Middleham

Phil is one of the farm animal partners - in addition to his veterinary work Phil is also responsible for our dispensary service and the efficient procurement of our farm medicines. Phil's role in the pig management team supports our pig vets day to day as well as looking after all aspects of our medicines supply and engagement with the pharmaceutical companies.

Nigel qualified with honours from Liverpool University in 1986, after which he moved to Ripon and Bishopton to work in mixed large animal practice. Over the following years he quickly became an integral member of the pig team and moved to 100% pig work from 1993. He is a past president of both the Pig Veterinary Society and the Yorkshire Veterinary Society; he is a current member of the Pig Health and Welfare Council; he is the Food Futures director for RAFT Solutions Ltd, andhe is part of the delivery team for a large number of pig production research projects. His main interests are preventative medicine, training on farm, and the management of health.

Dispensary Manager.

I started working in dispensary in 2016 as a Dispensary Assistant, and have since progressed to Dispensary Manager in 2019. I really enjoy working for an independent veterinary practice and managing a fantastic dispensary team. 

Dispensary Supervisor SQP.

I started working in dispensary in 2007 as a Dispensary Assistant and completed my SQP qualification in 2012. I have since progressed to Dispensary Supervisor, and work primarily on the large animal side.

Sylvia joined Bishopton is 2002 and is PA to the Bishopton Pig Team. She is the main point of contact in the office and organises all the pig vet diaries and paperwork.  

Phil's interests involve all aspects of cattle work in particular herd health management, nutrition and lameness control. As a founding director of RAFT Solutions, Phil is principally interested in livestock skills development and is very active in farm training initiatives and knowledge exchange. This training interest led to the establishment of the national ‘FarmSkills’ programme delivered by XLVets in the UK.

Phil has provided technical input for a variety of industry bodies including pharmaceutical companies, milk recording organisations, milk and meat processors, feed companies and the AHDB and has contributed across a wide range of the farming press. He holds the RCVS Certificate in Cattle Health and Reproduction, a Diploma in Ruminant nutrition from Harper Adams University College and is a licenced Category 1 foot trimmer.

Peter joined Bishopton in July 1999 and holds the position of General Manager. His varied role includes all aspect of Practice Governance, Facilities and Asset Management, Health & Safety and Project Management.

Ian graduated from Cambridge University Vet School in 2003 and initially worked in mixed practice in Thirsk. He then chose to specialise in small animal care, moving to the PDSA in the North East of England. Ian became the Senior Veterinary Surgeon at the PDSA's Sunderland hospital and enjoyed three happy years at the helm. Ian joined the small animal team at Bishopton Veterinary Group in 2011 and became a partner in 2014.

Neil joined Bishopton Veterinary Group in July 2007 after graduating from Liverpool University. An upbringing on a dairy and sheep farm in Lancashire played a large role in him deciding to specialise in farm animal work. 

Rachael graduated from Glasgow University in 1998. She started her career in a small animal practice in Melton Mowbray, before moving to Sutton Coldfield where she became Clinical Manager for a group of seven small animal practices across the Midlands. In 2010, Rachael gained her RCVS certificate in Small Animal Practice. She moved to North Yorkshire with her family in 2014 to join the Bishopton team. 

Alex graduated with distinction from Edinburgh University in 2013, before working as a small animal vet across Lancashire and North Yorkshire. She joined the practice in autumn 2015 and is based at our Ripon and Pateley Bridge branches. 

Alex has a keen interest in soft tissue surgery and recently achieved her Royal College Certificate in General Small Animal Surgery.

Mark was born and bred in North Yorkshire, growing up on a mixed livestock/arable farm. He qualified from Liverpool Vet School in 2006 and joined Bishopton straight from university having seen practice there. After 3 years in practice at Bishopton Mark spent a year in New Zealand to widen his knowledge and experience of block calving and grass-based systems. Mark returned to Bishopton following his time in New Zealand and became a partner in 2018. Mark's main interests lie in herd health and cattle reproduction. He is advanced breeding director for RAFT Solutions Ltd, performing embryo work, bull fertility assessments and semen collections. He leads the SemenRate laboratory at RAFT, and was awarded a Master in Veterinary Medicine (MVM) for work looking at AI in cattle and objective semen analysis.  

