Glasgow pet emergency hospital expands facilities following £1.5m investment

A Glasgow pet emergency hospital has completed a redevelopment following a £1.5m investment. The hospital relaunched at the start of the year, after tripling in size, making it one of the most advanced facilities of its kind in Europe. The redeveloped hospital, run by Vets Now, has seen 10 new roles added to its 90-strong team across clinical and non-clinical roles. The Vets Now 24/7 emergency and specialty hospital has expanded its current site by a further two floors, enabling it to grow both its daytime and out-of-hours emergency and referral caseload to cope with increased demand from both vet practices and pet owners. As well as extra space, the expansion has importantly allowed investment in more equipment and extended clinical services including: 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 introduction of an interventional radiology service to allow vets to use minimally-invasive procedures to treat small animals. The hospital, is said to serve Greater Glasgow’s 500,000 pets, last year it treated 5,000 out-of-hours emergency cases while its referral clinicians saw 1,000 new cases with pets requiring ongoing specialist treatment in disciplines such as medicine and surgery. Patricia Colville, business development director, Vets Now, said: “We have created a truly exceptional emergency centre of excellence here in Glasgow, and we’re very proud to welcome our first patients to our new wards.” “For our local vet practice partners, we facilitate seamless referral of ECC cases allowing first-opinion practitioners to transfer intensive cases to our expanded hospital with ease. This will mean our team of dedicated specialist, referral and emergency vets can continue to provide the highest level of service providing care that moves from night to day and from emergency to elective referral cases. “I’d like to thank our staff, who have worked tirelessly throughout the renovation period.” Amanda Boag, clinical director, Vets Now, added: “Our Glasgow hospital is already established as one of the leading European sites for 24/7 emergency and critical care, 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. Importantly, our veterinary facility here in Glasgow will allow us to continue to develop the next generation of ECC specialists.”