Dr Lotte McDonald

Lotte chose to become a vet after watching Watership Down when she was very young, after which she decided in that moment that she needed to save the poorly rabbits (not realising why they were unwell in the first place!). Even when she grew up and learned the rest of the story, she still wanted to spend her time working with animals, fixing anything that ailed them. 

Lotte chose to work within Emergency & Critical Care as she really enjoys the unpredictable nature of emergencies, and the variety in the caseload. Most of all, Lotte loves managing a critical case intricately and getting a good outcome for the patient even when the odds looked slim.  

As part of our Out of Hours, High Dependency Unit team, Lotte’s case load varies, depending on the number of emergencies arriving at the hospital – some days there may only be one or two, other days there will be a bit more of a flurry. Usually there are quite a few patients staying overnight in our HDU who need her attention too.   

Though working the night shift you may expect that Lotte does not really work with any of the other services, it can be quite the opposite! She will often work alongside other services such as Internal Medicine, Soft Tissue Surgery, Anaesthesia and Neurology, either admitting cases overnight where their expertise is required the following day, or by taking care of their critical patients after hours. It makes for a true multidisciplinary approach.  

Often, Lotte and the OOH team will be looking after patients with breathing issues, or severe neurological issues such as meningitis resulting in seizures. There is a lot of variation though, so no two days are the same!