Information for students considering applying for an externship (seeing practice) at Anglesey Lodge Equine Hospital
Thank you for your interest in seeing practice at Anglesey Lodge. Most of our students visit during the breeding season, when we are at our busiest. We accept three to four students at a time during peak breeding season, and one to two students out of the season. The breeding season runs from approximately 1st February to 31st July.
Availability:
We are accepting applications for 2022 as normal at the moment but due to the ongoing Covid 19 situation the placement offers will be reviewed regularly to comply with Government recommendations on travel, etc, and may need to be amended or cancelled at short notice.
We ask that students visit for a minimum of 2 and a maximum of 6 weeks.
Students on an Erasmus program are allowed to visit for a longer period – up to 7 months. However, we ask that they apply as if for an internship – with a CV, letters of reference and a cover letter. Students wishing to stay longer than 6 weeks will be asked to interview either on the telephone or via Skype.
Please do not ask to see practice with us if you will not be available during the weekends of your visit. We are happy to give you time off during the week to see something of Ireland or to recuperate, but we require that students are available at the weekends
We are a busy private practice, with a philosophy that everyone mucks in to get the work done. We will ask you to help out on some weekend days, evenings or night shifts, but would make sure that you don’t work longer than 12 hours and get time to sleep and eat! Please do not ask to see practice with us if you are not free to help at the weekends. We also want students to see some of Ireland, so if you help out at the weekend, we would be happy to give you a couple of free days during the week in lieu. We have a 24-hour nursing team – you would never be by yourself. We have 8 vets in the practice, 2 of whom are permanently in the hospital. Students are expected to help out in all aspects of the hospital. This will mostly involve monitoring and treating the In-Patients – some of these will be on hourly treatments. Our head nurse will allocate you one or more patients to look after, and you are expected to ensure that they receive all the treatments and care they require. Most of the animals have ranges set for heart rate, etc. and you will be involved in the discussion of change of treatment if your animal goes outside the range set by the attending vet.
You will also be assisting the vets with out patient appointments at the clinic, ie. scoping, scanning, etc.
There will be opportunities to go out with a stud vet in the morning, and see that aspect of the practice also.
There is no accomodation available at the clinic, but we will assist you if possible to find rented accomodation locally. There is no public transport to the clinic and many students have opted to hire a vehicle for ease of travel and independence. Directions to the practice are given here. There are very many local Bed & Breakfasts or Hotels – these can be found at Discover Ireland or www.kildare.ie (choose one that it on the Curragh, in Kildare or in Newbridge).
Dublin airport is the closest airport (about 40 miles away). There are direct flights to Dublin from many airports. Cheap flights from the UK and many European cities are available from many airlines, including Aer Lingus and Ryanair. Direct flights from the USA are available from many airlines, including Aer Lingus, Continental, Delta, United, American and US Airways.
A map of all cities served direct from Dublin Airport (click on the city to see the airline) is available here.
There is a bus direct from Dublin airport to Newbridge, Kildare and Monasterevin: http://www.dublincoach.ie/
The bus company also has an iPhone App: http://itunes.apple.com/ie/app/dublin-coach/id337279180?mt=8
We will organise a lift from there to where you are staying.
Dublin and Dun Laoghaire ports are about an hour away from the practice (except at Rush Hour, when they can be 3 hours away!). Larne and Belfast ports are about 3 to 4 hours by car from the practice. Directions to the practice are given here. Several ferry companies sail to Ireland, including Irish Ferries, P&O and Stena.
Hope this gives you some information – please ask if you have any other questions. The best way to arrange to see practice is to email nursing@aleh.ie directly. Alternatively, please call Mary Wade (Head Nurse) on +353 (0)45-521373
If you would like to come over, please confirm the dates (if the flights/ferry don’t quite work out on those exact dates, its no problem) so that we can make sure we have a spread of students across the season
Please also note that if you confirm these dates, we will be turning other students down for that time. Please only confirm if you definitely intend to come.
Thanks again for your interest!