Abbey House Veterinary Hospital

Tom Clarke

BA, VetMB, CertVR, CertSAS, MRCVS

Tom is a partner at Abbey House. He graduated from Cambridge in 1983 and has been in small animal practice ever since. He specialises in radiography, ultrasound, endoscopy, soft tissue and orthopaedic surgery. He is also able to perform laparoscopic surgery which is less invasive than open surgery and results in reduced post-op pain and more rapid recoveries.

Lisa Davies

BVM&S., CertVOphthal., MRCVS

Lisa is a partner at Abbey House. She qualified in 1989 from the Royal Dick, Edinburgh and has worked in Leeds since that time. She gained a certificate in veterinary ophthalmology in 1996 and as well as consulting and operating from our Rothwell and Kippax branches she also sees ophthalmology referrals from other practices.

Neil E Palmer

BVSc, MSc (Clin Onc) MRCVS

Neil graduated from Liverpool University in 1987 and joined the veterinary team at Abbey House in November 2009. He has a particular interest in oncology cases and has a Masters degree in clinical oncology.

Justyna Ratczak

DVM, PG Dip(CABC) MRCVS

Justyna graduated as a veterinary surgeon from the Warsaw Agricultural University, Poland, in 2001. She started working at Abbey House in October 2009 after spending 3 years working in another small animal practice in Leeds. Justyna is interested in internal medicine and looks after the inpatients in the hospital ward, her specialism however is in animal welfare and behaviour. She has a post graduate diploma in companion animal behaviour counselling from The University of Southampton.

Laura Smith

B Vet Med, PG Cert SAM, MRCVS

Laura saw practice at Abbey House during her time at London University. She graduated in 2009 and joined our Veterinary Team in January 2010. Laura has the BSAVA Post Graduate Certificate in Small Animal Medicine.

James Bost

VetMB Ba MRCVS

James joined the practice in January 2015 following qualification from The University of Cambridge in 2014 and after spending time working for a charity in India neutering stray dogs. James has completed extra study in small animal dentistry and has taken the lead with the dental work at the hospital in Morley where we have a newly refurbished dental suite and a new dental x-ray unit. He currently studying for a postgraduate certificate in small animal surgery.

Roberta Bocedi

GP Cert (FelP), MVB, MRCVS

Roberta qualified from the University of Parma, Italy in 2004. Between 2007 & 2010 she worked in York before returning to Italy to become the joint owner of a small animal practice. Roberta joined the team at Abbey House in August 2015, she has an interest in feline medicine and holds the General Practitioner Certificate in Feline Practice.

Evi Kalogirou

MVDr MRCVS

Evi joined the practice in January 2016, she graduated from the Univeristy of Thessaly in Greece. Following qualification she spent time working at the Hellenic Animal Society in Athens taking care of thousands of stray dogs and cats and since moving to the UK has been working at a veterinary hospital in North Yorkshire. In Jan 2018 Evi started the BSAVA Postgraduate Certificate in Small Animal Medicine, in association with The University of Nottingham.

Sabine Walti

Med vet, Dr med vet, MRCVS

Sabine has worked at Abbey House since October 2004. She currently works every Saturday at the hospital in Morley.

Jade Thorpe

BVSc MRCVS

Jade qualified as a veterinary surgeon from The University of Liverpool in 2015 and after a year of working in a corporate small animal practice in West Yorkshire she joined the Abbey House team in August 2016. Jade generally works from the Kippax clinic but does help cover at all the branches and the Morley hospital. Jade has an interest in veterinary medicine and also runs the puppy training classes from the Kippax clinic. She has two dogs, a Pomeranian and a Pomeranian cross Cavalier who both compete in Rally Obedience competitions.

Alexandra Suciu

DVM, MRCVS

Alex qualified from the University of Agriculture Sciences and Veterinary Medicine in Cluj-Napoca, Romania in July 2017. During her six year degree course Alex helped at her local veterinary practice, then following qualification spent two months on a scholarship placement in Palma, Mallorca. Alex joined the veterinary team at Abbey House in February 2018 and is passionate about internal medicine, nutrition and gastrointestinal tract diseases. Alex has two cats who are 14 and 15yrs and two dogs a Vizla and German Shepherd.

Rob Douwes

GP Cert SAS, MRCVS

Rob qualified Utrecht University in the Netherlands in 1997. Following qualification he spent three years working in the Netherlands before moving to the UK in 2000. Rob has spent the last 10 years working in his own practice in York, before joining the Abbey House team for two days a week, in December 2017. He has an interest in soft tissue and orthopaedic surgery and has a post graduate GP certificate in small animal surgery. Rob has a Border Collie called Olivia.

Practice Manager

Jonathan Foster BA ACA

Assistant Practice Manager

Claire Turner RVN

HR Manager

Nina Boddy (Assoc CIPD)

Maternity Leave

HR Manager

Clare McDermott (Assoc CIPD)

Maternity Cover

Head Nurse

Jane White Cert Ed Cert SAN RVN

Jane is originally from Zimbabwe, she moved to the UK in 1978 and qualified in 1981.

After spending 12 years in small animal practice she left to teach veterinary nursing and animal care for 3 years.

After working in a small animal dental referral centre for 3 years, she joined Abbey House in 1996.

Deputy Head Nurse

Gillian Kerrod RVN

Gillian started her career at the age of 15 helping at her local veterinary practice after school and during holidays. She began her veterinary nurse training 3 years later working in a mixed animal practice. She joined a small animal practice in Wakefield in 1991 and qualified in 1992.

Gillian joined Abbey House in 1993 as the practice nurse, since then her role has changed and she is now the deputy head nurse. She has a special interest in animal behaviour.

Clinical Coach

Charlotte Dobson RVN D32/33

Charlotte joined the practice straight from school as a trainee veterinary nurse and went on to qualify in 1996. Charlotte spent the next five years as the senior surgical nurse at the Morley hospital. Since completing her D32/33 assessor training in 2000 Charlotte's role has developed in to that of clinical coach, supporting and training veterinary nurses to complete their Nursing Progress Log.

Oncology/Surgical Nurse

Kirsty Chippendale Dip HE CVN, HE AVN, RVN

Kirsty completed a FdSc degree in Veterinary Nursing from Harper Adams University College in Shropshire in 2010. Kirsty worked as a senior veterinary nurse at a multi site practice in Halifax for four years before joining the team at Morley in July 2014. Kirsty has a 5year old Staffie x called Tye. Kirsty has the advanced diploma in veterinary nursing.