Willows Veterinary Centre And Referral Service

Wow what can you say about the willows! This place is the most exceptional facility I have had the pleasure of being in. The Willows makes the priory look like the Red Cross are working in war torn Bosnia in comparison! My Amazing St Bernard Tank was referred to the Willows after a twisted stomach operation at our local vets. Tank did not respond well and his heart stopped twice! He was referred to the Willows and transported from Worcester. Within a heart beat a trolly met Tank with 4 nurses that took him straight through to an intensive care ward!!!! The surgical genius “Chris” that met with our vet and had a full handover. I was then taken to consultation room for a debrief and plan which included up front costings! No hidden charges nor unrealistic expectations. A short time later Tank has a neurologist, anaesthetist And Chris (the hero) assessing him! Then every day at the same time Chris updated me with an honest and straight forward report on Tanks progress. The nurses were also outstanding Jo Vale and Hannah looked after Tank and took all my worried calls even at 4am!!! They both remained bubbly and happy to help. When visiting Jo was exceptional, she listened intently to all my worries and reassured me they would do there best with no false promises. Tank against all odds came home Today. The bill was at the bottom estimate and we came home with full instructions and a discharge sheet. If they fixed Humans we would all love forever! Don’t even hesitate to take your loved ones to the Willows! Simply Amazing! Read Less

Expensive and not highly efficient; arrived and was told that "I was next" then had to wait more than an hour. Had a fairly low level 20 minute "consultation" (that I primarily drove and informed) and noticed that this appeared on the bill as a £200 "fee" later on!! To charge more than £1000 for limb specific CT imaging is somewhat more than double the mean in the UK. Reception dithering, slow and only part managed. Car park barriers are ridiculously inefficient. If you want to charge "rolls Royce" prices than you need to provide the service that goes with it. My first visit to this place. All in all only adequate Read Less

Our darley arrived very ill but was looked after and treated by the vets with the upmost importance .all staff are so kind even if when they are busy they listen and do there upmost to help your pet ..sadly darley passed away a few days later but no fault of the vets who we know did there best ..thank you willows.... Read Less

Took my cat here who was really poorly, after bloods etc they told me they will put her on iv fluids. Days go by and postive phone calls regularly and positive scan results with "the best results we can hope for" were convinced shes pulling through. Friday morning comes and i demand to go in as they are trying to convince me to leave her the weekend, reluctantly they let me in. When we arrive we are confronted by a vet who takes us into a room to tell us she has to be put to sleep, talk about shock. They said she wasn't getting better and if a cat came in with blood test results 3 times less than hers they would think its a sick animal. So as you can imagine i was devastated leaving without my cat £1700 later. I made a complaint and they "investigated" and said they found no wrong doing. They are definitely in it for the money. Read Less

After multiple tests my own vets referred me to Willows (we had adopted a beautiful cat of 10 years old in Nov 17 from Cats protections) as our own vet couldn't establish why he was having multiple problems, despite their best efforts. Willows did scans and aspirations which identified cancer which was untreatable and had spread. Although the fees between our vets and Willows came to over £3000 I have to say that I was thankfully insured and can't thank Willows enough for finally finding out what was happening to him. Sadly not long after we did what was best for our pet as he was starting to suffer and although hard it was the kindest thing to do. I found Willows to be expensive but that aside had complete confidence in their expertise and abilities. We have now adopted another cat as missed our old boy so much and have named him Fergus (the vet who finally helped diagnose our pets illness) and have to say would certainly not hesitate to go back to willows for future treatments. Read Less

Got recommended the willows from my local vet after our cat developed a heart murmur. Was quoted £350 for a scan, only to get there and be told the £350 was just a quick consultation fee. My local vet was more thorough and only cost £60. They wanted £1300 for the scan, and whilst I'm insured they agreed the murmur wasn't serious. I got the impression straight away they were only in it for the money... Read Less

