Staff

Here you can find out a bit more about our staff policy and see some of our recent and current staff members

The practice is headed up by the principal, Paul Spellman BVM&S, Cert VA, MRCVS, and he leads a team consisting of several veterinary surgeons, nurses, trainees and receptionists. Paul joined the Guisborough practice in 1988 and opening Coulby Newham in 1998 was the realisation of one of his major goals. Paul qualified from Edinburgh University in 1981 and completed further study in 1991 achieving the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons (RCVS) Certificate in Veterinary Anaesthesia. He is also interested in skin disease and is currently registered and studying towards the RCVS Certificate in Veterinary Dermatology.

The practice aims to improve services continuously so has a policy of on-going staff training and development in a number of areas. Equipment is regularly upgraded and all our vets regularly attend specialist courses to ensure that their clinical development remains up to date. Animal Health Centre Vets generally will spend 35 hours per year on continuing professional development of this sort. This is not compulsory but we feel that it is of vital importance.

Our veterinary staff range from individuals with many years experience to recent graduates who will bring the latest ideas and treatments into the practice pool of knowledge. All the vets have specific areas of interest and expertise but all are focussed on the care of small animals. These specialties and interests include experience of emergency medicine and critical care, veterinary cardiology, anaesthesia, exotic pets and surgery of rabbits. Animal Health Centre Vets are members of various professional bodies including the British Small Animal Veterinary Association (BSAVA), The Association of Veterinary Anaesthetists (AVA), The British Veterinary Dermatology Study Group (BVDSG) and the British Veterinary Association (BVA).

The practice is also recognised as fulfilling all the criteria for the RCVS Practice Standards Scheme Tier 2 and is a Training Practice for the training of veterinary nurses.

As with the Vets our Nurses also have a wide range of experience. We train and develop our own staff from 16 year old trainees through NVQs in Small Animal Care through pre-veterinary nursing courses and thence on to VN/NVQ courses to become qualified Veterinary Nurses. The nursing staff are all fully trained Nutrition Advisers and can offer good advice in this area and many other areas of pet care without the need for a veterinary consultation. The nurses have their own professional body and our nurses are members of the British Veterinary Nurse Association (BVNA).

Our reception staff are here to make you feel at ease when you bring your animals in and to help make your visit as pleasant and stress free as possible. They will try and arrange for you to see an appropriate member of our veterinary team and arrange times that are convenient for you. All of them have pets of their own and all of our reception staff have had a pet under treatment at one time or other. Thus, they have first hand experience and understand exactly what it feels like when your pet is in need of attention.

Whilst staff numbers and members may change from time to time we will maintain a team of committed individuals who are skilled and enthusiastic in their chosen profession and areas of expertise. At all times they will be focussed and dedicated to maintaining the health of your pets.

Paul Spellman, the Practice Principal qualified at Edinburgh in 1981. He joined the Guisborough practice in 1988 and he has a Certificate in Anaesthesia achieved in 1991. At the moment he is down to 1 cat and 2 dogs having lost his favourite ginger cat Kenton finally to renal failure. Brian and Betty are two "annoying" terriers with young Brian making everybody else's life a misery with his permanent desire to fetch kongs. Fluffy Brenda is not quite sure where Brian is coming from but she copes.

Janet qualified as a vet in 2001 and spent a year working in mixed practice in North Wales. She joined the Animal Health Centre in October 2002 to specialise in small animals and is the senior vet responsible for clinical matters at Coulby Newham. Her large German Shepherd dog "Cassie" is often seen pottering around at both of our surgeries. Big but soft !

Miss Andrea McGregor, BVMS MRCVS
Andrea joined The Animal Health Centre in September 2005 to concentrate on the small animal aspects of veterinary practice. Her home town is Helensburgh and she studied at Glasgow University. She currently spends some time working at both our Coulby Newham and Guisborough surgeries.

In her spare time she enjoys singing and was a member of the National Youth Choir of Great Britain for seven years and sang in "The Proms" at The Albert Hall in 2001 and took part in a seven week World Tour in 2003. She has also sung with the Helensburg Oratorio Choir (2001-2003) and won a Glasgow Grand Opera Society Trophy at the Glasgow Music Festival in 2005.

She has recently rehomed a stray cat that was "dumped" at our surgery and this black demon (Piccolo) is currently making himself at home in Andrea's flat.