After growing up on a smallholding Emily was keen from a young age  to pursue a career in Veterinary Medicine. After completing a degree in Veterinary Science at The Royal Veterinary College in London, she spent a year there as the Student Union President before completing a degree in Veterinary Medicine. She graduated in 2015 and began work at a busy Small Animal Hospital in West Yorkshire before making the move to North Yorkshire in 2017.  Emily has a keen interest in Small Animal Medicine and is currently working towards her BSAVA Small Animal Medicine Certificate. She particularly enjoys Feline Medicine and is very happy to be involved with the Radio Iodine Cat Centre at Ripon.  

Claire started at Bishopton Vets in 2000 as a trainee nurse, and has been Head Nurse since 2007. She looks after clinical and practice standards at Ripon and Pateley Bridge.

Sue has had a career in finance for over 30 years and has been working at Bishopton since 2015.

Helen did her training at the College of Animal Welfare, qualifying in 2008 and joined Bishopton in December 2011.

Katharine was brought up in Ayrshire prior to attending Glasgow University Veterinary School. Following graduation in 2008, Katharine spent two years working in rural mixed practice in Dumfries and Galloway before making the move south of the border to focus on farm animal practice here at Bishopton. Katharine has achieved the RCVS Certificate in Advanced Veterinary Practice (Cattle).

Katie ‘Fitz’ graduated from Nottingham Vet School in 2012 and joined the team at Bishopton. After a three year stint at the practice she got itchy feet and took some opportunities to gain different experiences through time in farm practice in Lancashire, Derbyshire and back at the University of Nottingham teaching final year vet students. The call of God’s own country was too strong and Katie returned to Bishopton in 2020. Katies main interests are calf health, cattle housing and mastitis and her time in the peak district has given her a real appreaction of working with beef and sheep enterprises.

Leanne is York born and bred, then headed off to Liverpool vet school where she graduated in 2012. After graduating, Leanne headed up to North Yorkshire for just over two years to work in mixed practice. However, it became clear to her that farm animal practice was where her true passion lies. Leanne has been at Bishopton Veterinary Group since December 2014 and splits her time between the York and Ripon areas. Leanne's main interests are in all things beef and sheep and she plays an active role in delivering our beef and flock health planning services. Another area of Leanne's focus is delivering our pathology service. She has always been keen to post mortem fallen stock, but since her summer secondment to APHA Thirsk as a veterinary investigation officer in 2017, Leanne has pushed forward to emphasise the importance of post mortem examinations for herd and flock health. Leanne is AMTRA trained to run some of our RAFT farmer training workshops. However, there is nothing that makes Leanne happier than calving a cow or lambing a sheep!

Christina, originally from Yorkshire, was lured back from her life in the Indian Himalaya to Edinburgh where she graduated from Vet School in 2005. Among other posts including work in first opinion at Edinburgh Vet school, Christina worked for over eight years in an Emergency medicine and surgery centre. It was a busy but stimulating experience! She returned to North Yorkshire a few years ago and settled into Bishopton Vets in 2018.

Neil graduated from The RVC, London in 2010 and went on to complete an internship at Minster Equine Hospital near York. After spending just under a year working in first opinion equine practice he joined Mark Johnston Racing becoming one of two vets in charge of all the veterinary care for 250+ racing TBs. It is during the 7.5 years spent there that his passion for the sport of racing grew and along with his wife and now fellow colleague, Lucy, Neil has successfully gone on to train point to point and National Hunt racehorse winners, with hopefully many more to come

Holly started working at Bishopton in 2016, after qualifying and completing her training at a Veterinary Hospital in Harrogate. She grew up on a family dairy farm and this is where her love of animals great and small stemmed from. At work her passion lies in medical nursing and the care of our hospitalised patients and she looks forward to expanding her knowledge with further qualifications in this area. Holly has recently been promoted to Senior Medical Nurse.