I was heart broken when my 5 month old puppy broke his elbow and Willows explained to me all of the requirements and surgery costs, potential risks etc. Our dedicated Vet was very professional and did a great job and now my dog is stronger than ever (it has been 5 weeks). This review is to defend Willows on their 'Extortionate Pricing' and I have to disagree with the reviews commenting on the fact that they felt they were charged 'too much'. My surgery came to circa £8,000 to which my insurance covered as I pay for the top package with KC. Bringing a dog into your life is essentially bringing in another family member, so they should be treated with the best care, fed with best food, and the insurance should be with a reputable company. If you're willing to do all that for your family member, then in the event of an emergency, it doesn't really matter what the cost is as long as you can afford it. If you can't afford it then maybe you shouldn't be owning a dog. Judging by the other comments, I would safely say that Willows is a highly recommended Vet who you can trust with your pet (like I did with my dog), so there really should be no surprises to what they charge and if they are one of the best, or even the best, then I would happily take my pet there again if I needed to. I personally don't think it's fair to give a negative review purely on pricing because it's not always about the price. Our vet did the surgery on Saturday and we was able to pick our puppy up the following day. All credit to Willows, and the best are never the cheapest. P.S I'm from Nottingham and the closest surgery was Derby and I still decided to go to Willows. Ask your vet for recommendations! Read Less

If you dont want your beloved pet to end up dead and in a box on your bookcase then please dont use willows veterinary practise. The biggest mistake we ever made was to send our much loved lrish setter "Red" to this practise. He was fit and well but unable to pass urine. We paid £3500 for them to find out the cause. They did scans and investigations but failed to notice that Red had a large urinary stone completely obstructing his urethra and multiple other smaller stones in his bladder. Stones are one of the most common causes of bladder obstruction but this so called specialist practise failed to investigate whether that was the cause. This was despite being told by our local vet that they suspected an obstruction in the urethra. Willows didnt even bother to insert a cystocopy tube and investigate properly. They also missed the fact he had a hepatic shunt. The suffering that Red endured following this error is too horrific to think about. He was prescribed anti-inflammatories (they said they suspected he had inflammation of the bladder wall) which ultimately caused his bowel to perforate in 3 places. He had 5 general anaesthetics in 11 days - the 5th of which he didnt wake up from. The aftercare following Reds appointment was completely lacking. Once they realised the massive error they had made they apologised and did the surgery to remove the stones free of charge. However the length of time taken for them to realise their mistake (despite them being contacted by us and our local vets on a number of occasions - when we pointed out Red still couldnt pass urine) resulted in Red being unnecessarily catheterised, incarcerated at our local vets, miserable, his bowel perforating and his needless suffering. They didnt go back and review his scan results for another 6 days! The vet spoken to showed a complete lack of concern about Reds plight and in our opinion is not fit to practise. To add insult to injury not only have we lost our beloved companion but Willows veterinary practise dont even have the decency to refund our £3500! Please dont use this place if you love your pet. It was the biggest mistake we ever made. Read Less

I was referred to The Willows with my Old English Sheepdog as an emergency. She was kept in overnight for treatment. When I arrived the next day to collect her she had developed an injury that she didn't go in with. Sadly she died a week later, for the last week of her life she was unable to walk due to the treatment she received at The Willows. When I rang the consultant to tell him what had happened he said he would look into her care whilst at The Willows and I would hear from him, to date, 1 month later I have still not heard anything. The cost of the treatment was extortionate at just under 3,000! Read Less

I've had to visit here a number of times following eye concerns for my beautiful cat Willow. Although her initial surgery wasn't as successful as id hoped due to her ill health, every effort was made to ensure she was taken care of and received the best possible treatment whilst also ensuring I was clearly informed as to what treatment options were available to her.Read Less

I too cannot give the full case details for reasons of client confidentiality. I am extremely upset that a dog sent to you for urgent treatment, left your hospital with an unrelated disability that she didn't have when she came to you. What's more, on discharge when the owner saw immediately there was a problem, staff at the Willows hadn't even noticed it! So poor on every level. My Confidence in the level of 'in house' care at the Willows has diminished. The unessessary distress and suffering for this dog is extremely upsetting. Read Less

