Kristie Faulkner, Operations Director and Tim Harrison, Managing Director, at Harrison Family Vets.
Pioneering Veterinary Group Shortlisted For Top National Business Award
6 months ago 
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An independent veterinary group that launched in the UK in 2021 and now has five practices, as well as a reputation for redefining how a veterinary practice should be designed, has been shortlisted for one of the country’s top business awards.
Harrison Family Vets is a finalist of the Growing Business Awards in the Best Newcomer Medium Sized Business category. The Growing Business Awards are one of the most established and recognised awards of their kind, after bringing together and honouring many of the UK’s most outstanding entrepreneurs and high-growth businesses since 1998.
The winner of the five category finalists will be announced at an awards ceremony on the 29th November 2023 at the Marriott Hotel Grosvenor Square in London.
Harrison Family Vets opened its first practice near Reading in Woodley in July 2021 and has since expanded into Kingswinford in the West Midlands, Didsbury in South Manchester, Stockton-on-Tees near Middlesborough and most recently opened Armthorpe in Doncaster.
The state-of-the-art practices all boast a wealth of pioneering features. These include innovative waiting areas with 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. In the four most recent practices, the pods also have their own screens displaying pet jokes and facts, as well as information about pet welfare and nutrition.
There are no reception desks and instead the front of house teams have the autonomy to freely interact with clients and their pets. Separate cat and dog wards have also all been designed with mood lighting, pet-friendly pheromones and music to create a calming atmosphere. In addition, there are en-suite cat kennels which allow cats to use their litter trays in one area and sleep in another. The design also means pets who live together can stay together in the kennels.
Four of the five practices were also recently named as Dog Friendly Clinics, which is a new scheme that was launched earlier this year by Dogs Trust and the British Veterinary Behaviour Association (BVBA). The Armthorpe clinic will soon be following the rest of the group in becoming a Dog Friendly Clinic, plus, all team members are also trained, or currently in training for, the Fear Free Accreditation, to significantly reduce fear, stress and anxiety for both pets and their owners, which means every pet’s visit to Harrison Family Vets is as positive as possible.
Kristie Faulkner, Operations Director from Harrison Family Vets, said: “Being shortlisted for this national and very well recognised award is a major achievement for our entire team and speaks volumes about our ambitions for our business.
“We launched Harrison Family Vets with the aim of creating the best and most comfortable environments possible for pets and their owners. Everything has been completely designed around the pets we treat and as an independent business our prices are as affordable as possible.
“The awards judges have now scrutinised all areas of our business, as well as all our future growth plans, and it’s hugely exciting that they have decided that we deserve to be a finalist in these awards.”
For further information about Harrison Family Vets visit https://www.harrisonfamilyvets.co.uk
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