RSPCA plans new animal welfare hub

The RSPCA has announced plans to create a new animal welfare hub, adding a new purpose-built veterinary facility to the site of an existing animal centre.

The charity revealed it would move its specialist veterinary service from Finsbury Park Animal Hospital, London, to the site of Southridge Animal Centre in Potters Bar, Hertfordshire.

The move is part of the RSPCA's strategy to have a bigger impact for animals suffering cruelty and neglect.

Interim chief veterinary officer, Charlotte Beckett, said the proposed hub would give "highly vulnerable animals in our centre direct access to specialist veterinary care, reducing travelling and giving them the best chance of recovery".

Beckett explained how the new "modern and purpose-built vet facility" at Southridge Animal Centre would "bring benefits to animals" and for the staff and volunteers who she said had "been doing incredible work in an outdated building".

She added that Finsbury Park Animal Hospital currently needed £1m of investment. The cost for the new hub in Hertfordshire would be covered by selling the north London building and reinvesting the money into the Southridge centre.

The charity told the BBC that Finsbury Park Animal Hospital would remain open until the new provision was ready, with the hope that staff would transfer in 2027.

According to the RSPCA, about half of the animals currently brought into the London hospital are from teams based in Cambridgeshire, Suffolk, Norfolk, Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire.

The new centre would aim to help animals be seen more quickly by reducing travel times and improving accessibility.

Beckett, who is also the former director at Finsbury Park, said: "Modernising our facilities is better for our animals, our people and is also a better use of our supporters' donations as we'll have lower running costs, saving millions of pounds in the next few years alone."

The charity announced it was working closely with the teams at both Finsbury Park Animal Hospital and Southridge Animal Centre, as well as the union, "to ensure a smooth transition of the veterinary services".

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