Leading provider of emergency veterinary care set to expand further
Vets Now’s emergency and speciality hospital in Glasgow has been granted planning permission to expand its service.
More than £1.5 million is to be invested into extending the internationally-renowned facility which employs 90 staff across clinical and non-clinical roles. The work is due for completion before the end of 2018 and will result in 10 new roles.
Vets Now is undergoing an exciting period of growth at the moment with additional plans to open new clinics in Ashford, Wrexham and Peterborough this year.
Vets Now founder Richard Dixon opened his first pet emergency service in Glasgow in 2001. Eight years later he chose the city as the location for Scotland’s first 24/7 emergency and speciality veterinary hospital – serving the country’s 1.75m pets.
However, the hospital, which treated 5,000 out-of-hours emergency cases and 1,000 referral cases last year, is now operating at capacity.
Under the expansion plans, the hospital will be extended by two floors, enabling it to add to its veterinary and pet owner service. The expansion will include a custom-built intensive care unit, an entire floor dedicated to emergency and critical care, a specialist oncology treatment area, more theatres to facilitate increased demand, and the opportunity to introduce an interventional medicine service to allow vets to use world-leading, minimally-invasive medical procedures to treat small animals.
Patricia Colville, business development director at Vets Now, said: “We are delighted Glasgow City Council has approved our plans which will allow us to create a truly world-leading emergency centre of excellence here in Glasgow. For pet owners, we’re a bit like the pet equivalent of A&E and our expanded hospital will mean our team of dedicated specialist, referral and emergency vets can continue to provide the highest level of care for your pet, in a city which like others throughout the UK, has a burgeoning pet population.”
Amanda Boag, Vets Now’s clinical director added “Our Glasgow hospital is already established as the leader in our field, and the new additions to our hospital and extended clinical services, enables us to continue offering the high standard of client and patient care which we have become known for.
“Vets Now is committed to remaining at the forefront of veterinary emergency and critical care not only through the ongoing development of our services but also because we strive to employ the best in the profession and because we put continuing professional development and training at the core of our clinical standards. This exciting expansion further consolidates our position as Europe’s largest emergency veterinary service and is great news for Scotland’s 1.4 million pets.”
The redeveloped Glasgow hospital will also give Vets Now the chance to accelerate its emergency and critical care residency programme, which provides newly-qualified vets with speciality training under the supervision of experienced, board-certified faculty members.
Glasgow is one of three emergency and specialty hospitals run by Vets Now. Each hospital has emergency and critical care at its core, with complementary referral services including internal medicine, diagnostic imaging, oncology, soft tissue and orthopaedic surgery. The hospital teams provide care that seamlessly moves from night to day and from emergency to elective referral case.
