Emergency and Critical Care
To ensure all pets have the best care the Emergency and Critical Care Service (ECC) is staffed 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year by a team of 15 vets and more than 20 nurses who are specially trained to treat emergency and critically ill patients.
The Emergency and Critical Care Service receives all emergency referrals and oversees the intensive care unit. On weekdays and weekends there are six vets on duty each day which allows us to address problems with in-patients or new patients in a timely fashion, giving pets the best of care and optimising the likelihood of a successful outcome.
Referral Cases
To streamline the emergency referral process, the Emergency and Critical Care Service initially manages all referrals. After initial assessment, triage and stabilisation, cases are transferred the next morning to the appropriate speciality service. Cases needing full intensive care stay under the supervision of the ECC team.
Out of Hours Emergency Care Service
We also provide an Out of Hours Emergency Care service for a growing number of surrounding practices.
If you are interested in the QMHA running your out of hours service, please contact Helen O'Sullivan on 01707 666851 to discuss details.
Emergency Phone Numbers
- Referral: 01707 666365
- First Opinion: 01707 666399
Intensive Care
The Emergency and Critical Care (ECC) department is staffed by 15 dedicated registered veterinary nurses who are specifically trained in emergency and critical care. They provide 24 hour care to in-patients. The nursing team is trained to care for both medical and surgical emergencies with specialised facilities for providing oxygen therapy, intravenous fluid therapy, transfusion therapy, full nutritional support, analgesia, physiotherapy, and very advanced therapies such as mechanical ventilation, and peritoneal dialysis.
A specifically-designed Emergency Room allows for prompt patient stabilization and is able to accommodate 11 patients. We have State-of-the-Art facilities and readily available laboratory equipment including a blood gas analyser, biochemistry, haematology and blood coagulation analysers.
The Intensive Care Unit can accommodate up to 20 patients and includes a purpose build oxygen cage and 2 neonatal incubators which can be used for small patients such as puppies and kittens. We have up to date State-of-the-Art monitoring. A dedicated High Dependency Unit enables us to manage complex cases which require one-to-one nursing and medical care. For example, this may be a mechanically ventilated patient, or a critically ill post-operative pet.
We have advanced blood transfusion capabilities enabling us to administer various types of blood transfusion products to both dogs and cats. We have the expertise, staff and equipment to provide specific blood components and thus we can tailor therapies according to the specific requirements of the individual patient. Click here to find out more about our Blood Donor Scheme.
We take the risk of hospital-acquired infections very seriously and have several measures in place to ensure a safe environment to all of our patients. We have strict policies for handling patient with infectious diseases and isolation facilities. We also adhere to a strict “bare below the elbow” policy which reduces the risk of spreading infections and work very closely with the QMH Infection Control Group to ensure we are always maintaining best-practice protocols.
Patients’ needs are always met by our large nursing team and 2 dedicated patient care assistants. We are all very aware how upsetting it can for pets to be away from their home environment and we always do our utmost make them as comfortable as possible and provide them the special care they need.
Clinical Trials
See Clinical Investigation Centre for details of current trials.
Key Clinicians
Dan Chan
Dan is a Lecturer in Emergency and Critical Care and Clinical Nutrition at the Royal Veterinary College. He is Co-Head of the Section of Emergency and Critical Care and Head of the Nutritional Support Service. He is also Director of the ECC Senior Clinical Training Scholarship (Residency) Programme.
Sophie Adamantos
Sophie has been a Lecturer in Emergency and Critical Care in the Queen Mother Hospital for Animals (QMHA) since 2006. Her role encompasses clinical, research and teaching work. Sophie is co-head of the Section of Emergency and Critical Care. She is also co-director of the Small Animal Junior Clinical Training Scholarship (Internship) programme.
Karen Humm
Karen is a Lecturer in Small Animal Emergency and Critical Care at the Queen Mother Hospital for Animals (QMHA)
Lindsay Kellett-Gregory
Dominic Barfield
Dom is a staff clinician in the section of Emergency and Critical Care at the Queen Mother Hospital for Animals (QMHA)
Stefano Cortellini
Caroline Hirst
Caroline is a resident in Emergency and Critical Care at the Queen Mother Hospital for Animals (QMHA).
Ronald Li
Adam Mugford
Helen Wilson
Helen is a resident in Emergency and Critical Care at the Queen Mother Hospital for Animals (QMHA).