Boost for Hucknall vets with £250k expansion

A two-storey building has been constructed on the spacious site on Nottingham Road and this has a waiting room much larger than the one it has replaced.

Also on the ground floor are two consulting rooms, a nurses’ changing room and a weighing machine placed under the carpet so that dogs will not be put off from using it.

The upstairs section comprises a kitchen, bathroom and bedroom for staff on overnight duties, together with kennel provision for animal in-patients.

Other improvements include an extra-large operating theatre, while a tunnel-like corridor enables dogs to be trotted between different parts of the practice without them having to go outside in rainy weather.

The project also entails spending £80,000 on specialised equipment, some of which will help to treat dogs with arthritis and ligament damage.

The expansion will mean three additional nursing staff and two more full-time veterinary surgeons being appointed in due course.

East Midlands Referrals was founded 13 years ago. As its name implies, it takes cases from across the region, but now from as far afield as Worcestershire and Blackpool.

Graham Oliver, principal vet, said: "The expansion has been a long time in the planning and it is very rewarding to see it now coming to fruition."

Stuart Brown, an orthopaedic surgeon at East Midlands Referrals, said the expansion was greatly needed to deal with an ever-expanding volume of work the practice dealt with, including dogs with complex spinal conditions.

One of his current cases was a border collie named Eric, which broke its leg after undergoing a hip replacement.