More than a decade since she graduated, Anneka Phillips says veterinary life has “come full circle”. It was Vets Now’s acclaimed Cutting Edge programme that provided the vital stepping stone into the exciting world of ECC. Now Anneka, Principal Vet at Vets Now Bristol, has gone from learning on the course to teaching it, as well as stepping up in other leadership roles.
Anneka tells us of her career progression, her plans for the future – and why her clinic role is still at the heart of everything she does.
Anneka, who’s originally from Gibraltar, came to the UK to study and graduated from the University of Edinburgh in 2014.
It only took a year for her to realise where she saw her career taking her, and that she needed help in getting there.
“I was in mixed animal practice, but it quite quickly became clear there was no longevity in that for me, and it would be a decision between small and large animal,” said Anneka, who’s 34. “I just couldn’t face endless consult blocks of vaccines and other very routine things, and a friend suggested going into emergency practice.”
Joining Cutting Edge
As a relatively new graduate, suddenly stepping up to be in sole charge of a busy ECC clinic wasn’t a realistic prospect, hence taking up Vets Now’s offer to do Cutting Edge.
It’s a decision Anneka has never regretted.
“I just wouldn’t have been able to go sole charge in ECC without it,” she admits. “It fills in the knowledge and practical gaps, all the things there isn’t time to teach you about emergency practice at vet school.”
Anneka worked at Vets Now Swindon before moving to Bristol and went on to complete her Postgraduate Emergency and Critical Care Certificate. She completed it in 2020, just after having her son.
In 2021, Anneka became an Advanced Practitioner in ECC at the RCVS.
Anneka PhillipsBecause the Vets Now CPD allowance is so generous, I think I attended about five conferences in one year. I learned even more, and I started to think that the next stage of my career would be imparting some of that knowledge to other people.
The road to leadership
After spending time advancing her career through extra qualifications, Anneka redirected her focus towards speaking to leaders in emergency practice.
“I felt they were the only ones I’d gain valuable extra knowledge from,” explains Anneka. “Because the Vets Now CPD allowance is so generous, I think I attended about five conferences in one year.
“I learned even more, and I started to think that the next stage of my career would be imparting some of that knowledge to other people.
“That would be the biggest difference I could make.”
Leadership and coaching courses helped facilitate that, with Anneka discovering more about how people learned and how she should teach accordingly.
After completing Vets Now’s internal speaker training program in 2023, that full circle has been completed with Anneka now teaching on the Edge courses, starting with AdvantEdge and then Cutting Edge.
“I teach some of the chunky topics on big emergencies like breathing difficulties, shock and seizures for Cutting Edge,” said Anneka.
“Teaching was a bit surreal at first. I remember going back to Penguin House still feeling like I was one of the students, seeing their faces looking at me and realising I definitely wasn’t.
“It was a bit of a lightbulb moment.”
Anneka also hosts a monthly post-Cutting Edge programme webinar, covering the broadest possible spectrum of cases, some brought up by Cutting Edge vets, some she has come across in practice.
“They’ll have faced the weird, wild and wonderful once they’re in practice,” said Anneka, whose noisy rescue cockatiels Jack and Whisky have become famous for their background chatter to online sessions.
“We’ll go through a case that vets will see once a year maybe – but by doing a session on that one specific thing, where together we can focus on the diagnosis, treatment, and how we can improve on our technique, it makes coming across those difficult cases that little bit easier.”
Anneka admits that it’s hugely satisfying passing on the critical knowledge she’s gained from Cutting Edge and real cases to the next generation of vets – especially since she was once in their position.
With fellow vets at the Bristol clinic having followed her through the Cutting Edge programme, she says seeing their progression is a joy.
“Just a couple of years on from them doing it I think, ‘Wow, look at you’. I just watch them fly. They are so efficient and sometimes I just stand back and watch them deal with six cases at the one time, have an order in their head and everything is in hand.
“Later, I’ll say, ‘Look at what you did’.”
Anneka PhillipsI don’t want to be telling other vets what to do when I’m just sitting in an office, I need to be living it.
Making ECC work for her
Anneka has been constantly supported by Vets Now to flex her hours to match the changing domestic circumstances that come from being a mum, especially with her son now at primary school.
For Anneka, the next steps in her veterinary journey include becoming more involved with the Edge training courses and post-programme support, but also potentially teaching emergency medicine to a wider veterinary audience with Vets Now.
“I feel I’m just at the start of this teaching journey, and there’s so much further to go.”
However, clinic work will always be integral — not just for keeping up with the latest practice and developments, but also leading by example for those she’s teaching through still being very much a hands-on vet.
“I don’t want to be telling other vets what to do when I’m just sitting in an office,” she adds. “I need to be living it.
“We had a dog come in recently with a stick in its neck and within six hours he was eating and well enough to go home. There’s nothing that can match the feeling you get when that happens.”
Applications for the next intake of Cutting Edge starting on 18th August are open now. For more information or to apply visit https://www.vets-now.com/careers/edge/cutting-edge/ or if you would like to browse our current vacancies please visit https://www.vets-now.com/careers/