Christmas can be a challenging period for many, and food banks play an essential role in providing vital support to those in need. By entering, sharing, and supporting our competition, you helped turn a festive activity into something with a real and meaningful impact. Every contribution, no matter how small, helped make a difference.

We are incredibly grateful for the kindness, generosity, and community spirit shown by our clients and supporters. It’s heartening to see people come together to support a cause that directly helps our local community. We are proud to support the important work of West Northumberland Food Bank and truly appreciate everyone who helped make this donation possible.

Thank you for helping us spread kindness this Christmas. 💚🎄

If you missed our Christmas hamper giveaway and would like to donate to West Northumberland Food Bank, please follow the link below.

https://www.westnorthumberlandfoodbank.org.uk/donate.html

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Cris first joined us in February 2006, at a time when our Stocksfield surgery had only just opened its doors. Back then, the Stocksfield team had a small team of just one vet, a veterinary nurse, and a handful of colleagues based at Hexham. Cris immediately became an integral part of the team, helping to shape the friendly and professional service that Orchard House Vets has become known for today.

Over the years, Cris has been a familiar and welcoming face at Stocksfield, but her versatility meant she also worked across our other surgeries whenever needed. Her professionalism, warmth, and ability to put both clients and colleagues at ease made her a cornerstone of our practice. Many of you will have met Cris and know how dedicated she has always been—not just to the smooth running of the surgeries, but to ensuring every owner and pet felt cared for.

Her hard work and dedication were recognised nationally in 2022, when she was named Receptionist of the Year at the British Veterinary Receptionist Awards. It was a richly deserved accolade, and a proud moment for us all.

As our practice has grown over the years, Cris has been a constant presence, helping new staff to settle in, offering support to colleagues, and always setting an example of professionalism and kindness. Her contribution has been enormous, and it is no exaggeration to say that Orchard House Vets would not be what it is today without her.

Although we will miss seeing Cris’s friendly face each day, we are delighted that she can now enjoy a well-earned retirement. We know she will be kept very busy with her grandchildren, and we wish her all the happiness in this next chapter.

On behalf of everyone at Orchard House Vets—and the many thousands of pets and clients she has helped over nearly two decades—we would like to say a heartfelt thank you to Cris for everything she has done.

Here are a few of our favourite memories!

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In November 2024, Graham’s hard work and dedication were recognized when he was awarded the first-ever ‘VMAzing award’. This monthly award from the Veterinary Marketing Association (VMA) celebrates veterinary practices that effectively utilize their online presence to spread awareness, help, and charitable events. Each month, a winner is selected in each category, and at the end of the year, the best from each category is chosen for the main event.

Visitors to our website or followers of our social media pages can see first-hand the incredible work Graham puts into our media and the charity work he has done over the years. Not only has he been awarded the VMAzing award, but he also won 1st place in his category and has been nominated for the main award of VMA Marketing Star of the Year at a lavish event in London.

Join us in wishing Graham the best of luck on the 14th March!

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We have created a ‘how to’ video which shows you exactly what you need to do. If you are struggling to register, please let our team know and they’ll be more than happy to help!

How to sign up to online booking

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What is an independent vet practice?

An independent vet is a veterinary practice that is owned by one or more veterinary surgeons, or owners.  An independent vet practice is usually focussed in one geographical area, and can have one or more practices. Here at Orchard House Vets, we serve Tynedale and the North East. Our practices in Hexham, Stocksfield and Bellingham are owned by one veterinary surgeon, Tim Pearson, and has been for the last 26 years. Being long established and independent means we keep a lot of the same staff for many years, and that is so important in providing that independent and personal touch.

Importantly, an independent vet is not governed by corporate policies and procedures when it comes to making decisions on the best course of treatment for your pet. Vets operating in independent practices are empowered to resolve all treatment decisions in house, right away, using their clinical judgement, with the knowledge they have complete support from the owners, who they are also always able to communicate with regularly and promptly.

