A veterinary surgery in Alton has launched a 24-hour animal care service after seven years of outsourcing its out of hours work.

Cedar Vets, based at Omega Park, had been using Vets Now to cover it, but took the service back in-house on June 1.

Co-owner Charlie Mitchell said: “We have been based in farming and the wider community for 130 years, so we always used to do our own emergency service as it was part of the job.

“For some time there had been an industry-wide shortage of vets and nurses, so we outsourced to Vets Now in 2019.

“But being an independent practice which is very ethically and morally minded, it didn’t fit well for us to say ‘We give you good care until 7pm’.”

Mr Mitchell explained that a move to larger premises at Omega Park had been crucial to the project.

He said: “It took five or six years to find a building like this of enough size to get an out of hours team to get that service back in-house.”

A resistance to increasing “corporatisation” of veterinary practices had also created a demand for surgeries offering locally-based services.

Mr Mitchell, who co-owns Cedar Vets with his wife Lara, said: “Independent practices have had a revival. People ask if you are independent or corporate and whether you do out of hours. It’s becoming an issue for pet owners.

“We wanted to bring out of hours back in-house for a rounded service, and not ship pets half an hour away at a stressful time to people you don’t know. We have all their notes, so you have a big improvement in continuity of care.

“With the facilities we have we can deal with more stuff. We have brought in a separate out of hours team for this. They have specialist qualifications and are used to dealing with emergency work. People can now get the best clinical care within our four walls.

“The 24-hour service is open to clients and non-clients. It’s like a hospital casualty department. The cost is the same and you don’t have to be registered.”

Cedar Vets offers a Lifetime Care Club, which includes consultations, to ease the financial burden on pet owners.

Mr Mitchell said: “We recognise it is expensive but we offer an incredibly high standard of care. It has risen immeasurably in the 20 years I’ve been doing this.

“Our commitment to our clients is to stay independent. All our team and our senior leadership team are locals. You may bump into us in town.

“And now we care at any time of the night or day, not just the hours that are convenient to us.”