Falmouth is getting a new small-animal veterinary hospital as Rosemullion Veterinary Practice begins work on their new establishment.

The new hospital is being built on Bickland Water Road and will replace the current Rosemullion Veterinary Practise building.

The new establishment aims to offer county-wide specialist treatment, which will put it on the map as one of the best in Cornwall.

"This is something we have been working on for nearly 10 years," Helena, clinical director at Rosemullion told us.

"We've had a lot of difficulties getting the right site in the right location but we're really happy with what we're doing now.

"The practice has grown significantly over the last few years and it's become very difficult in recent years to cope with the demand."

The Veterinary Practice has modified their existing building as much as they could but they are now in vital need of more space.

"We will have a CT scanner in the new hospital – currently there is only one other facility that can offer this in Cornwall," Helena continued.

"We also have some highly skilled staff in areas such as surgery, ophthalmology and exotics so we take referrals from practices all over Cornwall for these services for cases that may not be able to be managed in a first opinion practice.

"We are aiming to expand our areas of expertise as well so that hopefully we can offer a high level of care for people all over Cornwall reducing the need for them to travel outside of the county for complex cases."

The new building will feature 3 operating theatres, separate dental suite, a kennels/cattery, exotic species housing and seven consulting rooms.

It will also host a large reception area and parking facilities.

The Veterinary Practice has been in existence since the 1890s, started by a man named Col. Smythe. He was a one-man practice working from a pony and trap looking after several of the local farms.

Helena added: "In 2015 we joined in with CVS, a large group which owns multiple practices throughout the UK and abroad. This has enabled us to grow further, develop our clinical skills and provide a very high level of care to our patients.

"Across the branches in Helston and Penryn as well as the hospital in Falmouth we have 17 vets and a fabulous team of nurses and support staff giving us a team of just over 60 staff."