Why are independent vets important?

Simply put, we focus solely on the very best care for your pet. Your pet’s health is not “our number one priority”, it is our ONLY priority. Being independent means we do not analyse sales of products or have targets set to us which must be achieved, the time it takes to do this could be better spent on being a member of the local community and giving the absolute best care possible to you and your pet! The importance of independent vets cannot be overstated. Once upon a time, all vets were independent or worked in independent practices. Sadly, reality means this isn’t always possible, but it is all the more important to support the remaining independent practices.

Family-style, independent practices like Orchard House Vets tend to have low staff turnover based on the excellent culture, environment and feeling of belonging that exists, meaning your pet is more likely to receive continuity of care and see the same familiar faces who know their treatment history each and every time you visit. Similarly, as the pet owner, you’re more likely to form a one-to-one trusted relationship over time with an independent vet.

Why are there fewer and fewer independent vets?

It used to be law that only veterinary surgeons could own veterinary practices, however that changed at the turn of the century. It is now legal for non-veterinary surgeons to own vet practices. This in turn lead to investment from groups and individuals with no background in veterinary medicine to purchase established vet practices and to form large groups. These large groups often have multiple investors, which does mean that corporate vets are under more pressure to achieve set targets. In recent years, the UK has seen a progressive shift towards clinics being sold to corporates.

A ‘corporate’ is a clinic or group of clinics owned and run as a corporation, with multiple sites located across the entire UK. These corporations consist of a board of directors, often a very large number of shareholders, location managers and appointed vets in assigned surgeries. Often these vets will call themselves ‘owners’, however this isn’t the case and essentially these practices are owned by the corporation.

Sometimes, from the outside, it may be difficult to tell them apart. Often when they are sold, not much appears different from the outside, particularly branding, practice name and logo. But if you delve deeper, subtle changes begin to emerge. For example, practices owned by the same corporate post the same news or articles on their social media platforms and their websites look the same as the clinic in the next village.

Why use Orchard House Vets?

We’re an independent, expertly managed and regulated team who are passionate about delivering the very best veterinary care possible. We never cut corners and will always take the correct course of action based on the needs of our patients and your wishes. We are an RCVS Accredited Practice achieving outstanding status and awards in every category – there are not many independently owned UK practice to achieve this. Our Stocksfield and Bellingham branches are ‘cat friendly clinics‘, with Stocksfield being a silver awarded practice, and Bellingham bronze.

This means our clients have peace of mind knowing that we’re committed to delivering excellence in pet care and customer service.

Since 2019, we have had three of our team reach the finals of the Petplan Awards, and one member of our team go on to win ‘Veterinary Nurse Of The Year’. We were voted ‘Best Veterinary Care Provider – North East’ in 2022, and we are trusted by over 10,000 households across the Tyne Valley and North East.

Orchard House Veterinary Centres may always be growing but it’s our promise to ‘stay small whilst growing big’, always retaining the same values that sets us apart from other vet practices and corporate practices. We’re not restricted by corporate policies and procedures; our trusted team is driven by what’s best for you and your pet and we will use our expertise to help you make informed healthcare choices.

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Tim statement

Jill Crawford was my neighbour before she worked at Orchard House. I was a solo vet, having set-up the practice from scratch in 1998. I was delighted when Jill applied to join the practice when I expanded to the Stocksfield premises.

In the following 21 years, Jill has been a constant source of support and guidance. She was the driving force behind starting our mobile clinic service in the North Tyne valley in 2012. This was successful but limited by space, too cold in winter and too hot in summer. Jill encouraged me to find, develop and open our Bellingham branch in the old Police Station in 2017. Most recently she oversaw last year’s extension and redevelopment of our Stocksfield branch with an additional consulting room, very comfortable heated cat and dog accommodation for day-patients, and upgraded and extended operating facilities. She also established our cat friendly clinics at Bellingham and Stocksfield, as well as maintaining our RCVS Practice Standards Accreditation and ongoing clinical governance; no small task. Jill’s wide veterinary experience and knowledge was valued by colleagues and pet owners.

