[This article is subject to a legal complaint]

One of Britain’s leading animal charities is facing a rebellion from senior clinical staff after allegations of bullying and intimidation by managers.

The PDSA, which treats animals whose owners cannot afford vets’ bills, is accused of heavy-handed management techniques that have led to the departure of numerous veterinary and nursing staff.

Several vets from the charity — formerly known as the People’s Dispensary for Sick Animals — have written to MPs, including the Conservative Sir John Butterfill, who is on the charity’s board. Copies of the letters seen by The Times allege “protracted and grotesquely unfair disciplinary procedures” and the use of “bullying and intimidation as management tools”, and suggest that “animals are treated better than staff”.

At one of the charity’s two Glasgow clinics, four senior members of staff with about 80 years’ combined service have been sacked or suspended.

Three quarters of the centre’s 31 staff signed a grievance against the practice manager, and 13 are now believed to be seeking other jobs.

At the Edinburgh clinic 13 employees — more than half the staff — left their jobs in 2004 after management problems, although turnover has now stabilised. In Aberdeen the highly respected head nurse recently left and disciplinary proceedings are understood to be under way at the clinic in Middlesbrough.

The charity issued a statement last night saying that it took extremely seriously any allegation of mismanagement and denying that the turnover in staff was “exceptional”.

It said: “Upon learning of issues at its PetAid hospital at Shamrock Street in Glasgow, PDSA set up a thorough investigation, which was overseen by external legal advisers. The investigation concluded that allegations of bullying of staff by local managers were entirely without foundation.”

Employees claim that the cost of the investigations, and hiring locum vets to replace lost staff, is about £100,000.

Scotland and the North East of England are under the remit of Susan Mooney, one of the PDSA’s principal veterinary surgeons.

It was a visit by Ms Mooney to the PDSA hospital in Shamrock Street, Glasgow, early this year which is believed to have led to the current crisis.

What began as a minor misunderstanding escalated into a confrontation between managers and staff. Two mobile telephones, which staff had assumed were to be recycled, turned out to belong to Ms Mooney. One had been exchanged by a nurse for her own before the package was dispatched for recycling. The argument over what had happened sparked off staff unrest and ended in disciplinary action. From this a grievance claim was lodged against a practice manager, alleging intimidation and inapproporiate behaviour. It was signed by 22 members of staff but, after investigation, was thrown out.

In February the head vet, Susan Henderson, who had been with the charity for 24 years; the head nurse, Janice Murray, who had 18 years’ service; Catherine Goldie, a senior vet with 20 years’ service; and Jacqui Gallagher, a senior nurse with 16 years’ service, were suspended.

All four are now believed to have been either sacked for misconduct or to have signed gagging orders. None could be contacted.

The immediate past president of the British Veterinary Association is Freda Scott-Park. In May, in her capacity as a working vet, she wrote to Jan McLoughlin, the director of veterinary services at the PDSA, voicing her concern at what was happening at Shamrock Street.

Ms Scott-Park said: “I am appalled that this centre appears to have been torn apart. I was a regular summer locum there for a few years, and it was an extremely busy centre with a very happy atmosphere. I often commented to people just how few staff changes there have been over many years.

“I cannot understand how four members of staff who have given so much over so many years find themselves in this situation. I have always held them in high regard for their professional skills, and surely these skills must be what the PDSA management value above all?”

A member of staff at the Shamrock Street clinic, who wanted to remain anonymous, said: “We had always worked as an organically grown team. It was a fantastic place to work. In 18 years there had never been any disciplinary action. All the staff who left and the staff who have remained worked on the basis that the PDSA was a charitable organisation, and if that meant staying on longer we did it. We did it without question. The atmosphere now is that people are working to rule. That goodwill has gone. Thirteen of us are now considering our position and looking for other jobs.”

The upheaval in Edinburgh in 2004 led to the departure, without compensation, of the head nurse, who had nearly 20 years’ service, four vets, three nurses, two members of reception and two night staff.

Gill Simpson, a senior vet, resigned over the way she was treated. She said: “I felt the management structure was antagonistic to staff. Lack of ability to investigate openly is part of the problem. I hope something can be done. It’s a wonderful organisation and a wonderful facility for vets in practice.”

Pet project

49th

How Caritas data ranks the charity, according to the richest in Britain

4,650

Sick or injured pets treated by the charity every day

£81m

Total funds recorded in its most recent annual report, lodged last July

18

veterinary staff left the ten PetAid hospitals across the Scotland and North East region last year

Allegations a 'distraction'

The PDSA released a statement saying that the vast majority of staff who left PetAid hospitals in 2006 quit of their own accord.

“Their departures have not had an adverse impact on service,” it said. “Those who have left have either been replaced or are in the process of being replaced.

“Disciplinary proceedings have been taken against a further two members of staff, one of whom has now left PDSA’s employment. Proceedings are ongoing in the case of the second and the charity is not able to discuss the individual set of circumstances involved.

“The turnover of PDSA staff in Scotland is not exceptional. On the contrary, it is entirely reflective of the broader national situation. The organisation employs nearly 800 veterinary staff at 47 PetAid hospitals across the UK, very many of whom have been with the charity for a number of years and continue to provide a valuable and distinguished service.

“PDSA views the allegations as an unfortunate distraction from the volume of great work done by the charity.”

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