Maple Vets, Grappenhall, Warrington

An amazing veterinary practice. The staff are wonderful and provide excellent support and advice and I know my pet is in the best hands . I have been with them now for many years and can highly recommend them. Thank you to their amazing team!

We have used this practice for over 20 years and Alexa in particular who has looked after our dog Marnie for the last 13 years. I find Alexa to be very professional and friendly and she remembers the finer details about Marnie. I trust her advice and am very grateful for having the continuity of this lovely lady’s service Pam Williams

Not sure if my review sent. This is an awesome practice. The vets and receptionists are AMAZING. They look after my cocker spaniel Dougie with love and exceptional veterinary care and treatment. It’s like he is their dog. They sort insurance and after care brilliant. You get calls to check that your baby is ok. Recommend 100% Thank you each and everyone of you.

Something I wish I’d known about this business: I’m posting this because, like most people, I thought this was an ordinary local vet -we’ve had our cats registered here for years as Maple Vets. Our 7yr old cat was taken in with sudden, severe breathing difficulties. The vet did correctly say that a tumour was one possible cause but we were told the next steps would be expensive blood tests, X-rays and a stay at their larger hospital in St Helens. An ultrasound wasn’t mentioned. She was given injections and sent home with pills, despite being unable to eat or drink and struggling to breathe. We then spent a horrible day and night trying to care for her without knowing what was wrong. The next morning as it was out of hours, we took her to Animal Trust, the new non-profit emergency vets near The Village. Their first suggestion was a simple ultrasound. It took about ten minutes, cost £90, immediately it showed a large tumour filling her chest. There was no realistic treatment and sadly we had to have her put peacefully to sleep. Had that scan been offered the previous morning, she could have been spared around 24 hours of distress. This knowledge is heartbreaking for us: hence 1 star. When Rutland House rang after the weekend to ask how she was, we asked if they had an ultrasound machine and were told they did, but it wasn't in use as it was “not very good”. We hadn’t been told that at the appointment and nobody suggested that was the perfect diagnostic tool or that we could go elsewhere for a quick scan. The problem isn’t that the first vet failed to think of a tumour. She didn’t. The problem is that we weren’t offered or told about the quickest and least stressful way of finding out, even though our cat was in serious respiratory distress. We’ve since discovered that Rutland House is part of VetPartners, owned by the private equity company BC Partners. BC Partners itself describes VetPartners as using a “hub and spoke” model, with smaller local branches feeding work into larger hospitals and keeping higher-value referrals within the group. I thought I was going to my local vet. I didn’t realise I was going to a “spoke”. I did some investigating: the CMA’s recent report on the UK veterinary market found serious problems around ownership transparency, rising prices and the information pet owners are given about treatment and referral choices. It also found that VetPartners was one of the large groups making profits well above the cost of capital over a sustained period and found evidence that commercial policies and targets may put pressure on vets towards particular tests or treatments. Fewer than a third of owners who were referred elsewhere had been offered a choice of referral centre! BC Partners has also faced scrutiny in America over its ownership of PetSmart. US politicians wrote to the company about reports of understaffing, medication errors and pet deaths, and PetSmart has faced individual negligence lawsuits after animals died in its care. That doesn’t prove anything about our cat's individual vet, but it does make transparency about ownership, equipment and referral systems feel quite important. I want to be clear that the individual staff we dealt with were kind to our cat and good at hypothesising her condition. This isn’t a personal complaint about the vet who examined her. It’s about the system, and the information we weren’t given. Pet owners should be informed who owns the practice, what equipment the branch actually has, what its limitations are, whether there is a quicker or less stressful option elsewhere, and whether they have a genuine choice about where they are referred. I’m sharing this so other local people can ask those questions before they find themselves in the position we were in.

Great vet practice. Staff are lovely. Vet is brilliant. Louie has no fear as a result. You feel welcomed and at ease. Highly recommend Grappenhall Vet practice

Unfortunately my dog gets stressed when at the vets. All the vets are accommodating and understanding. Hannah uses her judgment to make his visit the most positive experience possible, of which I am very grateful. I would highly recommend as it’s consistently the best vets I have visited.

Lovely staff - always friendly, caring and provide great professional service.

The staff are always very friendly, kind and considerate, well aware that for many animals a trip to the vets can be extremely stressful. A great little vets and in a very handy location.

We've had great care here over the years, very friendly and reasonably priced

We have been using Grappenhall Vets for more than 10 years. We brought in our small, 16yr old doggie, Belle. for her annual vaccination. Hannah the Vet, also gave her a quick general check and confirmed that Belle's was doing well for her age. Julie on reception was also very kind and helpful, which made the visit a positive experience.