Jill has been a driving force that has helped Orchard House Vets become a successful, independent small animal practice with the highest standards and reputation. She is respected and loved by staff and clients. Jill well deserves her retirement with more time for family, friends, and her many outside interests.

Enjoy the next chapter, Jill, and don’t be a stranger…

Jill statement

I will be retiring from Orchard House on 30th April, having joined the practice in 2004 when the Stocksfield branch opened. I know I am leaving it in safe hands with Shona, Kate and Hannah. It has been a privilege to serve the pets and owners of this lovely area and to work in a great practice, with fantastic staff . I will miss everyone.

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RCVS Practice Standards Scheme

The Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons (RCVS – our governing body) Practice Standards Scheme is a voluntary initiative to accredit veterinary practices in the UK. Through setting standards and carrying out regular assessments, the PSS aims to promote and maintain the highest standards of veterinary care. The RCVS says it ‘offers peace of mind to clients of accredited practices and a more informed choice to the animal-owning public’. Just over half of the UK’s practice premises are accredited under the scheme. We are long standing members of the practice standards scheme and we are pleased to announce that we have once again been awarded as an accredited practice.

How does the practice standards schemes work?

RCVS assessors visit us every four years to ensure that our facilities meet the standards associated with our category of accreditation. Being an Accredited Practice, you can be assured that our veterinary surgeons and registered veterinary nurses are properly qualified and fit to practise, and that our practice premises meet stringent standards.

Our Accreditation

At Orchard House Vets, we see pets as members of the family and care for your pets as if they were our pets. Owners rightly want to be sure they receive excellent medical treatment, and that is in part what the practice standards scheme is all about. Vets are not required to be PSS accredited, nor apply for this accreditation, it is voluntary. Orchard House Vets are long standing members because we passionately believe in our goal to provide the best vet care in the North East of England, and by having a practice standards scheme accreditation, our clients can have the peace of mind that we strive for perfection and that our governing body awards us for doing so.

Find out more about the practice standards scheme by watching the following video

Find a Vet..

You can use the RCVS Find a Vet service to check the PSS Accreditation of any veterinary practice in the UK.

<phttps://findavet.rcvs.org.uk/home/

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The answer has all variations of reasons like the convenience of reminders, exclusive discounts,  and the peace of mind knowing their pet has year round preventative welfare. However, the one reason that appears 99% of the time is how much money our client saves.

We understand the cost of living crisis is having a devastating effect on the UK. We all have families and our own personal lives so know only too well the worries and struggles of life in 2024. Part of this is of course pet ownership, and we are all pet owners here at Orchard, so share the financial worries that has unfortunately come along with owning a pet.

This is why we focus heavily on keeping our Well Pet Club affordable, whilst offering premium products and services. We would like ALL of our clients to be members of our Well Pet Club as we know 1,700 clients see the value as much as we do.

However, if you are not a client of Orchard House Veterinary Centres, or live further afield but are interesting in a vet health plan, we would like to candidly show you why our Well Pet Club is such great value for money, and also give you advice on what to look for in a vet health plan near you.

Questions to ask based on the average vet health plan:

Two veterinary health checks per year – Most vets include your pets booster vaccination as a health check, so make sure you are made aware whether you get the booster and two ADDITIONAL health checks, or if one of the health checks are included in the booster.

At Orchard House Vets we offer a health check during your pets booster vaccination, and then an additional health check in 6 months time. This is TWO veterinary consultations per year. 

12 months of parasite control – Always check what products are included! Many vets use a set product rather than a product that is more suited to your pet.

Here at Orchard House Vets we have a preferred product if you would like a recommendation, but we match the product to the needs of your pet. We also use the very best flea, tick and worm treatment on the market. 

