Partners & Key Personnel

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.

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.

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. 

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.  

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.

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.