RVC Small Animal Referrals offers the largest and best equipped emergency veterinary facility in the UK. Our Emergency Referrals Service is in operation 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. It is staffed by a large team of vets and specialist nurses, who provide acute care.

We have the most highly trained team of vets and veterinary nurses in Europe, who deal with dogs, cats and other small animal emergencies and are experienced in handling all types of cases. Our small animal emergency clinic receives referral cases 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and our specialists are available to support and advise referring veterinary surgeons on critical cases.

Following triage and emergency treatment, patients can be transferred to our Intensive Care Unit, while stabilising patients requiring follow-up treatment are referred to relevant services within the hospital.

In addition to state-of-the-art facilities, including the only recognised Level 1 Trauma Center in Europe, and extensive in-house laboratory capabilities, the Emergency Referral Service is supported by our on-site Transfusion Service, which means we can provide the highest level of care to critically ill patients.

The RVC small animal referral hospital is a transdisciplinary service and is supported around the clock by various specialists. Each patient gets the care it needs, when it needs it.

Out-of-hours cover

Our out-of-hours veterinary emergency team supports participating practices throughout the region by undertaking evening and weekend emergency services on their behalf. Veterinary practices wanting to find out more about the benefits of the out-of-hours service should email qmhadminteam@rvc.ac.uk.