With many veterinary practices in each area to choose from it is important to consider various factors.
What animals do the practice treat?
Milton Keynes Veterinary Group treats most family pets including Dogs, Cats, Rabbits, Guinea Pigs, Rats, Ferrets, Mice, Gerbils, Hamsters, Snakes, Lizards, Tortoises and Birds.
If you wish to have a reptile treated then we recommend you make an appointment to see Debbie Kilkenny. For birds, we recommend an appointment with Doug Brain.
What experience do the veterinary surgeons have?
We employ a large number of veterinary surgeons that collectively have numerous years of experience in many fields of work. Some of our veterinary surgeons have post-graduate qualifications awarded by the veterinary governing body, the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons, or are currently working towards them.
All of our veterinary surgeons attend many further education courses every year to learn about new treatments and to stay up to date on emerging diseases.
There is much behind the scenes discussion of complex cases and reviewing of results to combine a wealth of veterinary knowledge from many members of staff. We believe this has many benefits over a single veterinary surgeon having to make a diagnosis without the varied experience and opinions of colleagues.
What facilities does the Practice have?
We run a Veterinary Hospital that must maintain extremely high levels of equipment and competence to retain it's status. We are always looking to improve the standard of equipment we own to be able to provide the highest level of service possible to our clients. Our Hospital operating theatres have filtered air conditioning to help prevent infections.
What happens to ill animals out of normal working hours?
Milton Keynes Veterinary Group originally used it's own staff to provide 24 hour emergency cover. This meant that the same veterinary surgeons and nurses who worked during the day took turns at working night and weekend duties as well. Tired vets and nurses are not able to consistently work to the highest level.
A few years ago, we were approached by Vets Now to become a host practice for their emergency service. Vets Now employ dedicated veterinary surgeons and nurses who are trained specifically to deal with critically ill animals and emergency cases.
By becoming the host practice, our clients have the advantage that hospitalised pets do not need to be moved between premises out of normal working hours. We also have refreshed veterinary staff who no longer need to work unsociable hours in addition to their normal daily work.
Our hospitalised patients have 24-hour care from on-site veterinary surgeons and nurses. Some other Veterinary Hospitals only have a member of staff on-site when the surgery is closed and the veterinary surgeon may be away from the surgery unless they are required. This can cause delays in a veterinary surgeon attending critically ill patients whose condition may require urgent attention and constant veterinary monitoring.
Is it possible to continue to see the same veterinary surgeon?
Although we have a large number of veterinary surgeons, we aim to keep the same vets at our four branch surgeries. All of our veterinary surgeons spend some time each week at our Hospital. This makes it possible to see the same veterinary surgeon throughout a pet's treatment.
We have a very low staff turnover (veterinary surgeons and qualified veterinary nurses) that helps us to maintain a consistently high standard of veterinary care.
How qualified are the veterinary nurses?
Many veterinary practices only employ one or a few fully qualified veterinary nurses and have many trainee nurses. Milton Keynes Veterinary Group is proud to employ almost entirely fully qualified veterinary nurses to assist the veterinary surgeons and provide superb care to our inpatients.
We are able to train our own veterinary nurses and also accept placements from veterinary nurses studying at University.
How expensive is the practice?
This is not an easy question to answer. When comparing veterinary practices you are not always comparing like with like.
Veterinary practices can vary in many different ways, some of which are discussed above. It is more expensive to run practices that are equipped to the high standards of RCVS approved Veterinary Hospitals than many other practices. It is also more expensive to employ experienced, qualified staff (veterinary surgeons and nurses) than e.g. trainee nurses.
The prices charged by veterinary practices will often reflect the costs involved in running the standard of service offered.
Even something like a neutering procedure may vary from one practice to another. Differences could include the types of anaesthetics and suture materials used, the use of a dedicated operating theatre compared to a room used for multiple functions and the wearing of surgical clothing and sterile gloves.
Milton Keynes Veterinary Group strives to provide extremely high standards of veterinary care at competitive prices.