Totally brilliant service...my dog was referred here after getting pancreatitis. The reception staff were very helpful in sorting all my paperwork and insurance out. Fergus the vet explained everything clearly to me and treated me and my dog with utmost respect. All relevant tests were performed to put my mind at rest about Scoobys recovery who now is hopefully on the mend....I would highly recommend The Willows and there lovely team. Read Less

Incredible. Our little cat, Thomas has received such genuine care, and truly expert attention from Willows. A broken pelvis in 2015 was beyond the limit of our local vets' practice and experience; they made the best recommendation. Little Thomas now has some metalwork, but he's agile, comfortable, and completely recovered. We owe all involved a great deal. Read Less

We rushed over to the willows with our boxer Oscar, he was very poorly and the minute we pulled up on the car park they were out the door with a trolley to put him on, from there on the care was 100%, every one we spoke to were so kind and polite, the vet we saw was amazing I wish I could remember her name, if she gets to read this and knows she dealt with Oscar white (boxer) I would like to say thank you so much we couldn't fault your kindness to us and Oscar, such a lovely ladyRead Less

Our journey and battle with cancer has come to an end with our beloved CKCS Ruby Reece. Gary and I would like to thank everyone at Willows for their help, guidance and kindness over the past 4 months. Special thanks to Elisabetta, James, Fergus, nurses and the reception staff. You all make a fantastic team, putting all animals in your care, first every time and treating them with the special care they all deserve. Can't rate you highly enough. Thank you. Sue Read Less

Thank you for all you are doing to help little Lucy the rescue cav we all love our cavs my little boy is my world but princess lucy is everyone's world we all absolutely love her she has touched so many hearts and helped so many other puppy farm dogs xxx we are all so grateful for your care xxxx Read Less

I am a follower of Lucy the Rescue cavalier! I would like to say on behalf of all her followers who love her dearly that you are doing an amazing job with her. We know she is so very ill but we are willing her to pull through! You are fantastic people and do a fantastic job caring for our animals. Thank you! My thoughts are with Lucy and Lisa! Read Less

Thank you for all you are doing to help Lucy the Rescue Cavalier. She is such a sweet soul. She deserves a very happy, long life, and thanks to all you are doing for her, she just might have that chance. Do whatever you must to get her well again soon. Read Less

I cannot thank Mike Rhodes, Sarah and the rest of the Willows team for everything they have done for my pug Rocky. We live nearly 3 hours away from Willows and it's been a very distressing time for us all. Mike has made everything so much more bearable for us with daily phone calls and the constant reassurance that Rocky was doing okay. He spent just over a week in Willows and when we collected him on Friday I was extremely nervous about what he would look like after having his eye removed and I couldn't of been happier. Sarah, the veterinary nurse, brought him into the room where we were waiting and it was as if nothing had happened to him. I cannot recommend or praise Willows and their staff enough, Rocky has been looked after better than I could of imagined and I cannot thank you all enough Read Less

I can't thank Willows enough for there help with my Cat Leopold. He had surgery on Wednesday on his eye which was scary for all of us! Mike Rhodes the vet is absolutely fantastic. He spend so much time with me and Leo walking us though every aspect of whats going to happen and all outcomes. He was very compassionate with my work schedule and how important Leo is to our little family. When we checked him in, the male nurse took the time to explain how Leo wouldn't be left at any time and that he was in good hands. Wednesday came and I found myself clock watching waiting for the phone to ring. As promised Mike called and delivered the good news, and explained how he wanted to keep him a few days for monitoring. He called me every morning with an update and we could collect Leo Friday evening. Sadly Mike wasn't there but left fantastic personalised instructions for us and in the capable hands of a lovely female nurse. They explained his eye drops and pain relief medication and helped us to the car. Leo is a big cat and we had to put him in a dog cage to get him home! I really can't wait to thank Mike from the bottom of my heart for walking me through all of this. I can truly say each and every member of staff I have met are in my eyes are amazing people. I can truly understand why this is one of the best centres and have the top specialists in veterinary care! AxRead Less

