A NORTHUMBERLAND veterinary group is opening a major new equine clinic at the end of the summer.

The Alnorthumbria group’s clinic, at Fairmoor, Morpeth, will offer full hospitalisation and surgical facilities on site for all sectors of the equine industry across the North East when it opens in September.

Alnorthumbria’s Lesley Barwise-Munro, a past president of the British Equine Veterinary Association (BEVA) and honorary vice president of the National Equine Welfare Council (NEWC), said: “The new clinic facilitates the additional care that is often needed if a horse, pony or donkey requires hospitalisation or further diagnostics such as X-rays, scan, endoscopy, performance assessment or surgical procedures.

“Alnorthumbria will now be able to offer a much improved facility and service at Fairmoor Morpeth. We have 24-hour equine vets available for emergency care day and night. We have five full-time equine vets, four Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons (RCVS) or European Certificate holders.

“We have a team of veterinary nurses training in equine veterinary nursing with the RCVS. This adds strength and depth to the level of care that we can offer your horse, pony or donkey at our current equine premises and at Morpeth after September.”

With the equine facilities moving to Morpeth, the practice will now further develop its Wagonway Road site in Alnwick, which is earmarked to become a state-of-the-art veterinary centre for small and farm animals.

The Alnorthumbria group was formed through the merger of the Aln Veterinary Group and Northumbria Veterinary Partnership in 2007.

The group now covers the majority of Northumberland from offices in Alnwick, Amble, Seahouses, Morpeth, Ponteland, Rothbury and Wooler. The Aln group was started in 1898 at the Wagonway Road surgery in Alnwick, while the Northumbria Veterinary Partnership was formed in July 2004.