British Pathe

People's Dispensary For Sick Animals, Nottingham.

L/S of a PDSA ambulance going up a driveway towards a hospital; M/S at the entrance as a man in a white coat opens the back doors of the van, takes out a dog and walks him into the hospital. In a room inside the hospital a man is preparing x-ray...

People's Dispensary For Sick Animals, Nottingham.

L/S of a PDSA ambulance going up a driveway towards a hospital; M/S at the entrance as a man in a white coat opens the back doors of the van, takes out a dog and walks him into the hospital. In a room inside the hospital a man is preparing x-ray equipment; the dog is brought in and put on the table. The x-ray device is swung over the dog who is held in position by an assistant; the x-ray man twiddles knobs and presses a button on a meter to take the x-ray, then pats the dog on the head.

C/U of a sign reading 'Anaesthetic Room'. M/S as the dog is wheeled into the room on a stretcher as we are told he has swallowed a dangerously large stone. The vet and a nurse lift the dog on to the table, and the vet puts something that looks like a paper bag under the blanket with the dog (?!). C/U of a sign reading 'Sterilising Room'; C/U of the nurse lifting some metal equipment out of the steriliser; M/S and C/Us of the vet surgeon looking at an x-ray plate on a light box. He then washes his hands as the commentator says "...for obvious reasons we shan't show the actual surgery..." (good! One of the obvious reasons must be that Rolf Harris isn't present). The nurse wheels in a large trolley of equipment and hands the vet a sterilised towel which he places over the dog.

C/U of the vet surgeon concentrating and rubber-gloved hands picking up operating instruments as commentator talks of the P.D.S.A. and how it was founded for pets owned by people unable to afford private veterinary fees.

The nurse is seen going into the animal ward where she (not very convincingly) checks some clipboard notes before checking on our pooch. He seems to be doing very well and she pets him through the bars of the cage.

Note: There are press releases on file about this hospital that was opened in July 1960. Cuts exist - see other record.