Cannot recommend this place enough. Staff are all lovely and will go out of their way to help you. Our dog was referred by our vet and we had a call to book him in with Willows the same day! The vet was amazing with him and very caring and kind towards him. After an MRI we have now found out it is good news and he does not have a tumour in his brain which was suspected by our vet, he just has a massive infection. I will never be able to explain how grateful I am to everyone at Willows and am so glad we chose to be referred there!!! Thank you Willows. Read Less

I don't write many google reviews, but this one is certainly worth writing. I really can't recommend Willows enough. I am a small animal vet myself and have referred many animals there through all the specialist disciplines, never once experiencing anything but the best standard of care provided for an animal, right from friendly receptionists through to the lovely vets and nurses. For that reason, I've had both my cats cared for there over the last 18months, for the various problems they have had - a thank you for what they've done for them in my case, just doesn't seem to amount to enough. I consider it a cost worth spending and an extra distance worth travelling, for my clients to get there (about an hour and a half in this case). Most are fortunate enough to have a decent insurance to help which makes it easier. I think we generally under-estimate the cost of health care for humans and therefore also for pets, having our health care provided by a national charity, which I feel is greatly under-appreciated, but that's another story! I have experienced first-hand, that Willows provide not only an exceptional level of expertise and experience for diagnosing and treating pets, with state-of-the-art facilities, but just as importantly, if not more importantly, a genuine caring attitude to do the best for animals and their owners, which is why we ever entered this job in the first place. Being within the industry, I understand the level of dedication, time and effort required to keep up this standard, and it is one very lucky pet to be fortunate enough to receive this level of veterinary care at Willows. Read Less

A few years back I lost my Yorkie in freezing conditions in some fields, for 3 nights he was stuck in bramble and couldn't free himself and had no food or water. The local farmer found him and took him to a vet of which they contacted me from his chip to say he had been found. Upon coming to see my dog he shivering and had lost his sight, the vet told me "another night and he wouldn't be here now, however his body was shutting down and it's not looking good... It will cost 55 to have him put to sleep." I ignored this vets opinion and chose to take him home. After a few hours of my dog constantly crying and walking into everything in the house I thought I can't wait until the morning to take him to my own vets (Willows) for a second opinion. I called Willows at 4 am and explained the situation and they said I can bring him in immediately. The vet that saw us did explain he is very ill and it didn't look great but they did have some options which could possibly help, but the chances were slim as they also said his body was giving up as he had been out in minus temperatures and they put a torch to his eyes and there was no squinting, to say he had no sight. The vet told me he may need to see a neurologist and it could cost me 's with no joy to make him better. The thought of my dog leaving my life was to hard to accept so I told the vet "I'm going to leave him here in your constant care and when it gets to x amount let me know and I will evaluate the situation." Noella has been his vet all his left and she called me 3 times a day for 2 weeks saying there was little improvement. On the third week one morning she called to say "I fed him this morning and then he followed out the room, I think he may be getting his sight back!" Upon hearing this I had faith my dog wasn't giving up and he would get better. As the bill was getting quite high I chose to take him home and Noella told me how to mother him. The recovery of my Yorkie was amazing, from the small things of him following us around the house, to him remembering to go outside to go the toilet, and then hearing him bark for the first time in 8 weeks (at the postman) he saw approach the house. I stand by Willows and tell everyone that Willows saved my dogs life, I explain that Willows have the facilities that the average vet doesn't and that people shouldn't be put off by the face value costs. It's been 5 years and when I tell this story it puts a tear to my eye every time as I almost accepted the put down fee at the vets that found him. My Yorkie (now 10) made a full recovery with full eye sight and no health issues, you would never ever believe the state he was in at the time!! The bottom line and fact is, is that Willows saved Spud and saved the heartbreak my family would have gone through if we had took the first option without Willows opinion. My family & Spud thank Willows so very much. Read Less

