The BVHA
recently held its first overseas visiting weekend since 2009 and it was deemed
to be a great success by all.
The festivities commenced on Friday evening with a reception and
meal in the bar at the Radisson Blu Hotel in the Fredericksburg Borough of
Copenhagen.
Saturday
started with a short walk to the University of Copenhagen Veterinary School
where we were met by Professor Jenson, the head of the school. He, along with
Professor Mette Berendt, gave us brief introduction to and history of the
veterinary faculty and the new hospital. This was followed by an in-depth tour
round the new facility led by Professor Berendt and her colleague Dr Hanne
Gredal. The hospital cost over £10,000,000 to complete and is so large that
some of the younger staff zoom round the building on scooters!
Needless
to say the Veterinary School was very well equipped with all the latest
technology. What did impress the BVHA visitors particularly was the high level
of style, artwork and design in keeping with Danish tradition. Another feature
which stood out was the avoidance of placing anything unnecessary on the floor.
All cabinets were wall-mounted as well as all chairs in the many waiting areas
and consulting areas. Great attention was paid not only to hygiene but also to
making the hospital as easy to clean with smooth surfaces and stainless steel
used wherever possible.
Mette and Hanne very kindly acted as our guides and
were kept more than busy answering questions over the 3 hours which we spent in
the Small Animal Hospital at the Veterinary School. After a delicious Danish lunch
provided by our hosts the BVHA group boarded the Viking Bus to head out of town
to the Karlslunde Hospital.
We were greeted at the
Karlslunde Animal Hospital by the Director and founder, Thomas Egelund.
Karleslunde is now part of the Swedish veterinary company, Evidensia, which
operates 160 animal hospitals in 7 European countries.
Karlslunde Animal Hospital
is very large and very impressive. Windows, both external and internal have
been used to great advantage allowing natural light to flood the building. The
layout is unusual with a long connecting corridor and three perpendicular arms;
the first for the public areas such as the waiting room and consulting rooms,
the second for the operating theatres, etc. and the third for the kennelling.
Needless to say this hospital was very well equipped with CT, a wide range of endoscopes,
laparoscopic surgical kit, and an advanced dental suite. One of the theatres
had a camera in the operating lamp allowing visiting students to observe surgery
from a ‘safe distance’.
The
last hospital on the tour was the AniCura Animal Hospital, part of the AniCura
group which operates 92 hospitals in 6 Northern European countries. We were
guided around this very busy practice by the director, Jens Eslau. AniCura has
undergone a recent complete renovation and refurbishment and is now a very
practical and functional hospital. Notable was the separate cat consulting room
and the clever use of windows and natural light in the consulting areas.
The
prep area at AniCura was particularly spacious and a comfortable working
environment. Careful thought had been given to the design and work flow. The
kennelling facilities were excellent too. Cats are housed in warm, white
polypropylene kennels while many of the dogs enjoyed an inside kennel with an
outside run. In common with the other two hospitals, AniCura also had a CT scanner
and an advanced dental suite as well as all the usual surgical kit. Danish
style was evident throughout.
In
contrast to the UK, all Danish veterinary practices must have anaesthetic
scavenging in addition to active scavenging, to deal with any gasses which may
escape during intubation or while masking down a patient. All in-house practice
laboratories must also have a fume cupboard. In contrast it is permissible in
Denmark to manually restrain an animal while taking a radiograph.
Saturday
evening ended with lovely meal at the Cap Horn Restaurant in Nyhavn. We were
treated in most generously by the staff who made sure that our glasses were
never empty. The weekend concluded on Sunday with a three hour coach and boat
tour round beautiful Copenhagen. Of course we all had a chance to stop and
photograph the famous Little Mermaid statue!