Meet Nuffield’s specialist knee doctor
CARDIFF’S Mr Christopher Wilson is a top consultant orthopaedic surgeon with a special interest in knee and trauma surgery.
His innovative approach, particularly to knee injuries, has earned him the finest reputation with sports people and premier clubs, including national teams, in rugby, football, netball, judo and athletics. Mr Wilson works both in the NHS and privately at Nuffield Health Cardiff and Vale Hospitals.
Originally from Wigan, Chris Wilson did not have a strong ambition to become a doctor. He said: “I entered medicine for want of a more original idea when I was in the sixth form. I happened to stumble into a job that suits me very well. I am capable of working hard to resolve a problem when it is in front of me, but I don’t think I would have been a very successful entrepreneur, assessing and acting on opportunities as they arise.
“How would colleagues describe me? Annoying, stubborn and hardworking is probably close to the truth!”
Some of the biggest challenges that Chris Wilson has ever faced include leaving home and settling into London Medical School. And, after qualifying as a doctor, dealing with the very long hours and lack of sleep that was part and parcel of a medical career in the late 1980s. He says perhaps the best piece of career advice he was given was: “Never to take anything personally! To remember that many of the patients I would see would be at a stressful point in their lives and some were making a life-changing decision.”
The most rewarding part of his medical career is the variety of people he meets.
“I enjoy meeting people of all ages and backgrounds in very varied environments, from the stressful and distressing circumstances of major trauma surgery through to the more relaxed clinic environment at the Cardiff Bay and Vale hospitals. In particular the clinics which manage young people and children with knee problems.
“I would advise anyone thinking about having knee surgery to reflect carefully on how the problem they have is affecting their life and to think and discuss carefully with their advisors and with the surgeon how their life would be improved, or otherwise, if that particular problem was eliminated.
“Many knee problems are severely disabling and the resolution of the problem can be a life-altering experience. Equally, many problems with joints in general and knees in particular constitute a minor nuisance but, once a diagnosis is explained to the patient, the problem can be managed and dealt with without surgery.”