People's Dispensary for Sick Animals
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Search complete. 16 mentions across 10 episodes found for "People's Dispensary for Sick Animals".
Sep 8, 2026
Ira MossGUEST
No, they do charge.
Ira MossGUEST
The problem for these charity vets, for example, like, you know, the household and PDSA and RSPCA, the vet clinics, where they... haven't been charging has cost them now money because you get people pulling up with a litter of puppies
Collette CooperHOST
yeah
Ira MossGUEST
wanting them vaccinated and chipped and they're not wanting to pay which is a bit of a bugbear to me because you're gonna sell that you're gonna sell those puppies for a thousand pounds each they should be charging more money.
James WestgateHOST
You're more than welcome.
James WestgateHOST
Now, Paul, you're well known across the veterinary profession for your work in the charity sector, having previously worked for the PDSA, but obviously now with the Blue Cross.
James WestgateHOST
So just explain to us a little bit about your role as veterinary services director.
Paul ManktelowGUEST
yeah i mean i guess um yeah 25 years is in the veterinary sector um and predominantly most of that i would say in charity along the ways i've always sort of kept my hand in in the private sector as well so i've got a good sort of balanced understanding but yeah so i've been in the charity sector for you know a couple of decades now my role at blue cross is as the sort of the director of veterinary services and ultimately that's about um running the the hospital service the two main products we've got really are hospital service which are helping you know people in need in the locations that we serve but also a few years ago part of my role is to look at what's happening in the sector both in society and within the veterinary industry and i know we've all been sort of cma to deck haven't we with the uh rising prices but really recognizing the need a few years ago that actually the the the access to affordable veterinary care was was really becoming a bit of a crisis so we launched the veterinary care fund which um i'm delighted as has really taken off we've got about 1500 practices now regularly engaged with it and uh you know really helping people that walk into those practices that are just unable to afford that treatment at the time so yeah so my role is obviously delivering the veterinary service but it's also looking ahead really looking at the next five to ten years seeing what's happening in society seeing what's happening in the veterinary sector and responding accordingly
Pandora ChristieGUEST
Well, if we're going back, back, back, it was a vet.
Pandora ChristieGUEST
And then I did work experience at the PDSA.
Pandora ChristieGUEST
I think it was like in Abbeywood.
Pandora ChristieGUEST
This is many, many years ago.
Fiona McGilveryHOST
it's like
James FarrellGUEST
um you know what the cows amazingly can cope with and everything so of course and you know different types of clients you have so you've got the the clients in in the consulting room but then having that experience of going out on the farms or on the yards um there's a different sort of interaction um and obviously i was quite young and naive and inexperienced in those days but hopefully i think i got um unreasonably well yeah I definitely had those instances where the farmer had already run up my boss before I got back to the practice the guy's like oh here's a bit of feedback but you know that was fine I learned from that and I think it was good and I felt like I got you know I did well there and it was great me the reason I moved on from that really was because I wanted to focus on surgery and do small animals and an opportunity came up for a PDSA and then I spent five years around Leicestershire, Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire, working at the PDSA in various guises, but mainly as a surgeon, because that's obviously what was quite the priority there, really.
James FarrellGUEST
And that's where I definitely got...
James FarrellGUEST
The other relevant thing, I suppose, is that is...
James FarrellGUEST
Because at the PDSA, there's not many other options for clients to go for, then it sort of emboldens you, maybe isn't the right word, but it does mean you open a textbook and you get on with it in a safe environment.
James FarrellGUEST
I did have support.
James FarrellGUEST
There was another colleague that was doing their surgery certificate alongside me.
James FarrellGUEST
And I feel like nowadays, maybe that's not the case for so many of the new grads coming out of it.
SairaHOST
I didn't actually know that.
SairaHOST
And is that things like, you know, PDSA, Cancer Research UK, those kinds of recognized charities?
ShivaliGUEST
Yes.
ShivaliGUEST
Yes.
Ione GambleHOST
She was a massive, staphical baby.
Ione GambleHOST
And then one day I had to take her to the vet, but because he's on, like, benefits, I had to take him to the, what's it called? PDSA.
Ione GambleHOST
Yeah.
Ione GambleHOST
PDSA, but he didn't have a bill to prove it, so... and all he had was like a condolences card for when his other dog died and i always thought she was called angel i don't know why i think i just made that up in my head wasn't she white she was white and baby was black so i was like oh angel and baby that makes loads of sense just made up and then um and then i opened the card and it said we are so sorry to hear about the loss of jada pinkett smith full name full name full
Gina TonicHOST
name jada pinkett smith the dog A perfect dog name.
Gina TonicHOST
Kind of chic to have a dog called Jada Pinkett Smith.
Steve HowardGUEST
I suppose to a- to add to that one, it i- it is early days for these yet, so we will kind of ga- be gathering in, in some of the feedback.
Steve HowardGUEST
But, but some stats from, from the PDSA paw report, the, the number of clients that e- said that they expect antibiotics and would complain if they didn't get them was actually really, really small.
Suzanne JarvisHOST
Was it? Yeah.
Steve HowardGUEST
Single figure percentages.
Marc AbrahamGUEST
in these situations.
Marc AbrahamGUEST
And I was at an event recently and PDSA were there and a few other charities.
Marc AbrahamGUEST
And I said, it'd be great to have a national campaign next year because these heat waves aren't going away.
Marc AbrahamGUEST
Where it just becomes normalized to be aware of the dangers of heat waves on dogs pads and all the rest of it
DaleHOST
He received by the crew's own account so much fan mail that the ship had to appoint a dedicated CAT officer just to manage his correspondence.
DaleHOST
In August 1949, while Amethyst was still making her way home, Simon was formally awarded the Dickin Medal, the PDSA's highest award for animal gallantry, modeled explicitly on the human Victoria Cross, and, to this day, the only time it has ever gone to a cat.
DaleHOST
His citation praised him for having, in the medal's own words, single-handedly and unarmed, stalked and destroyed the rat, Mao Zedong, and, more broadly, for ridding the ship of pestilence and vermin through some of the worst months of her ordeal.
DaleHOST
He also received the Amethyst Campaign Medal and a Blue Cross Medal for animal bravery.
DaleHOST
He had been awarded the Dickin Medal months earlier, but never lived to be formally, physically presented with it.
DaleHOST
That ceremony, when it finally happened, was posthumous.
DaleHOST
His funeral drew the crew of HMS Amethyst and hundreds of mourners to the PDSA's Animal Cemetery in Ilford, and a memorial bush was later planted in his honor at the National Memorial Arborum at Staffordshire.
DaleHOST
Simon's story is by a wide margin the most thoroughly documented ship's catch story in this entire episode.
Tom LonsdaleGUEST
Now, the House of Commons, we all know, is the Lower House of the British Parliament, and AFRACOM is the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs committee that are now looking at pet welfare and abuse.
Tom LonsdaleGUEST
I saw a video of them interviewing members of the British Veterinary Association, the PDSA, People's Dispensary for Small Animals, and, and I thought, "Ah, they're, they're interested in, in looking at a subject that I've written a book on, 446 pages of it." And I sent them a copy.
Tom LonsdaleGUEST
Didn't expect to hear.
Tom LonsdaleGUEST
10 days later I did hear.