Martin Clunes opens vet nurse training centre

Martin Clunes praised veterinary nurses as he opened a university training centre that will focus on practical learning.

The Men Behaving Badly actor, celebrating the completion of Hartpury University's Veterinary Nursing and Technical Skills Centre, said the profession was special because it was "pure care".

The centre, near Gloucester, is said to have state-of-the-art resources including three laboratory teaching spaces.

Opening the site, Mr Clunes, who is chancellor of the university, said: "I don't think there's any nasty people that go into vet nursing."

He added: "The doctors and the vets are the glamour boys who administer the medicine but what these guys do is care, pure care and that's what makes these guys precious."

The centre has been opened at a time when the veterinary industry is facing a national shortage of nurses.

Hartpury University's new centre allows it to train more students.

Deputy vice chancellor Rosie Scott-Ward said the university has had to cap places for vet nurses for the last seven or eight years.

"This facility allows us to expand those student numbers to hopefully meet the needs here in Gloucestershire, but also nationally," she said.

The centre has already won approval from fourth year student Carmen Christians.

"The new facility has been really interesting – all the new equipment has been really helpful," she said.

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