Jayne Merryweather-Lewis RVN ANA A1
Clinical Director
Isle of Wight
Jayne joined Pet Doctors in 2002 as a student veterinary nurse and worked across all of the Pet Doctors island sites before taking on the clinical director role in September 2016. She enjoys all aspects of her job and has a special interest in diagnostic imaging. Outside of work Jayne enjoys travelling and sunny beaches.
Karla Tanner RVN
Newport practice
Karla joined us in November 2000, after training in a large second opinion practice; her interests were primarily surgery and rabbit care. Karla worked up to deputy head nurse before taking a career break to have her children. She is mum to three daughters who all have inherited a love for animals. Karla has been known to return home from work with various new additions over the years: rabbits, guinea pigs, terrapins, a tortoise, ducks, a cockerel, two pythons, a Dogue de Bordeaux called Arthur, and most recently, a working Springer Spaniel called Pixie.
After working for a few other island practices, Karla re-joined Pet Doctors in Guildford this time as a night nurse, commuting from the Island weekly; this was a role that once again put her experience as a veterinary nurse in an out of hours practice to good use. Karla returned to us in February 2017 to lead our nursing team, excited for the opportunity to once again work in our busy hospital.
Sophia Donald RVN
Newport practice
Sophia started her training at Pet Doctors in 2013 and qualified in October 2017. She is mostly based at the Newport hospital but is occasionally at the Ryde and Lake surgeries. Her main interests are animal behaviour and surgical nursing and she hopes to work towards an animal behaviour qualification in the future. In her spare time Sophia enjoys walking, reading and spending time with her parents lovely Doberman, Luna.
Sarah Guppy BSc (Hons) RVN
Newport practice
Sarah started working at Pet Doctors in 2013 as an animal care assistant after completing a degree in equine studies. She began her veterinary nurse training in 2014 and qualified as an RVN in 2017. Sarah enjoys all aspects of her job but has a keen interest in the nursing of hospitalised patients at the Newport hospital. Outside of work she enjoys walking her dog and spending time with her horses.
Esme Hawkes BSc (Hons) RVN C-SQP PHC
Clinical Coach
Lake practice
Esme began working within veterinary in 2012; qualifying as a registered veterinary nurse from the Royal Veterinary College in 2015 after completing several placements at our Lake clinic. Whilst completing her degree year in 2016 she worked as a locum nurse gaining experience in general practice, hospital and referral. She qualified with her BSc (Hons) in July 2016. Esme then went to South Africa to gain both husbandry and veterinary experience with a variety of native animals before moving to Guernsey. She came back to the island in July 2017 to work again at our Lake branch. Esme has gained certificates including Pet Health Counsellor; meaning she has had specialised training and methods to run a variety of nurse clinics. Her specialist certificates include small animal oral health and diabetic Advisor, meaning she can run meaningful tailored consults. She also gained her SQP qualification in companion animals, meaning she can prescribe medication within her scope, offering flea and worm clinics and prescription of treatment. She offers these nurse clinics daily at our Lake branch. In her spare time she enjoys socialising, studying and going to the mainland to see her family and Golden Retriever, Dexter.
Jasmine Hedderwick FdSc RVN
Newport practice
Jasmine graduated with a foundation degree in veterinary nursing in October 2017, whilst training with Pet Doctors. She has a particular interest in rehabilitation and physiotherapy in small animals, and is very keen to improve her knowledge on nursing and husbandry for exotic species. At home, she has a naughty black cat called Darcey and two geckos, Nacho and Noodle.
Alice Robbins RVN
Newport practice
Alice joined Pet Doctors in 2011 and qualified as an RVN in 2016. She has a keen interest in diagnostic imaging, especially radiography. At home she has two beautiful black Labrador’s called Penny and Molly, and in her spare time enjoys horse riding and baking yummy cakes for the rest of the Pet Doctors team.
Kay Sothcott RVN
Ryde practice
Kay began nursing Ryde in July 2002. Prior to this she gained over three years of nursing experience at another island practice, then called Beckingham & Thomas. The partners/practice eventually merged and this is now the Pet Doctors Animal Hospital in Newport. She owns a much loved, elderly Border Terrier cross Jack Russell born in August 1996. They still enjoy their walks together although they do take a little longer than they used to!
Luke Wilson BSc (Hons) RVN
Newport practice
Luke started working here in 2014 and is mainly based at our Newport hospital. He graduated in 2013 from the University of the West of England in bioveterinary science before completing his nurse training here at Pet Doctors. Luke has a keen interest in surgical nursing which he hopes to study a certificate in advanced veterinary nursing in. He has a black Labrador called Rolo. In his spare time Luke enjoys countryside walks with Rolo and looking after his partners’ two horses, Leo and Derry.
Maria Edisbury
Student Veterinary Nurse
Newport practice
Maria joined us in 2016 as a receptionist and is now studying to be a veterinary nurse. She previously worked for the NHS for 16 years as a graduate paramedic and resuscitation officer. Her special area of interest is cardiology. She has two dogs called Poppy and Peanut who she likes to walk with her husband and two children.
Jess Hennessy
Student Veterinary Nurse
Ryde practice
Jess joined Pet Doctors in 2018 as a Patient Care Assistant. Since then she has begun studying at Sparsholt College to follow her dream and become a qualified veterinary nurse. Jess has a particular interest in animal behaviour and loves the range of different personalities that she meets on a day-to-day basis. Outside of work she shares her home with two troublesome ginger cats, Lily and T.
Lauren Pelaez
Student Veterinary Nurse
Lake practice
Lauren joined Pet Doctors in December 2017 after completing five months work experience at the Newport surgery. She will be enrolled on the veterinary nursing training program with Sparsholt College in September 2018. Lauren has enjoyed her time in the Lake clinic so far and is looking forward to starting her training. She has two dogs, a Shih Tzu called Lyla and a Yorkshire Terrier called Alfie, and in her free time she enjoys exploring the island with them.