Joanna joined the Small Animal Vet Team in March 2020. She graduated in 2017 from University in Wroclaw, Poland and then made the big move to England. She practiced small animal medicine across Yorkshire before joining Bishopton. 

Becky studied Agriculture at Harper Adams before embarking on her Veterinary degree at the Royal Veterinary College, London. After graduating in 2013, Becky initially worked in mixed practice before deciding to move into small animal emergency out of hours work based in York and Thirsk. After 5 years of night shifts, Becky decided to join the team here at Bishopton. She has just completed a post graduate certificate in Small Animal Emergency and Critical Care and particularly enjoys caring for the most poorly patients that stay for longer periods in the hospital.

Sophie grew up on a smallholding in North Wales with a variety of animals. She went on to study Biological Sciences at the University of Edinburgh, followed by Veterinary Science at the University of Liverpool graduating in 2001. She started her veterinary career in mixed practice in Northallerton and then moved to the large animal department (farm and equine) at Bishopton in 2002. She subsequently covered two consecutive maternity leaves in the small animal department at Bishopton before moving on to the PDSA in Middlesbrough. She returned to Bishopton in 2019 and is interested in all aspects of veterinary care for dogs and cats.

Graham joined Bishopton farm team after 8 years in farm practice, three of them in Colne Lancashire then a five year stint in Teesdale. Prior to this, Graham qualified from the University of Liverpool in 2009, after funding his studies by working on the university’s dairy farm. Graham’s interests in practice lie in dairy fertility and sheep flock health.

I grew up in Lancashire spending much of my time on my grandparent's beef and sheep farm. As such my interest within veterinary medicine has always been geared towards becoming a farm vet. I graduated from the RVC in 2020 where I also inter-calated in Comparative Pathology. I look forward to being involved in all aspects of farm animal practice and I’m excited to join the team!

Becky started working at Bishopton in 2018 and is currently studying to become a registered veterinary nurse which she will complete in 2021. Prior to joining Bishopton Becky worked as a dog groomer.

All my interests, hobbies and work related interests are all about my animal related. I absolutally love all animals, particularly dogs and farm animals. In my spare time like going on walks in the countryside with my dogs and spending time with my cheeky herd of pygmy goats.

Originally from France, Anne-Sophie graduated in 2016 in Lyon, and worked as a farm vet in the East part of France doing beef and dairy cattle work. She then went abroad in various parts of the world (Cambodia, Comoros Union (archipelago near Madagascar), Kenya...) conducting research projects and pursuing her interest in livestock health in developing countries. She has a particular interest in epidemiology and infectious diseases.

Anne-Sophie currently works part-time, with her time split between Bishopton Vets and RAFT Solutions. Alongside this she is continuing her PhD at Edinburgh Uni in disease modelling, working initially on livestock disease, but since March 2020 this has included work on COVID-19 in Scotland.

Diane joined Bishopton in 2007 as a Receptionist and worked her way up to Senior Receptionist before moving onto become small animal Accounts Administrator.

Julia joined the Bishopton Team in October 2020.  Originally from Harrogate, she qualified from the Glasgow Vet School. She initially worked in Sheffield before moving to France where her children were all born. Returning to England Julia spent a brief time in Wiltshire before coming back to Harrogate in 2002 where she has worked part time in small animal practice ever since. She is an active member of the BSAVA (British Small Animal Veterinary Association) and is on the NE committee.

Tilly first came to Bishopton to drop off a hedgehog called Humphrey who needed some TLC. After visiting us to do work experience, Tilly was then offered an apprenticeship and has been working with us whilst studying  for her Level 3 Diploma in Veterinary Nursing at Askham Bryan College. During her course she has been to South Africa where she assisted in many activities, nursing cases and case studies. We were delighted in May 2020 when Tilly qualified as an RVN. Tilly is planning to do further studying in emergency care. 

