A local mobile vet service is set to change animal healthcare in 2024, offering an unparalleled callout service to pet owners and their furry friends around Greater Manchester and Cheshire.
Veterinarian Luke Ainsworth and his pioneering new company, My Visit Vet, are aiming to deliver the very best and most compassionate pet healthcare to locals in the comfort of their own home, with a new and improved approach to the mobile vet service.
Having assembled a small but heavily-quailified staff with well over two decades of experience combined, as well a USP that no other veterinary practice in the region can offer, we couldn’t help but shout about this bloke and the crucial service he is bringing to the people of Manchester and beyond.
We’ll happily celebrate anyone who dedicates their lives to looking after our good boys and girls.
If you’ve been looking for a mobile vet service around Greater Manchester/Cheshire, look no further. (Credit: Supplied)
Now, while many of you might be rightly pointing out that mobile vets and home visits have existed for a long while now and wondering what exactly it is that Luke and his team do that sets them apart, the answer is quite simply this: pretty much everything.
After transforming a standard Fiat Ducato van into a fully operational veterinary surgery, complete with lab equipment, an ultrasound machine, anaesthesia and even x-ray capabilities, this is the most extensive mobile vet service you’ll find anywhere in the region.
These lot do more than just knock on your door for a quick check-up — but, to be fair, they do that too.
It cost the 20-year vet (pun intended) a whopping £30,000 to get his mobile vet van up to very highest standards and since first rolling out on to the roads back in August, they haven’t looked back.
This isn’t just a man in a van — they’ve built the full set-up.
Having worked both in UK and over in Australia since 2005, as well as witnessing first-hand the stress and various difficulties that can result from a trip to the vets, especially during the pandemic, he observed a massive increase in the demand for home visits.
But, more importantly, the numbers we really care about are that My Visit Vet can offer 90% of the services available at traditional practices, from simple consultations and vaccinations to operations and even compassionate end of life care, which so many owners hope to carry out at home.
One of Luke’s recent success stories is female cat Madin, who would previously become so distressed about going to the vets that she’d vomit. Thanks to his home visit, though, this paw-ly patient has been able to calmly receive her monthly arthritis injections in the comfort of her own home.
With the help Veterinary Nurse Mel Evans and Receptionist Amy Lee, Luke has been out on the road for the past few months and slowly building a steady but solid cient base around Greater Manchester and Cheshire from their home base in Chorlton.
Better still, now they’re into a ryhtmn and the word is out, My Visit Vet will be offering their full range of services from this month and you can check out their website to find out more information HERE.
For extra peace of mind, My Visit Vet are offering the out of hours service, Vidivet, free of charge to clients. Via the animal healthcare app, pet owners can have access to a vet at any time of day or night.
So if you have a pet that isn’t so keen on a trip to the vets, why not swap things around and have the vet come to them?
Catchment area.The My Visit Vet mobile service will be fully operational around selected areas of Manchester and Cheshire from January onwards.
Dates announced as resident doctors prepare to stage strikes this month
Emily Sergeant
Resident doctors in England have voted to stage strike action over pay, and the dates for the industrial action have now been confirmed.
The British Medical Association (BMA) says doctors have ‘spoken clearly’ after the results of a vote published today revealed that 90% of resident doctors have voted in favour of a potential return to industrial action.
It comes after the ballot – which ran from 27 May until 7 July – saw a turnout of 55% members, with almost 30,000 (29,741) votes cast.
26,766 of those votes endorsed the use of strike action as part of efforts to restore pay, while just under 3,000 voted against it.
The result means that resident doctors have now secured a fresh mandate to stage industrial action when they choose from now until January 2026.
BMA resident doctors committee co-chairs, Melissa Ryan and Ross Nieuwoudt, said that, while no doctor took the possibility of striking lightly, a clear majority of members felt that they had ‘no other choice’ given the ongoing failures to restore pay.
They added that Health Secretary Wes Streeting has the power to ‘make the right decision’ on pay, and urged the Government to return to negotiations ‘as soon as possible’.
It’s now been confirmed that resident doctors will stage a full walk out from 7am on Friday 25 July until 7am on Wednesday 30 July.
These upcoming strikes come after resident doctors – formerly known as junior doctors, until 2024 – in England participated in an unprecedented 11 rounds of strike action after negotiations with the previous Conservative Government over restoring pay repeatedly stalled.
“Doctors have spoken and spoken clearly – they won’t accept that they are worth a fifth less than they were in 2008,” the committee co-chairs said. “Our pay may have declined but our will to fight remains strong.
“Doctors don’t take industrial action lightly, but they know it is preferable to watching their profession wither away.
“The next move is the Government’s – will it repeat the mistakes of its predecessor? Or will it do the right thing and negotiate a path to full pay restoration and the restoration of doctors’ confidence in our profession’s future?”
Featured Image – BMA
News
Castlefield Viaduct ‘sky park’ receives £2.75m funding towards major extension
Emily Sergeant
The National Trust has today announced an exciting development in the transformation of Manchester’s Castlefield Viaduct.
The New York-inspired elevated urban park on the giant Grade II-listed Victorian viaduct in the heart of the city centre officially opened to the public back in July 2022, and has been an escape from the hustle and bustle of city life ever since… but now, it’s time for the next phase of the journey, and a significant proportion of the funding needed for this project has been secured.
National Highway’s Historical Railways Estate Team, working in partnership with the National Trust has committed £2.4 million to fund a significant part of the structural and foundation work for ‘Phase 2’ of the project.
The funding will go towards increasing the scale of the current ‘sky park’ experience and turning it into a nature-rich through route, including the addition of The WaterAid Garden – a gold medal-winning garden from last year’s RHS Chelsea Flower Show.
Other supporters and funders are now being urged to donate to cover the remaining amount needed to ‘green up’ the extension.
As it stands, current visitors to the viaduct can walk through a series of spaces and gardens before coming to an untouched and overgrown section of the structure beyond a glass wall, and it’s this untouched section where the Phase 2 transformation will take place to extend the viaduct experience for visitors from 150-metres to more than 350-metres.
The current state of the site at Castlefield Viaduct that’s set to be transformed as part of Phase 2 / Credit: Paul Harris (via National Trust)
Plans include winding paths through planted areas to encourage people to take time out from the busy city below and connect with nature.
A second entry and exit point will also be added to the west side of Mancunian Way via a lift and stairway, turning it into a through route for the very-first time, and making it more accessible for people with limited mobility.
A longer-term masterplan could see the viaduct join up to other areas of the city, increasing access towards Salford and Trafford, and taking the benefits way beyond the physical structure of the viaduct in Castlefield.
The CGIs of how the space on the viaduct will look once it has been transformed / Credit: Twelve Architects (via National Trust)
“This funding is brilliant news for Castlefield – a hugely inspiring project to bring nature and green space to communities across Manchester,” commented Hilary McGrady, who is the Director-General of the National Trust.
“Its popularity over the past few years demonstrates how residents and visitors to the city value access to the outdoors and experiencing nature up-close in an innovative industrial heritage setting.
“This is something we want to continue and do more and more of in the years to come, and that is why this funding is so important.
“Our aim over the next 10 years is to ensure more people have access to nature particularly in our towns and cities, and to bring nature to people’s doorsteps wherever they live.”
Danny Jones -
19th January 2024 
