About Us
Mission Statement
Since 2000, LVH has been providing professional, personal and compassionate care to the pets of the Maitland Area. We recognise the deep connection people share with their pets and understand that the unconditional companionship they offer us enriches our lives in ways that cannot be measured. Our mission is to be the bridge in the human-animal bond, ensuring both the physical health of our patients as well as the emotional well-being of our clients.
Whether it is providing your pet with routine, preventative care to ensure they live a long, healthy life, guiding you through complete treatment decisions when they fall ill or providing compassionate, grief-informed care during end-of-life transitions, our team of veterinary professionals is here for you every step of the journey.
History
The Lorn Veterinary Hospital was purchased by Dr Lynda Hewson in 2000 who, along with her associates, provided outstanding and compassionate care to the pets of Maitland for over 20 years.
Upon Dr Hewson’s retirement in 2023, Dr Brett Alexander purchased the business and has continued the hospital’s reputation for excellence in animal health care. We have now grown to employ seven veterinarians with a diverse range of professional interests and have invested in upgrading the premises and purchasing a range of new equipment. We have established relationships with several veterinary specialists and local allied veterinary health professionals which allow us to provide an ever-increasing level of service to our clients whilst maintaining our high standards of patient care and compassion.
The hospital has plans to expand into the adjacent building which will further improve our capacity to care for the pets of Maitland. We expect this work to be completed by January 2027 but will keep you posted as to its progress – so watch this space!
Awards and Recognition
In 2025 we were thrilled to be awarded first place in the Pet Care category of the Hunter Local Business Awards. We would like to express our sincere gratitude to all our clients who took the time to cast a vote for us and to assure them that
In the Community
LVH has very strong ties to our local community. Our staff all live within the Maitland area – in fact, many grew up here. We consider our clients, and their pets, to be members of our extended family. We offer all pets who attend our hospital the same compassionate and thorough care we would want our own pets to receive, and we take considerable pride in the consistently high standard of service we offer all our clients.
We demonstrate our commitment to the Maitland community and its people by our ongoing support of local charities and organisations, primarily those relating to family, children and animals.
Being parents ourselves, we are passionate about working with local schools to educate children in ways to keep their animals happy, healthy and safe, to foster a deeper understanding of animal welfare and to celebrate the human animal bond in all its many wonderful forms. If you would like one our team to come and present at your child’s school, please don’t hesitate to reach out.
In addition, LVH works closely with the Maitland City Council by caring for injured strays and desexing animals sold through the Maitland Animal Management Facility. Through our associations with WIRES (the Wildlife Information and Rescue Service) Hunter Wildlife Rescue, we provide free care for sick and injured native birds and other native wildlife.
Sustainability
Our Environmental Policy
At LVH, we recognise that climate change poses a critical threat to the animals we love and care for including wildlife, livestock and companion animals. Everyone at LVH is committed to reducing our environmental footprint and we have implemented several practical, actionable changes that align with these goals.
Specific measures that we have taken to achieve these aims include:
- Anaesthetic Gas Management: Inhalant anaesthetics (like isoflurane) act as potent greenhouse gases. We are mitigating this by using low-flow anaesthesia techniques, capnography, and complete intravenous options when appropriate
- Water & energy conservation in clinic: By installing low-flow faucets and optimizing our cleaning processes, as well as optimizing the running loads of our washing machines and dishwashers, we have drastically reduced our annual water and power consumption. We have installed energy-efficient lighting and appliances throughout the hospital. We regularly monitor equipment to maintain peak efficiency and, when required, replace equipment with energy efficient options.
- The utilisation of digital radiography equipment has significantly improved our environmental footprint: harmful chemicals are no longer used in the development of our x-rays and the reduced exposure times greatly reduces the radiation to both pets and staff.
- Recycling of paper and cardboard materials, glass and plastic products. All recyclable materials are regularly collected and recycled by an independent contractor. Separate bins for paper recycling are placed at various locations inside the clinics.
- All needles and sharps are collected for responsible disposal by our external laboratory.
- All printer cartridges are returned to our supplier for recycling.
- Duplex (double-sided) is our default setting for all printers across all clinics.
- Emails are used for communication rather than facsimile or hard documentation.
- We encourage the use of electronic communication by our suppliers (laboratory, specialists etc.) to enable us to attach their reports directly to clients’ electronic files rather than retaining hard copies of communication regarding patients.
- Local residents provide us with clean old newspapers and towels for use as insulation in our hospital cages.
- To help us “be green” please provide us with your email address or mobile phone number so that we can reduce paper use by emailing or texting your pet’s reminders.