Me and my husband were referred to this willows centre with our cat Mollie, she was in there for 5 days and treated extremely well even though she spit and growled at the staff. Our bill came to just over 4000, if we hadn't taken out pet insurance with pet plan we just wouldn't have been able to afford it. Mollie had a lump taken off the base of her tail last year, once again we payed it through pet plan so we didn't feel it in the pocket My advice is to get pet insurance then if your pet does become I'll it won't hit you hard in the pocket, you can pay by direct debit. I just can't thank the vets enough for the treatment she received even though it was quite a few years ago Read Less

We were referred to Willows by our local vet , who advised us that a consultation with Willows would cost around 150 . We thought that was rather a lot but were prepared to pay it to help our dog . After a 40 minute appointment (with no further clinical tests , and working from information received from our own vets who had already take a biopsy) we were presented with a bill for this one appointment of 343.97 . When I expressed some surprise at this (who wouldn't ?!?) the best they could say was that this included the VAT ! This would equate to a charge of 515.95 per hour (or 430 before VAT) . I thought that you cared about our pet but we feel that our emotional attachment to her was being exploited . Shame on you . Read Less

Our hound had a terrible accident on a Sunday night, we took her to an emergency vets, it was dirty, depressing and the care was lacking. This cost us over 1000. A friend suggested Willows, against the original vets advice, we moved her there for emergency surgery. Willows were better than we could have ever imagined. We had total confidence in them. They saved our dog's leg. She had hours in surgery and a very difficult procedure. She received fantastic care from the very best staff. This cost us 5000. Two months later our dog is back to her lively self and we can never thank Willows enough for saving her leg. It's the best money we have ever spent. Great value for money. Read Less

l felt that they charged excessive amounts for opearations, charged a fortune for a specialist diet for a dog that was too ill to eat the only reason that i did not take my complaint agaist them further was the dog died and i was too upset i would not recomend them to anyone and they should be reported. I felt that they exploited vulnerable people, Read Less

We came to Willows a few months ago after being referred by our local Vets. My beloved 2 year old Cairn Terrier Bobbie was a very poorly boy. He had bilateral Perthes, the outlook wasn't good, then WILLOWS got hold of him.......The fantastic Mr Clarke & his team worked their magic with the skill & dedication of true animal lovers, true professional Vets, truly wonderful people. Before his big operation on both hips poor little Bob could hardly walk, didn't play, didn't bark, didn't do much really he was a very very sad boy in great pain. Now after his surgery I have my lovely little boy back. He runs around (sorry Mr Clarke !) he barks, tail wags constantly, nudges his ball up the garden, came up the stairs today (sorry Mr Clarke !) he is just a normal happy, healthy, 2 year old Cairn Terrier, in fact I had forgotten just how flaming boisterous he was, hardly sits still now !! but really I wouldn't have it any other way, its a total joy to see, makes me so very very happy oh and he can now play with my darling granddaughter who he adores. Its just amazing & its ALL down to the wonderful folk at Willows. I would recommend them to anyone who has a poorly pet, its a worrying time when your pet is ill, they cant tell you how they feel, whats wrong but please have faith in the wonderful Willows, they are in the best possible hands from the front desk to the Vets to the Nurses & the aftercare, they will receive the best possible treatment, be loved and looked after as you would at home, fussed and cared for just as you would. The aftercare is also fantastic, the Vet will ring you at home & tell you how things are, how the patient is doing. They will bend over backwards to help you anyway they can, we had to bring Bobbie in the day before surgery as we live some distance away, there was a lovely Nurse waiting for us early Sunday morning, the free tea & coffee was also always appreciated after a long but extremely worthwhile journey. Bob is only 8 weeks post op but is doing so so well he is actually at 6 MONTHS standard post op & again this is totally due to the immense skill of Mr Clarke & his team. I can never say thank you enough, without this surgery things would have been grim & my boy would probably been put down, but to see him now you would never know just how diseased his hips were, how much pain he was in. He is a lovely, funny, fit & healthy normal 2 year old little dog. Bless you all & THANK YOU so so so so much for giving him back to me . XXXXXXXX PS. Good luck to anyone who reads this, there is no need to worry, tho I know you will, your beloved pet is very lucky to have been referred to such a wonderful place as Willows plse believe that, they will be fine promise. XX Read Less