Management Team

Managers team

From left to right: Wayne, Rachel, John and Ros

Wayne Smith-Gillard embarked upon a career in veterinary medicine in 1996 after a degree in Applied Biology: he has an interest in exotic species and has previously spent time at both London Zoo and Whispnade Wild Animal Park in their veterinary and education departments respectively.

Initially he trained as a veterinary nurse and has spent time working with exotic specialist vets, at the Beaumont Animals Hospital (one of the Royal Veterinary College hospitals) teaching 1st and 2nd year veterinary students, and in several multi vet general practices. The transition to management occurred in 2001 when he took the position of hospital manager for a large London group veterinary practice and he became North Kent Referrals’ practice manager in January 2006.

He is now a member of council for the Veterinary Practice Management Association but still spends some time keeping up with current nursing issues and volunteers for the South Essex Wildlife Hospital as veterinary nursing and website advisor.

Rachel Sant graduated from the Royal Veterinary College, University of London in 1992 and has since worked exclusively in companion animal practice in the South of England. Her main interests are in small animal dermatology and internal medicine. She achieved her Certificate in Veterinary Dermatology in 1999 and her Certificate in Small Animal Medicine in 2007 and currently sees referrals in dermatology and internal medicine (being particularly keen on feline medicine). Rachel also gained her MACVSc (Membership of the Australian College of Veterinary Scientists) during 2007.

Her interests outside of work are ballroom dancing, foreign travel and sailing (she crewed on a 40 ft yacht across the Atlantic and back in 1994-5). Rachel was the Secretary of BSAVA Metropolitan region from 2000-2005 and is currently doing a degree in Modern Languages with the OU. She owns a very handsome cat called Jack.

John Hutt graduated from the University of Queensland with a Bachelor degree in Veterinary Sciences in 1988 and worked in general practice in Brisbane for eighteen months before coming to the UK to work as a locum. He then worked in general practice in the Medway towns from 1991 to 2000, gaining the RCVS Certificate in Dermatology in 1997. From 2000 - 2001 he resumed locuming as he had become disenchanted with working in environments where referral and general practice were run side by side. Spurred on by his drive for perfection, John opened NKR in August 2001 and since then the practice has expanded from one vet and one veterinary nurse to 16 vets, 9 nurses and 6 nursing assistants!

In 2006, John attained his Membership of the Australian College of Scientists in Small Animal Medicine and was also awarded a BA degree from the Open University in Literature and Classics.

At home, John has three rescued cats who vie for his attention. Shadow, Emma and Baby were three kittens found abandoned in a box by a man walking his dog in the Chatham area some years ago. They are now happy adult cats with large personalities and enormous appetites.

Ros Nancarrow has been involved with North Kent Referrals since the time of it's inception. Ros was actively involved from the search for a suitable property onwards, having worked with John previously in general practice for many years. In the early days she did everything from demolition and decorating, to all the administration and some basic nursing, and was practice manager for the first four years. As the practice expanded and the workload increased, Ros chose to step sideways and become administration manager, forming part of a new, dynamic management team to take practice development to the next level.

Mike Dale has been North Kent Referrals acupuncturist since 2002 but joined us in April 2008 in order to develop a closer link with our referring practices and specialist veterinarians. Mike has a wealth of experience to draw upon as he was part of the team responsible for development of a large local veterinary hospital and, like John, previously worked in the Kent area for a number of years.