StreetVet
Expanding free veterinary care in Cornwall to pets of people experiencing homelessness
StreetVet takes veterinary practice “to the pavement”, providing free, accessible veterinary care and essential supplies to the companion animals of people who are homeless.
In the last few years, StreetVet noted growing demand for its services in Cornwall, where the cost-of-living crisis and rising levels of deprivation had caused the numbers of pets needing treatment to double. The charity extended its provision in the largely rural county by expanding its outreach services to six locations and engaging non-clinical support volunteers to augment the volunteer resource provided by vets and vet nurses from local clinics.
Since its launch in 2019, StreetVet Cornwall has registered and supported 396 patients and conducted 1,941 consultations. It continues to grow, taking on five to 10 new patients a month, making it the third busiest StreetVet location in the UK.
The total cost of delivering the service for 12 months during 2024 was just over £69,000. More than a third of new patients require expensive veterinary intervention, with average consultation costs of £458.74 in 2024, as the pets have not received regular preventative care prior to becoming StreetVet clients. But having volunteers treat the animals at the outreach clinics is much more cost-effective for the charity than having to book them into veterinary practices for treatment.
The charity also runs an Accredited Hostel Scheme, which promotes pet-inclusive temporary accommodation, hubs and day centres, providing a safe space for pet owners to go with their pets to access the support services they need. Three major housing service providers in Cornwall have joined the scheme, supporting more pets and owners to stay together.
StreetVet now intends to replicate Cornwall’s outreach service expansion in other towns and rural areas with limited transport links.
Charity Awards judge Karin Woodley, chief executive of Cambridge House, described StreetVet’s work as a “really practical intervention in an area where there’s been a lot of lip-service paid to people’s rights to have homes, and rights to have animals in social housing, but not so much actual policy to make it possible”.
Judge Farah Nazeer, chief executive of Women’s Aid, said she recognised parallels with a lot of work in the women’s sector: “Many people refuse to leave dangerous situations because of concern about the care of their animals, and what this project does is allow people to access shelter and warmth and comfort – but also to get validation of the thing that they love. And that’s incredibly important.”
CC Reg. no. 1181527