X-ray machine funded by Petplan Charitable Trust

Improved quality of care and outcomes for our dogs

In spring this year, we were delighted to open our new in-house veterinary centre at our Reading hub.

The core aims of this service are to improve the care received by our dogs and their owners by reducing veterinary waiting times and standardising veterinary strategy and policies, as well as benefiting from cost savings and better protection against future cost increases such as veterinary fee inflation. It also enables better integration of our veterinary care with our canine science and research programme, and our welfare teams.

The initial plan for the new in-house service is to deal with cases that require more complicated and costly investigations and treatments. An area identified by our Chief Veterinary Officer that would provide a significant benefit by having was the introduction of an in-house X-ray facility. Previously, the team had to rely on external practices to conduct X-rays, which was expensive and could sometimes cause delays in assessing our dogs’ health and well-being.

Thanks to the support of Petplan Charitable Trust who funded our new X-ray machine, it is already having a significant positive impact through:

• Faster diagnosis and medical response due to reduced waiting times for X-ray procedures and results

• Improved general well-being of our dogs that are having X-rays due to being in a quieter and more relaxed environment, where they receive individual attention 

• Improved impact on our guide dog owners’ well-being due to a more personalised and efficient approach

• Cost efficiency and savings

• Enhanced diagnostic and research data to support current and future canine science research programmes

In just the first four months of opening the X-ray room at the in-house veterinary centre, our team has been able to X-ray 21 different dogs, taking around 160 X-rays in total. This has led to cost-savings of over £14,000 already!

We are now able to provide an ongoing and sustainable impact on the care and well-being of our dogs and their owners.