What happens to patients when the surgery closes?
When some veterinary surgeries close at the end of the day there is no provision for overnight patients. Some send any patients that need overnight care elsewhere to be cared for. They are then transported back again the next morning, a stressful and far from ideal situation for sick animals. A Veterinary Hospital has to “Ensure nursing staff are present on the premises round the clock, and a veterinary surgeon available 24 hours a day to attend to in-patients, if required” *. This usually means that a member of the nursing staff will live/ sleep in flats above the surgery and pop downstairs to check on a critical patient once or twice during the night. If there is a problem, they will phone a vet at home who will provide advice or travel in to see the patient. At Eastcott Vets however, we provide much more than the bare minimum. We have a qualified Veterinary ‘Night’ Nurse and a Veterinary Surgeon who work throughout the night. Patients are cared for throughout the night until they are handed over during ‘morning rounds’ to the staff that come in to take over their care in the morning. These staff are also available for out of hours emergency patients.