Jess went to the University of Glasgow and graduated with commendation in 2016, she joined Bishopton in 2017.

Joe joined the pig department at Bishopton in 2020 having previously worked extensively with pigs in both Yorkshire and East Anglia (mainly Outdoors) since graduation. He qualified from Liverpool Vet School in 2016 with a passion in population medicine and has since worked as a vet in practice and as a farm company's internal vet.

Sophie relocated back to Yorkshire after spending 11 years in Liverpool. Sophie studied for a Zoology degree at The University of Liverpool and then went on to study veterinary nursing.

Wendy joined Bishopton in 2018 as a Client Care Assistant at our Easingwold surgery. She enjoys all aspects of the role enjoying getting to know clients and their pets and loves to get involved with handling pets for the vets when required.

Originally from North Yorkshire, Fran graduated from the University of Liverpool School of Veterinary Science in 2020. After a period working as a mixed veterinary practice in Wales, she decided to pursue her interest in pigs joined the Bishopton pig team as a pig veterinary intern in 2021.

Naomi qualified with a degree in Canine and Feline Training, Behaviour and Welfare before coming to work for Bishopton in 2018. Naomi enjoys all aspects of her job and is enjoying putting her knowlege of canine behaviour and animal training to use.

Steph has a background in design, but when she joined Bishopton in 2017 she changed track to her dream career of working with animals. Steph originally started at Bishopton as a Client & Clinical Care Assistant and after two years she was offered the opportunity to train to study as a nurse. Steph comes from a farming family and has grown up around animals of all sizes, in particular sheep.

Tina joined the accounts team at Bishopton in 2019, coming from a financial background.  With her love of animals & numbers this is the perfect job!

Rosie first came to our Bishopton Easingwold surgery in 2018 for work experience, this  led onto a placement the following year as part of her college course. During this time Rosie gained experience working across both our Easingwold and Ripon surgeries. In 2020 she qualified as an Animal Nursing Assistant at Askham Bryan College and also completed an Advanced Technical Diploma in Animal Management for Companion Animals. Rosie has now progressed onto the Level 3 Veterinary Nursing Diploma starting in September 2021 based at our Ripon Hospital. 

Jackie joined Bishopton three and a half years ago as a Client Care Assistant and enjoys every minute of her job! A local lady Jackie has lived in Ripon all her life and has three grown up daughters.

Zoe joined us in 2020 as Student Veterinary Nurse, she really enjoys animal behaviour and emergency care and when qualified she would like to do further study in those areas.

Becky started at Bishopton in 2013 as an assistant to the Practice Manager and administrative support to the farm team. In 2018 Becky moved over to the accounts team as Purchase Ledger Assistant.

Gill started at Bishopton in 2001 as a Student Nurse, she studied through The College Of Animal Welfare and qualified as an RVN in 2005.

Yasmin is currently studying for her Foundation Degree in Veterinary Nursing at the University Centre Askham Bryan College. As part of her degree she has to undertake a placement year in practice. Prior to starting her degree Yasmin studied the Introduction to Animal Nursing. 

Dispensary Assistant

I started working for Bishopton Vets back in 2016, firstly working as a Client Care Assistant in the Easingwold branch, and also in the Dispensary team two days a week. In 2017, I joined the Dispensary team full time, where I work both in Small Animal and Large Animal. 

Rachael started working at Bishopton in 2019 and works closely with the Farm Team coordinating diaries and workload. She is the first point of contact for any clinical emergencies and also deals with all things TB testing!

Dispensary Assistant SQP.

I started working in the dispensary team back in 2007, and completed my AMTRA training to become an R-SQP in 2012. 

Jo has worked at Bishopton since January 2015 and manages our York Office.

Pam joined the Accounts Team in 2014, her main function is dealing with the farm client accounts.

Jane joined Bishopton in October 2018 as Purchase Ledger Assistant.