Nurse clinics – Always ask what nurse clinics involve, as they are different to nurse consultations. It is also important to find out if this is an unlimited service or a limited service. It is not always made clear and many vets will only allow 6 clinics per year. It is also a good idea to find out what the difference is between a clinic and a consultation, as it may differ between vets.

Here at Orchard House Vets our nurse clinics are unlimited. You can find out what is included in our nurse clinics by clicking here. 

Additional perks – The above is what you will find on about 90% of vet health plans. You will always see slight word variations, and additional services, but it is important to understand if these are services you will use. It is easy to make an list of additional services but unless they are useful to clients then they have a better look than practicality.

At Orchard house vets we offer discounts on our most frequently used services, such as neutering. You can find a comprehensive list here. 

Vet health plan example

Most vet health plans use a weight bracket to determine your monthly cost. This is because the preventative products have weight brackets, and 99.9% of the time the heavier your pet, the more expensive the product is. We are going to use our most common plan, which is the 10-20kg dog weight bracket, to show you the potential savings you could make.

We want to show you the savings you will make from just using the Well Pet Club in the most basic way, which is booster, health check and preventative. As we have explained above, the additional information are “perks”, and you may not use them, so we want to show you how much can be saved on what 100% of clients use, rather than the overall saving that a smaller percentage of clients may use.

Vet health plans useful downloads

Click here to download our example Well Pet Club chart. This chart shows the basic saving on our plans, then the additional potential savings, if you were to use them.

If you are too far from Orchard House Vets to use our services, then please Download our handy vet health plan which has the important information you will need for a good vet health plan.

Signing up to a vet health plan

To sign up to our Well Pet Club, you must be a registered client. You can register here, or contact us here if you prefer. If you are already a registered client, then you can sign up online here, or give one of our friendly team a call and they’ll assist you.

At Orchard House Veterinary Centres you do not pay a joining fee. Your contract is with Premier Vet Alliance (PVA), but it is a rolling contract and can be cancelled or changed at any time, with no additional cost. The only thing to be aware of, at any veterinary practice, is that the vet practice will look at the products and services you have used, how long you’ve been a member of the health scheme, and if you are owed a refund, or indeed owe the vet practice for services or products used.

Here at Orchard, if you ever change your mind about your vet health plan, then give us a call and we can let you know if you are due any products or services.

Do I need a vet health plan?

That is entirely up to you! – Vets do not try and push subscriptions for sales, and whilst we do not want to speak for every veterinary practice in the country, we are friends with many vet practices, and like us, they too do not make profit on health schemes. The point in the vet health plan is to promote premium health care for your pet. We recommend checking you will use the basic service and if that is worth signing up, the perks are great additions but you may not use them.

If like us you live in the beautiful areas of our vet practices, Hexham, Stocksfield and Bellingham, you’ll know only too well that ticks thrive in our surrounding countryside. To help our community that live a little more rural, we also have a great home delivery service. So the prevention of ticks alone might be worth enquiring!

If you are unsure about vaccinating your pet or the importance of preventative care then please check out the external links below.

Why vaccinate your pet? 

Why are preventative treatments important?

Why are veterinary health checks important?

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We are very excited to let you know that our Stocksfield vet practice has recently been awarded ‘Cat Friendly vet’ Silver accreditation from ‘The International Society of Feline Medicine’ (ISFM).  This means that our team consider your cat’s well being and comfort during their visit as one of our main priorities and we have lots of things in place to ensure it can be as stress-free as possible for them. An accredited cat friendly vets must follow strict guidelines and specific staff training in order to receive accreditation.

Our waiting rooms have separate cat waiting areas and our team, headed by our ‘cat advocate’, Jill Crawford, BVMS, MRCVS, are specially trained in minimising the stress that your cat may feel when visiting the vet. Read on to find out exactly what this means for you and your feline friends.

What is a Cat Friendly vet?

