PSS accreditation.

Alongside their Practice Standards Scheme, the RCVS offers additional PSS Awards. These awards offer RCVS-accredited practices the opportunity to demonstrate that they really excel in one or more specialist areas. In 2024, we were awarded ‘Outstanding’ for ‘Client Service’ and ‘Outstanding’ for ‘Team & Professional Responsibility’. To learn more about the PSS additional awards, click here.

Gold Standard Cat Friendly Clinic Status

We recognise that visits to the vets can be especially stressful for cats. In 2016 we joined the International Society of Feline Medicine’s Cat Friendly Clinic Scheme which focuses on helping practices strategise to reduce feline anxiety in practice.  We’ve been a Gold Cat Friendly Clinic since our first accreditation, with re-assessment taking place every 3 years. In 2021 we opened our interconnecting West Midlands Cat Clinic – the only cat-only facility within a 30 mile radius – to be able to offer totally feline-centric experience. All team are trained in low stress handling and in managing felines with sensitivity and respect. Inpatients lodge in our quiet cat ward in feline-friendly hospitalisation cages, and we have equipment on site specifically for treating cats. We pride ourselves on having clinicians with additional qualifications in feline practice and in keeping up to date new learning and best practice in feline care.

For more information about what being a cat friendly clinic means, click here.

An Accredited Dog Friendly Clinic Practice

In the summer of 2024, 387 Veterinary Centre officially became an accredited Dog Friendly Clinic with the Dogs Trust and British Veterinary Behaviour Association. Similar to ISFM’s Cat Friendly Clinics, the accreditation scheme is designed to help veterinary practices better care for the emotional and behavioural needs of dogs on veterinary visits, not just in the waiting room but in consult rooms and other clinical areas too. We’ve carried out lots of training around recognition and management of canine stress and anxiety. And we’ve introduced lots of new initiatives in practice as a result of following the scheme’s framework for stress-minimising best practice. In the waiting room alone, look out for a new retail area with canine behavioural and emotional enrichment products, mats for sore joints, towels for wet dogs, water bowels at varying heights and yummy treat jars!

“Rachael (Dog Friendly Clinic Advocate) and the team at 387 Vets go above and beyond in ensuring the emotional and behavioural welfare of their clients, as well as offering best practice with the clinical side. Few practices fully embrace the connection between mind and body in our animals – which as an experienced Certified Clinical Animal Behaviourist I know all too well – and their attention to detail stands out as being exceptional. It’s enough to make me move home so I can become a client!”

 Sarah Whitehead, MSc, BA (Hons), Certified Clinical Animal Behaviourist

There are lots of things owners can do to help make vet visits successful, from bringing puppies in for socialisation and habituation appointments to ensuring dogs aren’t over-stimulated before coming in to see one of our team. Ask us for advice when you are next in, and be sure to ask for a copy of our handout ‘Reducing Canine Stress on Visits to the Vets.’

Holders of Investors in People Platinum Accreditation

We were delighted to be re-awarded Platinum standard Investors in People accreditation in 2024 which remains current until 2027. This is the 4th time we’ve been assessed, and we’ve been awarded Platinum in our last three assessments.

The IiP Standard is a framework to benchmark the effectiveness of leadership and management practices and boasts a community of over 1.25 million people and more than 3.5k organisations. It’s all about leading, supporting and improving team to make the workplace better for everyone and to drive business forwards. IiP describes the framework as, “a simple road-map for excellence in any industry.”

In 2017, 387 Veterinary Centre became the first vet practice in the UK to achieve the top IiP accreditation.  We are proud to have been shortlisted for UK Employer of the Year twice, most recently in 2024.

Click here to find out more about IiP and their accreditation schemes.

Role models for team wellbeing

Team wellbeing and nurturing a positive workplace culture is paramount to us at 387 Vets. We work hard to ensure everyone feels included and supported and is given the opportunity to shine. We were delighted to be recognised as an inaugural winner of the Society of Practising Veterinary Surgeons’ and RCVS’s Mind Matters Wellbeing Award in 2017 and to be shortlisted again in 2019. With mental health being such a hot topic, the award was introduced to give recognition to practices which encourage happy and fulfilling workplaces. Our non-clinical director and practice manager Rachel has spoken at various national veterinary events about wellbeing in practice.

