Our regular feature focusing on the work of North-East veterinary specialists Wear Referrals this week chats to specialist anaesthetist Toby Trimble.

Q: What do you do?

A: I am a veterinary surgeon and a European Specialist in Veterinary Anaesthesia and Analgesia. I am responsible for supervision of pets who need an anaesthetic and pain relief at our hospital for surgery, MRI, CT, endoscopy, or other diagnostic procedures.

Q: What do you do in a normal day?

A: Working in the referral hospital I am responsible for looking after pets while they are anaesthetised during surgery, MRI or other diagnostic tests and ensuring they recovery pain free. Together with our nurses and other vets I play a large part in management of very sick animals or those who have complex medical problems during surgery.

Q: How does your working day integrate with the rest of the team?

We have a big team of vets and nurses here, I make an individual plan for each pet in that day to give the best anaesthetic we can. I then help our nurses run the anaesthetic, place nerve blocks and trouble shoot any problems that may come up.

Q: Why did you want to become a vet?

I was always interested in how the body worked and the have worked with animals since I was eleven years old, becoming a vet let me combine both of these in a rewarding career

Q: What inspired you to specialise in anaesthesia?

Integrating physiology, pharmacology and difficult case management are all elements of the specialism I enjoy.

Q: What are you passionate about?

Teaching is a large part of my job, I love passing on knowledge to our nursing and vet teams. Seeing members of our team develop in their jobs to benefit the patients is a great feeling.

Q: What’s your greatest achievement?

I’m very dyslexic and couldn’t read until I was 12-years-old so initially education was not easy for me; overcoming dyslexia and being able to study at a high level has been a long and very challenging journey.

Q: What’s been your journey getting to this point?

I spent five years at vet school in Nottingham, after graduation I spend two years in general practice before undertaking a one-year small animal rotating internship, followed by three years at Glasgow Vet School as a specialist trainee in anaesthesia and analgesia. In 2019 I sat a rigorous set of exams to be awarded a Diploma of the European College of Veterinary Anaesthesia and Analgesia and become a Specialist.