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A storm of online protest about the internal affairs of Britain's leading veterinary charity has led to calls for the Charities Commission to investigate.

Two MPs are calling for an inquiry into allegations of “heavy-handed” management tactics, leading to a string of resignations at the People’s Dispensary for Sick Animals (PDSA).

Anne McGuire, Labour MP for Stirling, and Jo Swinson, Liberal Democrat member for East Dunbartonshire, want the commission to inquire into the troubled state of the PDSA, whose problems were first revealed by The Times. They have voiced concerns over the actions of the charity’s management at “a number of the PDSA’s centres across the UK” and the impact that this is having on funds.

The charity, which employs 800 veterinary staff in clinics nationwide, offers a free service to owners of cats, dogs and small pets who cannot afford vets’ bills.

As The Times reported, the trouble at the charity erupted last February when four senior members of staff at the Glasgow animal hospital, with 80 years’ combined service, were suspended. Two have since signed gagging orders. The other two have been dismissed and are understood to be seeking employment tribunals.

Members of staff subsequently complained to their MPs about “grotesquely unfair disciplinary procedures” and “bullying and intimidation as management tools”.

The close-knit veterinary world is buzzing with talk of the PDSA, which says it has signed compromise agreements with 12 senior members of staff over the past five years.

The charity said that the complaints were totally without foundation and strongly denied that there was any need for an inquiry by the Charities Commission.

Since the suspensions in Glasgow, three more long-serving members of the clinical staff have resigned, citing poor management, and a flurry of angry messages from the UK veterinary community has appeared on the Timesonline website.

PDSA, as a search word, has remained consistently in the top 100 hits on the website since July 31. Out of more than 60 comments, more than 50 are critical of the charity, calling for the commission to investigate what they allege is the PDSA’s use of expensive “gagging orders” to conceal mismanagement. Cases of senior PDSA vets who left their posts in Newcastle and Gateshead are referred to.

One comment, from someone who says he is a company director, describes the charity’s handling of senior staff as “adversarial, threatening and totally unhelpful. The HR department simply beggars belief.”

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