Clinic Facilities
Examination and Treatment Suite
The clinic has four large, purpose-built examination/treatment rooms. They are used for carrying out diagnostic procedures from endoscopy to nerve blocks, as well as for treatments such as medicating joints and radial shock-wave therapy. One of the rooms is equipped with specialist stocks that can be used for restraining horses to perform standing surgical procedures ranging from molar extractions to laparoscopy.
Imaging
Our on site radiologist and co-author of Clinical Radiology of the Horse, Jan Butler, runs our new digital radiography facility incorporated within the Examination and Treatment Suite. The facility combines an high power Siemens Radiography tube capable of imaging the entire axial and appendicular skeleton, thorax, head and abdomen, with an AGFA computed radiography system. Adjacent to the radiography facility, the suite houses a VingMed Colour Doppler Ultrasound scanner capable of high resolution musculoskeletal, cardiac, abdominal, thoracic and ophthalmic imaging. It is combined with a digital capture system that has also been added to our arthroscopy, laparoscopy, and endoscopy equipment, allowing us to provide owners and referring vets with high quality images.
All-Weather School and Trot-Up Area
Adjacent to the Examination and Treatment Suite is a gravel trot-up and lunging area that allows lameness investigations to be carried out on a firm, non-slip surface. This is complimented by an all-weather school with a waxed polytrack surface ideal for soft-surface examinations and for horses to be seen working under saddle.
Operating Theatre
The Clinic has a fully equipped, recently upgraded, operating theatre. General anaesthesia is always administered by an experienced veterinary surgeon using comprehensive monitoring equipment (ECG, direct and indirect blood pressure monitors, capnograph, agent monitor, pulse oximeter) and a new pressure-cycled ventilator recently imported from the USA.
Hospital Stabling
The Clinic presently has hospitalisation facilities for over twenty horses cared for by trained veterinary nurses in residence. A number of the stables are specially equipped with facilities to cross-tie horses and to hang overhead fluid bags.
Neo-Natal ICU
The two-stable Willesley NICU is located next to our main nursing station and on-site laboratory. Each stable is equipped with radiant heating, a convective blanket warming/drying system, infusion pumps and piped oxygen. Monitoring of direct and indirect arterial blood pressure and central venous pressure monitoring is available. Possible treatments include intravenous fluids, antibiotics, anti-inflammatories, plasma and blood transfusion, pressor and ionotrope therapy, parenteral nutrition and respiratory support. Critically ill foals are nursed on specially designed mattresses and can be separated from the mare using a removable barrier. As the foal improves and begins to nurse, this barrier is taken out. Twenty four hour a day care is provided by on-site nurses (VN/EVNs) and vets.
In addition the Clinic also has the following facilities:
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