The winners of the Best UK Vet Awards were revealed with Cockburn Vets based in Coalville, being named the Best Vet in the UK in 2021.
The awards, organised by VetHelpDirect, were announced on 23 March in a webinar attended by over 180 vets, nurses and reception team members from around the country. The annual awards are in their ninth year and recognise the vet practices delivering the highest levels of service to clients, they are based on reviews from clients of veterinary practices around the United Kingdom. Despite such a challenging year for vets and pet owners, there were 14,299 vet reviews received, the highest ever and an increase of 22 percent on the previous year.
Those practices with the most four- and five-star reviews from their customers over the last year are recognised across a number of categories including: Best Vet in County, Best Start up, Best Mobile, Best Small Animal, Best Equine, Best Referral, Best in Scotland, Best in Wales and Best in Northern Ireland. The Top 25 are also recognised with Gold, Silver and Bronze awarded for the top 3.
Susie Samuel, CEO of VetHelpDirect commented: “The Best UK Vet awards are a chance to celebrate the incredible service that vet practices provide to their clients and patients. VetHelpDirect’s review platform has key features such as human moderation, a vet specialist scoring system and the ability to compare scores to other veterinary practices around the country. Managing online reputation proactively ensures that the voice of the quiet majority of clients is heard and reviews become a source of joy and confidence to the practice team. The average 4.7 star rating on the VetHelpDirect platform is a testament to this.”
Diane Storer, owner at Cockburn commented, “To receive such overwhelming public support, particularly at a time when so many individuals, families and businesses are struggling is overwhelmingly positive and truly heart-warming. Thank you to all those who took the time to leave us a review. As a small, family owned, independent vets feedback is incredibly important to us and we are grateful for all their reviews. I would also like to thank VetHelpDirect who make these amazing awards possible.”
Client feedback has included:
“Faultless treatment of my pet from start to finish. Total trust and respect to this practice.”
“Everyone at the practice [has] always been very friendly, caring and supportive.”
“Over the years we have had a dog and several cats, we have always had Cockburns as our vet. They have always been good in everyway and I would thoroughly recommend them.”
The overall UK winning practice was Cockburn Vets, Leicestershire. Silver was awarded Millennium Veterinary Practice, in Braintree and Bronze to Streatham Hill Veterinary Surgery, London. Each of these practices also won a Top 25 award, plus Best in County.
Other sector winners include:
- Best Scottish Vet – Market Cross Veterinary Clinic (Midlothian)
- Best Equine Vet – Ashbrook Equine Hospital (Cheshire)
- Best Mobile Vet – Mercury Vets (Devon)
- Best Welsh Vet – Hay Veterinary Group – Hay On Wye (Powys)
- Best Northern Ireland Vet – Ashwood Veterinary Clinic (Antrim)
- The Best New Start Up – Bury St Edmunds Veterinary Centre (Suffolk)
- Best Small Practice – The Firs Veterinary Surgery – Willows Vet Group (Cheshire)
- Best Referral Practice – Willows Veterinary Centre and Referral Service 24/7 (West Midlands).
