Meet the Team

Aislinn Pugh is the Group Nursing Manager for Abbey house and Calder Vets where she maintains an overview of all the nursing teams and focuses on the clinical excellence and strategic development of these teams across both practices.

Having qualified in 2013 she worked for many years in North Yorkshire in a mixed practice with a small animal hospital. From there she moved on to a referral hospital in Manchester where she was a surgical nurse and then deputy head nurse. She then moved back to her homeland the green isle of Ireland where she opened a brand new purpose built referral only hospital as Head Nurse. From here she moved into a Clinical Nursing Manager at Calder Vets and has been in the Group Nursing Manager role since May 2022.

If left to her own devices she would quite happily spend all her spare time having a swim in the sea

My favourite part of my job is being able to see patients get better and go home with their family.  I find the surgical side of the practice very interesting. I have completed the Level 2 Certificate for Veterinary Nursing Assistants and the ISFM Cat Friendly Professional course.

Amy has been an out of hours RVN since 2017 and joined our team in April 2022. She particularly enjoys the excitement and adrenaline of working with accidents and emergencies.

At home Amy has a small menagerie which consists of 4 tiny dogs, 3 guinea pigs, a hamster and 3 tarantula she is very passionate about all animals and enjoys spending time exploring Yorkshire and further afield with her dogs.

I gained my qualification as an RVN in February 2022 and joined the Abbey House team in August 2022

I knew from a young age that I wanted to be a veterinary nurse and care for animals.  In my spare time I enjoy being with my rescue dog and other small furry pets’

Cas qualified in 2012 from the University Centre of Askham Bryan. She has since gained post-graduate qualifications in small animal dentistry and surgical nursing.

Her special interest is dentistry and is passionate about your pets’ oral health and comfort.

Cas started at Abbey House as a locum in June 2022, but it didn’t take long for her to fall in love with the practice and team, so accepted a permanent role in October.

She has an old lady crossbreed terrier called Seren, and two cats called Captain Guyliner and Niña.

Cheryl qualified as a nurse in 2012 and joined Abbey House in April 2023. Cheryl has worked in a mix of practices during this time including emergency work and referral and enjoy’s post operative recovery and nurse clinics the most.

Cheryl has her own pet sitting business and is passionate about first aid, preventative treatment and giving informational talks to the general public on this topic.

Out of work Cheryl likes to ride her bike, horse ride and the occasional bit of baking when she is not entertaining her young son!

Clare is one of our Auxiliary nurses and has worked in practice since 1997 working at Chantry before joining Croft in 2003, Clare has a diploma in pet bereavement and a keen interest in birds.

Jessica joined the Abbey House team in October 2020 as a Veterinary Care Assistant but has been working in the veterinary profession now for almost 10 years. She has a history of working with a variety of animals and has qualifications to support her passion including Animal Care, Horse Care and Horse Management. Jessica aspires to become a registered veterinary nurse and is currently studying Level 2 Diploma in Veterinary Skills to help her gain more knowledge and skills along the way. The favourite part of her job is, she is always learning and gaining knowledge to take away ready for the next time it is needed.

Joanna volunteered at the N/a’an ku se Wildlife Sanctuary in 2011, the focus was the welfare and rehabilitation of the animals, some of which included lions, leopards, cheaters and caracals. This experience led to a career change and Joanna choose to work with animals and later study to become a Registered Veterinary Nurse.

Joanna studied the Veterinary Nursing Diploma at the College of Animal Welfare and qualified in 2021. Her experience include small animal general practice, veterinary hospital and referral.

Main interests in work are surgical, anaesthesia and diagnostics and she would like to pursue surgical nursing in the near future.  Other interests outside of work include hiking, camping, yoga and entertaining her loopy Sproker Ebony.

Katie gained her degree in Veterinary Nursing from Askham Bryan College in 2021 and joined the nursing team at Abbey House in April 2022. At home Katie has 5 dogs – 3 English Setters, a Gordon Setter and an Irish Setter cross Collie and she enjoys drawing pet portraits.

Lesley  qualified in 2010 and has also completed the ISFM feline diploma in feline nursing.

Lesley joined the practice initially as part of the insurance processing team and then returned in October 2021 working as a nurse at the Kippax clinic

At home all Lesley’s  animals are named after Disney characters, Mia, Willow (2 Labradors), Belle and Nala (cats)

Megan joined the nursing team in 2020 after receiving her RVN qualification in 2019. Megan has two rescue cats Tinkerbell and Tipsy and a Whippet x Greyhound called Bobby.

Rachael started working in Veterinary practice in 1997 as an animal care assistant. She qualified as a Veterinary Nurse from the College of Animal Welfare in 2004 and gained her certificate in surgical nursing in 2021, joining the out of hours team at Abbey House Veterinary Hospital in September 2022.

At work she enjoys being able to offer a high level of inpatient care and has a special interest in surgical nursing and wound management.

Out of work Rachael is kept busy looking after her 3 horses and has 2 teenage children.”

Rachel has been qualified as an RVN since 2021.  She is the rabbit and cat advocate for Halton.  At home she has 2 rescue rabbits a 11 rescue cats.  Rachel’s special interests are all things rabbits, guinea pigs and hamster related and also enjoys learning about cat behaviour.

Sabrina joined Abbey House in January 2022 and is about to finish her training and will sit the practical part of the nursing exam (OSCE’s) in April.

Her favourite part of nursing so far is anaesthesia and she hopes to further her knowledge and training in this area once qualified. At home Sabrina has a golden retriever who she enjoys taking for walks. 

I started working in Veterinary Practice as a receptionist/animal handler in 2003 in East Yorkshire and went on to study veterinary nursing, qualifying in 2009. I have enjoyed both surgical and medical roles throughout my career, but love the combination of both that emergency and critical care nursing brings. After gaining the Vets Now certificate in emergency and critical care in 2014, I joined the night team at Abbey House Veterinary Hospital in January 2018.

In work I enjoy playing my part in stabilising critically ill patients and making all our patients stays in hospital as comfortable as possible. Out of work I enjoy nothing more then walking in our fabulous countryside with my four legged friend Morris Whippet.

Sarah qualified in 2013 with a Level 3 Diploma in Veterinary Nursing. She has a keen interest in Surgery and one day hopes to complete her  surgical nursing diploma.

Sarah recently became a new mum so spends her free time with her partner, daughter and their cheeky Springador Rupert , going on lots of walks and adventures in the countryside.”

Stacey has a FdSc degree in Veterinary Nursing from Nottingham Trent University. She came to Abbey house in 2014 just as a block placement for her course to gain practical experience and has never left. She has 3 Cavalier King Charles Spaniels named Maya, Shankley and Sid. Her main interest is in Surgery although she loves all parts of her job!