Lifesaving PDSA vet Hayley goes on telly

Hayley McKenzie will be featured in new C4 series The Peoples Vet

Hayley McKenzie will be one of dozens of vets featured in The People’s Vet, following the lives of those working at two of PDSA’s pet hospitals in Kirkdale and Huyton, Liverpool.

The series, set to air its latest episode on Channel 4 this weekend, was shot over a six month period and gives a fascinating insight into how the charity cares for injured animals.

PDSA vet Hayley, 28, has now worked at Edinburgh’s PDSA Pet Hospital on Hutchison Crossway for six months and at PDSA Huyton in Liverpool for nearly four years where it’s her role to treat and help sick and injured pets during consultations and operations.

The series captures all the drama as PDSA’s heroic vet teams deal with hundreds of cases every single day, ranging from the most routine check-ups to extraordinary life-and-death emergencies.

She commented: “The series gives us a great opportunity to show the wider world what an important job we do at PDSA across our nation-wide Pet Hospitals. We help pets whose owners have nowhere else to turn.”

“It was quite an experience having the cameras on site. Any initial concerns we had were quickly overcome and they only filmed staff and pet owners who were happy with cameras present.”

Hayley – who is originally from North Yorkshire – added that the show gave a real life look at how vets working in PDSA hospitals spend their days, saying it showed the wide variety of animals they care for on a daily basis.

She said: “Nothing was staged, the people who made the programme just wanted to capture real life.

“Every day at PDSA is different and you never know what’s coming through the door next.”

Hayley continued: “That’s what makes it a fascinating job and I think that will come across to viewers in the series.”

PDSA celebrated its centenary year in 2017, treating millions of pets in that time and providing hope and support for families across the UK.

In 2016 alone, the charity cared for and treated almost 500,000 pets – including providing vaccinations to more than 72,000 animals – helping 300,000 owners across the country.

Locally, the PDSA Edinburgh Pet Hospital is one of 46 that the charity has in towns and cities around the UK, which cost a total of £60 million a year.

The Edinburgh hospital provides around 68,000 treatments a year and can see as many as 125 pets in a single day.

It costs the charity around £1million annually to provide PDSA’s services in Edinburgh, all funded by generous public support.

Produced for Channel 4 by Blakeway North, The People’s Vet appears every Saturday at around 4.30pm.