Vets
The surgery currently employs nine vets. Each vet brings to the team their own areas of special interest and expertise which allows us to offer such a wide range of services.
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Richard BraggBSc BVSc MRCVS
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Vicky StewartBVSc MRCVS
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Pippa SimesBVetmed MRCVS
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Richard has been a director of Vale Vets since 1999 having been a full time member of the veterinary team since 1994. He enjoys all aspects of first opinion veterinary work and is an excellent surgeon. He has developed an additional interest in tortoises and veterinary acupuncture in dogs and cats. At home he is kept busy with 2 daughters and an ever growing menagerie of cats, tortoises, guinea pigs and chickens.
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Vicky enjoys medicine cases and leads the diagnostic imaging in the practice. She has special interests both in radiology and ultrasonography, both widely utilised within the practice. She has recently purchased a period property which she shares with her cat Archie and which requires renovation and a lot of gardening. She is also a keen traveller. Vicky is currently on maternity leave.
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Pippa grew up in Portishead and has had a long association with the practice. She enjoys medicine and surgery and values providing a first class veterinary service. She and her husband Richard, enjoy sailing and other water sports, however those may have to go on hold for a while as they are now the proud new parents of a gorgeous little boy - Charlie.
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Helen BraggBSc BVSc MRCVS VetMFHom
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Susan Warren-CoxBVSc MRCVS
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Judith GlushanokBVSc MRCVS
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Helen enjoys caring for both medical and surgical cases and has developed a great interest in an integrated approach to our pet's health and well being. She is one of only 60 vets in the country to be qualified in veterinary homeopathy. She also has an interest in animal nutrition. She works part time at the practice - the rest of her time being taken up with Richard, her husband, children, pets, church, gardening and cooking and of course her ginger cat Thomas.
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Susan is one of the practice's most experienced vets and enjoys both consulting and surgery. She has undertaken further study and is now fully qualified in veterinary chiropractic manipulation, allowing for an integrative approach to caring for our pets. She works part time at the practice and when not here is caring for her husband Sean and their son Joshua, born May 2007, so the time is full of baby swim and toddler groups! Not forgetting Wookie, a long haired, scruffy, slightly overweight but very handsome rescue cat.
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Judith joined us in January 2008 as a part time member of staff, having previously owned and run her own practice. We have known Judith for many years and her clinical interest are cats and cat's medicine. She is very active out of work with ice dancing, singing and skiing.
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Louise AlexanderBSc BVSc MRCVS
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Jennifer BohannonBVSc MRCVS
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Penny Taylor
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Louise is our newest member of the team. She has a keen interest in feline medicine and is kept very busy at home looking after her two rescue cats Maurice and Margo. In her spare time Louise enjoys gardening and photography, as well as shopping!
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Jennifer joined the practice in April 2009 as a part time clinician. Her main interest is imaging; she was awarded the RCVS Certificate in Veterinary Diagnostic Imaging in October 2008. She is a great asset to our team and enjoys all aspects of veterinary practice.
At home, Jen is kept occupied by 2 young children and is trying her hand at 'grow your own' in the veggie patch.
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Penny has been qualified since 1999, and has worked in mixed practices as well as with small animals. She has a particular interest in medical cases, but enjoys general practice, especially cats!
Her hobbies include owning and riding horses, which include a retired and irish draught horse called Fabi; a Cob/thoroughbred called Pepsi and Twinkle the shetland pony. Penny also has two dogs; a three legged whippet called Peggy and Hector the border terrier, as well as two cats, Murphy and Minx.
Penny's other interests are cooking (and eating!) and gardening.
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Laboratory Technician
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Liz BurdenBSc HND
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Liz is our Laboratory Technician who works part time at the Practice. She enables the vets to get results for many laboratory tests quicker than sending samples to an outside laboratory. She and her husband Peter have a vast menagerie of animals and birds, including two Harris Hawks and a flock of rheas.
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Nurses
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Michelle PhillipsHead Nurse, BSc RVN A1 Assessor
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Nikki PittsDeputy Head Nurse, RVN
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Kelly DayRVN
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Michelle is our Head Nurse and in addition to the very hectic job of running the nursing side of the Practice, she is interested in animal behaviour and assists in the running of the puppy parties. Her pets are on the small side - mice and newts! And she now has a young rescue tortoise called Pasty.
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Nikki joined Vale Vets in 2005 and qualified in 2007, after coming to us as a school work experience student a few years earlier. She has moved over from our Dursley clinic to take up the role of Deputy Head Nurse here in Portishead. She now organises all work experience placements for the practice.
She has a keen interest in exotic species and has completed a Certificate in Exotic Species Nursing. Nikki is also very interested in the Cavalier King Charles Spaniels and has campaigned to raise awareness of the hereditary problems that can be associated with the breed. She currently owns her own CKCS called Jake, as well as a hand-reared kitten, three rescue cats, two tortoises and two finches.
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Kelly trained at Vale Vets and qualified in August 2010. She enjoys surgery, radiography and teaching the other student nurses. She has two cats, Frankie and Misty who demand a lot of fuss and attention at home. In her free time Kelly enjoys walking and visiting new places with her fiancé, Luke.
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Emma LangtonRVN
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Kerri EdwardsStudent Nurse
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Emma joined the practice in 2009 and is currently undertaking her final veterinary nursing exams. When she is not at work she enjoys caring for her 3 cats, Tinkerbell, Marbles and Marmaduke.
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Kerri joined Vale Vets Portishead in 2010. She is a trainee nurse, studying in her first year. She has a three year old, black Labrador, which she enjoys taking for long walks with the family. She enjoys going out and socialising with her friends.
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Client care team
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Janet WattsHead Receptionist
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Penny BeattieFinancial Administrator
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Bev KnowlesInsurance Claims Co-ordinator
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Janet is our Head Receptionist responsible for the smooth running of the reception team. Janet's spare time is taken up with her husband Dave, grandchildren and of course most important Jack Russell Jess and Shih Tzu KT.
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Penny is Financial Administrator for the Practice. Apart from her accounting responsibilities she is responsible for the administration of insurance claims and Vale Vet Plan, and assists with advertising, marketing and special functions and events run by the Practice. Away from the Practice her time is spent on her horses, her beagles and her husband Clive - not quite in that order!
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Bev is our insurance claims co-ordinator, assisting Penny and the vets with the completion of claim forms and ensuring that they get sent to the insurance company as speedily as possible. Bev has recently moved to a house with a large plot of land so she is now busy gardening, keeping chickens and generally living the good life!
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Fiona StewartPractice Manager
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After many years flying for British Airways, Fiona decided to hang up her wings and after five years working in investment banking in London she decided to return to the country to follow a career in veterinary practice. She has managed a variety of practices including equine, small animal first opinion and a large orthopaedic, neurosurgical and rehabilitation referral hospital. Although she currently has no pets of her own due to her peripatetic lifestyle, she one day intends to own another Giant Schnauzer and has a hankering for a rescue lurcher! In the meantime she can often be seen popping down to reception to make a fuss of the patients that come to visit us here at Vale Vets. In her spare time she enjoys being with her family, walking on Exmoor and helping out on her brother's organic farm in Spain.
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