andy details

Andy attended Glasgow University Veterinary School between 1983 and 1988 and left to join a small animal practice in Birmingham. He gained his Certificate in Small Animal Orthopaedics (CertSAO) in 1991. Following this he began a three year residency in Small Animal Orthopaedics in 1992 at the Queen Mother Hospital of the Royal Veterinary College London under the tutelage of Professor Stuart Carmichael (now back at Glasgow University). During this time he was invloved in the teaching of final year under graduate students and post graduate students. The opportunity to engage in orthopaedic and spinal surgery with the ideal conditions present at the QMH led Andy to continue to engage solely in Referral Orthopaedic surgery following the end of his residency. During his time there he developed a special interest in conditions of the lower back and in the investigation and management of joint disease.

Andy's main on going clinical project is an investigation of the incidence and management of chondromalacia patella in small and medium breed dogs. He presented preliminary data in Munich at the European Society of Veterinary Orthopaedics and Traumatology in 2004. This is a debilitating condition and is often seen in association with low grades of patellar instability. This is also a condition that is recognised in human orthopaedic patients and is a significant cause of anterior knee pain.

Following his time at the Royal Veterinary College Andy began working at the Animal Medical Centre in Manchester. In the early years this was for 2 to 3 days per week as Andy still lived with his wife in London. In 1995 he moved to the North and the clinic at Manchester grew. With the birth of his first son in January 1999, he decided to develop his own orthopaedic referral service closer to home. As a result, Torrington Orthopaedics was born. A gradual extension of the service resulted in the current position with Andy running the clinical service from purpose built premises in Mission Street, Brighouse. He is currently engaged in studying for the Diploma in Small Animal Surgery.

Andy is also interested in computers, in particular in the creation of 3 dimensional anatomic models using the 3D program Cinema 4D. He also designed and is constantly upgrading the practice management software used at Torrington Orthopaedics. This uses a Filemaker backbone and records the clinical data for reporting and research purposes. The bespoke nature of the software and the fact that Andy can change it to meet changing needs of the practice means that we have a powerful database lying at the heart of the practice. This is important in referral practice as few of the off the shelf packages specifically understand the needs of the referral practice.