Mayors presentation to Astonlee Veterinary Hospital

The Mayor of Newport Pagnell, Roger Hornblow, and some of his colleagues on the Town Council visited Astonlee Veterinary Hospital on 7th April to present Dr Paul Manning and his team with the accreditation from the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons (RCVS) for the title and status of a Veterinary Hospital.

Roger recalled how the enthusiasm of Paul Manning was evident from the early days of starting up the practice from small beginnings in Tickford Street in 1986. It has been marvellous to see the many years of hard work deliver a new building of high quality which opened in 2002, and now all the infrastructure being finally in place and fully inspected to the exacting standards of the RCVS at the highest level of general practice.

The standard guarantees that the practice has the facilities to help pets in even the most difficult circumstances. Among the long list of requirements for Veterinary Hospitals are:

24 hour nursing on site. At Astonlee the 24 hour nursing and emergency services are provided by the same staff you would see during the day (by rota) so you do get to know the team looking after your pets. There is capacity to accommodate over 50 animals at any one time with 4 different wards separated for cats, dogs, intensive care and isolation of infectious diseases.

Intensive care facilities. Only Veterinary Hospitals are guaranteed to have intensive care equipment such as oxygen therapy units and intravenous fluid pumps.

Operating facilities and diagnostic equipment. Only Veterinary Hospitals are required to have dedicated operating facilities, ultrasound machines, endoscopy facilities and ECG machines.

The commitment, dedication, training and development of the whole team and facilities demonstrate the care and passion that every part of Astonlee has for caring for you and your pet. Roger Hornblow said that he was particularly impressed by the way that every detail of the experience and learning over the past 23 years had been taken into account in the design of the building and the way it was organised and run. Paul Manning had spent many hours working on design with his architect to translate clinical ideas into architectural plans. All of the preparations and work involved were considered very worthwhile because the reason each member of the team became involved, be they a vet, veterinary nurse, administrator or receptionist, was that they care about the animals, and the service is needed in our community.