This accreditation has been awarded by ISFM – this is the veterinary department of the organisation ‘International Cat Care’ whose aim is that all cats are treated with the care and compassion that they deserve. An accredited cat friendly vet clinic (CFC) is awarded this status once they have shown that they are able (and committed) to providing a higher standard of cat care for their patients and owners. There are currently three existing levels of accreditation – Bronze, Silver or Gold.

What does this mean for your cat and you?

This achievement involves every single member of our team (reception, nurses, students, vets) working towards a common goal – to ensure your cat receives the very best care that we can provide. Our practice has a nominated (and enthusiastic!) ‘Cat Advocate’ who will ensure our standards are continued to be met. We hope that this will help to further improve the experience that your cats (and you!) have when visiting our practice. Jill Crawford is our cat advocate and many of you will Jill who has been with us for 20 years! She has put many hours of hard work into our practices becoming cat friendly vet clinics.

What have we as a practice had to show to achieve our silver status?

• Staff training, CPD
We ensure that all members of our team keep up to date with the best clinical protocols for cats in order for us to continue to provide the best care.

• Handling of cats within our clinic
It’s impossible to make any trip to the vets 100% stress-free, but we aim to limit the stress experienced by our feline patients during their visits with gentle handling during examinations and procedures (we commit to never, ever ‘scruffing’ our cats if there is any alternative whatsoever). We try to keep any stressful noises or smells to a minimum within the practice. Our team are educated to recognise fear/stress so that we can respond and act to reduce it.

• Our Clinic and Waiting room
We provide a separate cat waiting area so that they don’t have to worry about sitting too close to (or enter into staring contests with!) any dogs.

• Hospitalisation facilities for daytime or overnight stays
Our cat hospital ward facilities have been assessed to ensure that they meet the required standard – this includes location and size of the individual kennels, plus the ‘facilities’ inside them (i.e. litter-trays, feeding and sleeping areas). All cats hospitalised with us will be provided with comfortable bedding and also somewhere cosy so that they can hide to help feel safe during their stay. At our Stocksfield surgery we have state of the art kennels which has special lighting and heating to keep your cat as comfortable as possible.

• Operating area and anaesthesia
We have shown that our practice has appropriate equipment to safely induce and maintain anaesthesia in cats (keep them asleep during operations), including equipment to keep kitties warm whilst they’re asleep.

• Equipment for surgical operations (including dental procedures)
We have the suitable equipment to be able to perform a range of emergency and routine surgical procedures in a sterile manner – this includes dental cleaning (scale and polish) and extractions.

• Diagnostic imaging (x-rays)
We also have x-ray equipment available in our clinic which we can use to take x-ray images of your cat or kitten should they need it.

• In-house laboratory facilities
Our clinic has lab facilities on site which are able to run examinations on blood, urine and other samples if required, so that we can quickly work towards treating your pet.

As part of our achievement, our veterinary team promises to make every effort to ensure your cat’s visit is as comfortable as possible by:

• Making visits to the clinic as friendly as possible.
• Handling and approaching cats gently in a caring and understanding manner.
• Maintaining (and always improving!) our excellent level of clinical knowledge and equipment so that we can provide the best standard of veterinary care to your cat.

Book an appointment for your cat today at one of our cat friendly vets!

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Please help spread the word to those you know and to wider public by leaving us a review on one of our social media platforms.

We receive some lovely feedback in person and by email. We would greatly appreciate if this could also be shown on our social pages! Many people will look to reviews on social media as a guide to understand what to expect from a veterinary practice. So we would appreciate 30 seconds of your time to share your positive experiences and recommendations to others.

Please select your local branch and the platform you would like to leave us a review on!

Thank you so much for choosing Orchard House Veterinary Centres to care for your pets as if they were our pets.

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How does it work

Simply pick up a ‘refer a friend’ voucher from any of our practices, or download a digital copy. Fill in your details and then pass the voucher to a friend or family. They simply fill in their details and when they come in for their appointment they must bring the voucher with them and we will apply a £15 credit on their account, and a £15 credit on your account! You can get a voucher in 3 different ways for your convenience.