In 2025, directors Hamish and Rachel were awarded a Team Dynamics Award by independent veterinary practice business coaching organisation Vet Dynamics, in recognition of their investment in workplace wellbeing, culture and team development strategy. They were shortlisted for the award in 2023 and 2024.

And in January 2025, the practice was runner up in the Team and Self Development category of SPVS Business Excellence Awards.

387 Vets are members of The Meraki Initiative, an organisation that profiles practices invested in team culture and ethos to help link like-minded individuals with great places to work. Check out our Meraki workplace profile. Think you may be a perfect match for our team? We’d love to hear from you!

A Multi-Award Winning Practice

387 Vets is a multi-award winning practice for customer service and professional excellence. We’ve been repeatedly voted UK Vets of the Year with the best of franchise through their nationwide testimonial competition to identify businesses customers most love. In 2019 we were winners for the 5th consecutive year before the competition ceased with the advent of covid.

387 Veterinary Centre has featured prominently in the prestigious national Petplan Veterinary Awards, noted by former Head of Marketing Isabella von Mesterhazy as a celebration, “to honour the remarkable work carried out by some of the best and brightest veterinary professionals in the country.”

Rachel Duncan, our Practice Manager, was announced as winner of Practice Manager of the Year 2019 and was also a finalist for the award in 2018. In 2017, the 387 team won 3 of the 5 Petplan Awards on the same night, yet to be equalled in over 20 years of the event. See our finalists’ videos and footage from the 2019 awards night below.

Becoming winners of the first ever Heart of Pet Blood Bank Host Venue Award for Pet Blood Bank UK, the charity providing a national canine blood bank open to all UK veterinary practitioners was another award highlight for the practice.

https://youtu.be/nEPjzVRyMWE

Rachel Duncan – Petplan Veterinary Awards 2019

https://youtu.be/0cpRrXRGab4

2019 Petplan Veterinary Awards Highlights

387 Vets – Petplan Veterinary Awards 2017

Joanne Civil – Petplan Veterinary Awards 2017

Nicky Smith – Petplan Veterinary Awards 2017

Supporters of the environment

As part of their Practice Standards Scheme, The Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons are passionate about promoting sustainable practice and waste reduction, something we’ve always been passionate about too. Visible eco-solutions here include installation of solar panelling in 2021 and as part of our current building expansion. New heaters in practice have built in timers to ensure they’re only used when needed, and temperature control is set to an ambient constant. We have strict air conditioning usage guidelines to minimise environmental impact too.

One of our big sustainability projects is consumables waste reduction, be this through stock control, reducing paper use or careful monitoring of drug stock.

We now promote paper-free invoicing and appointment reminders, have created QR codes to link you to pertinent meds information online and clinically, we’ve reduced the amount of paper cleaning rolls we use on site whilst maintaining stringent levels of cleanliness and infection control which we regularly audit. In 2024, we reduced use of disposable paper rolls by an impressive 30% on the previous year.

Our out of date meds have reduced by 49% since we first started auditing this in 2022, and our protocols for responsible drug prescription mean non-compliance and non-use of dispensed meds by pet owners should be minimal.

Contractor stats indicate that 100% of our non-clinical waste is diverted from landfill with 48% of this being recycled. Our clinical waste is appropriately segregated to meet health and safety requirements and is processed by a clinical waste contractor. We closely monitor waste weight and type to ensure processing is accurate and at its most energy-efficient.  We’ve recently reduced collection to once weekly to cut down on transport use.

And relating to fuel emissions, did you know we make regular donations to Sustrans, the charity making it easier for people to walk, wheel or cycle to work? And that local team members walk rather than drive?

You can make a difference to the environment when you’re visiting the vets too! Try to tie in any pet meds collection with other scheduled local journeys to cut down on fuel emissions. Bring back any left-over meds for us to dispose of responsibly; please do not throw meds away or tip down the sink as this can contaminate water supplies. And coordinate returning any unused meds with your pet’s annual booster appointment to cut back on unnecessary travel.

We have an Eco Team in practice that specifically helps to drive positive sustainable change. We look forward to sharing new projects and achievements with you to help protect the environment for people, wildlife and pets.

Further information

Click the links below for more information about how easy it is to find 387 Veterinary Centre, to find out more about our facilities and for facts about our practice protocol.