1 – In practice. 

Each of our branches have physical copies of our refer a friend vouchers. You can take as many as you like and recommend us to as many people as you like!

2 – Online (printer required)

You can download a voucher here and fill in your details, then pass the voucher along to your family/friend.

3 – Online (no printer? no problem)

Fill in the below form to receive your voucher. You can then email or screenshot this to your family/friend. They must bring the email or screenshot along with them when they come to their appointment, and let us know who recommended them. We can then match this to your record!

Terms and conditions

Only registered clients of Orchard House Veterinary Centres can refer a friend. Unlimited referrals and £15 credit is applied each time a referred friend or family attend an appointment. Only one referral voucher accepted per new client and cannot be used in conjunction with any other offers or promotions. £15 credit can only be applied to consultations and cannot be used against any treatment resulting in insurance claims. £15 credit only applied after a consultation has taken place, but can be used against this full price consultation. Available at our Hexham vets, Stocksfield vets and Bellingham vets. £15 credit cannot be transferred, exchanged or refunded. We reserve the right to refuse, or withdraw this offer at any time. April 2023. 

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Policy details can change annually, so please ensure you advise us of any changes as soon as possible. Incorrect information can delay settlement.

Please provide us with the following information regarding your insurance policy:-

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At the end of the two weeks, we have a JustGiving fundraiser total of £700.00, which is incredible. We raised a further £68.00 from collection boxes at our branches, and as a practice we donated £150.00 of pet food to the food bank. As a Vets in Hexham, Stocksfield and Bellingham, we understand that pet food is a soaring cost too, so we were delighted to donate over 140 tins of pet food, 20 bags of dry food and some Christmas treats!

Our competition winners were over the moon with the prizes they won and we will of course be holding our annual competition again next Christmas.

In the meantime, if you would still like to donate to the West Northumberland Food Bank then you can do so by donating to them directly. You’ll find the link here.

Thank you again to all those who donated to this wonderful charity!

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We are delighted to announce that on the 24th March 2022, our wonderful veterinary nurse Christine Fairbairn won the award for ‘veterinary nurse of the year’ at the 2022 Petplan awards. The awards are referred to as ‘the pet oscars’.

We have been finalists 5 times previous to this event so as a practice we are absolutely delighted to have a winner in our ranks! Christine has been a nurse with us for over 10 years and is such a deserving winner.

Whilst based mainly at our Stocksfield branch, many of you will know Christine as she also covers at our Hexham branch and is the organiser of our popular puppy parties! Christine is a wonderful nurse who is a shining example of how amazing veterinary nurses are.

Christine was joined by Jill crawford MRCVS, and 2021 receptionist of the year Cris Paterson. Her sister also was present for support. The glamourous event was held in Manchester and overall nearly 23,000 nominations were made for the 5 categories. To be a winner from so many nominations is such a huge achievement. As a practice we received over 20 individual nominations with Christine being our only finalist this year.

We send our congratulations to all winners, finalists and nominees.

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Our investors in people assessment was a great opportunity for us to hear from our employees and we’ve learnt a lot from what we were told.

The assessment provided an opportunity for colleagues to share their feelings about how the organisation is dealing with the current COVID-19 crisis and how we have responded so far, with a number of employees commenting how everyone has pulled together and that the organisation was making good use of skills and knowledge in the business, with the open and honest response from the Group to its employees also being noted.

The full assessor’s report will now form part of our action plans and people strategies so that we can keep making changes, keep improving and keep moving forward!

The IIP accreditation is a great achievement and Orchard House Vets would like to thank all of its employees for their contribution, support and team work.

The Investors in People framework introduces continuous improvement and employee recognition. Seven million people are working in organisations accredited by Investors in People.

Find out more on their website here.

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