KNEE REPLACEMENT SURGEONS RATED BY THEIR PEERS

PROFESSOR ANDREW TOMS

Royal Devon & Exeter Hospital

WHAT THEY SAY ABOUT HIM: ‘A leader in knee replacement. When he was drafted into the Royal Devon, it was renowned for hip replacement. He has now put the hospital on the map for knees in the same way,’ says one of his peers. ‘He is honest and thorough and discusses the risks and benefits of surgery with his patients.’

‘Andrew has made it his life’s work to eradicate every painful knee in the country,’ adds another. ‘ He takes on very complex and challenging cases and sorts them out.’

PRIVATE: Nuffield Health Exeter Hospital.

ANDREW PORTEOUS

Southmead Hospital in Bristol

WHAT THEY SAY ABOUT HIM: ‘ He is measured, hard-working, considerate and highly skilled in all aspects of knee replacement,’ one of his peers reveals.

‘He tailors his surgery to the needs of his patients and is a firm advocate of partial knee replacement where appropriate — his view is that a lot more knee replacement patients could benefit from partial knees.’

PRIVATE: Spire Bristol Hospital, Nuffield Health Bristol Hospital.

PETER JAMES

Nottingham City Hospital WHAT THEY SAY ABOUT

HIM: ‘Quietly spoken, gentle and with a beautiful pair of hands — in other words he is technically gifted. When you see him operate, he makes everything look so easy. He does a lot of revision [when the implant has failed and has to be replaced] and complex work,’ says one surgeon.

‘He did my dad’s knees and is undoubtedly the most experienced and able knee surgeon in the country,’ says another.

PRIVATE: BMI The Park Hospital in Nottingham.

RICHARD SPENCER JONES

The Robert Jones and Agnes Hunt Orthopaedic Hospital in Oswestry WHAT THEY SAY ABOUT

HIM: ‘ Highly knowledgeable, he is excellent technically and renowned for his revision surgery. At this top level everyone is dexterous, but he manages to stay cool even with the most challenging cases,’ says one. ‘He gets very good results and is the sort of person you’d want to operate on you,’ reveals another of his peers.

PRIVATE: The Robert Jones & Agnes Hunt Orthopaedic Hospital (private care), Nuffield Health Shrewsbury Hospital.

DAVID BEVERLAND

Musgrave Park Hospital in Belfast WHAT THEY SAY ABOUT

HIM: ‘A quietly spoken, gentle man who has the most phenomenal work capacity and who does no private work. He was brought in to clear the waiting lists in orthopaedics in Northern Ireland and has made it his life’s work, but unfortunately this has faltered in recent years due to further demand and no additional funding to pay for it,’ comments one. ‘A dedicated and very good surgeon.’

PRIVATE: Mr Beverland does not work privately.

PROFESSOR LEE JEYS

The Royal Orthopaedic Hospital in Birmingham WHAT THEY SAY ABOUT HIM: ‘He does lots of complex revision knee replacements [where the implant fails and has to be replaced] where he deals with infection, bone loss and rebuilding bones and ligaments,’ according to one of his peers.

‘A lovely chap with a great pair of hands who also does primary [firsttime] knee replacement, but he has carved out a niche for himself with challenging revisions.’

PRIVATE: BMI The Priory and Edgbaston Hospitals.

RICHARD CARRINGTON

Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital in Stanmore in London WHAT THEY SAY ABOUT HIM: ‘Loads of experience and he does everything from primaries, in other words the first knee replacement, to revisions, when implants fail and have to be re-done,’ says a fellow surgeon.

‘He’s very straightforward and if he feels knee replacement will not work for you, he will say so and spare you lots of unnecessary investigations,' says another.

PRIVATE: Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital (private), The Wellington Hospital, both in London, Spire Bushey Hospital in Watford.

PROFESSOR ANDREW PRICE

Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre in Oxford WHAT THEY SAY ABOUT

HIM: ‘Part of the next generation, he is very good technically and at teaching,’ says one. ‘He has a fantastic reputation which is well-deserved and his patients are fond of him.’ PRIVATE: Nuffield Health The Manor Hospital in Oxford.

ALSO HIGHLY THOUGHT OF: CHRISTOPHER DODD

Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre in Oxford WHAT THEY SAY ABOUT HIM: ‘Excellent dedicated knee surgeon who is a specialist in partial knee replacements.’ PRIVATE: Nuffield Health The Manor Hospital in Oxford.

MICHAEL RISEBURY

Basingstoke and North Hampshire Hospital WHAT THEY SAY ABOUT

HIM: One of his peers describes him as ‘ an excellent surgeon, recognised as an expert in early interventions such as osteotomy.’ This is where either the top of the shinbone or the bottom of the thighbone are cut and shaped to realign the knee and ease pain. ‘He believes you can sometimes hold off replacing the knee for a while with this.’

PRIVATE: BMI The Hampshire Clinic.

JONATHON LAVELLE

Chelsea and Westminster Hospital in London WHAT THEY SAY ABOUT

HIM: ‘Very empathetic, level-headed and what we in medicine refer to as a good pair of hands. He would not operate unless he felt it absolutely necessary,’ according to one of his peers.

PRIVATE: Bupa Cromwell Hospital, The Lister Hospital, Fortius Clinic, all in London.

DAVID HOULIHAN-BURNE

Hillingdon Hospital in West London WHAT THEY SAY ABOUT

HIM: ‘Gifted technically and down to earth, he gets on well with his patients and is a great communicator.’

PRIVATE: Bupa Cromwell Hospital, Fortius Clinic, both in London, BMI The Chiltern Hospital in Buckinghamshire, BMI Bishops Wood Hospital in Middlesex.

TIM WILTON

Royal Derby Hospital WHAT THEY SAY ABOUT

HIM: ‘Old-fashioned in the best sense, sensible and meticulous. He’s not interested in fads. He does things because they work and have been shown to work over a long period of time,’ reveals one surgeon. ‘He is a thinker, who pays great attention to detail. He does knees awesomely once, so they last a jolly long time.’

PRIVATE: Nuffield Health Derby Hospital.

PAUL GIBB

Tunbridge Wells Hospital in Kent WHAT THEY SAY ABOUT

HIM: ‘A lovely man and excellent technically, very good with patients, he is very thorough and pays great attention to detail,’ says one. PRIVATE: Nuffield Health Tunbridge Wells Hospital, The Horder Centre in Crowborough.

TIM SPALDING

University Hospital Coventry WHAT THEY SAY ABOUT

HIM: ‘ He was my choice for both my father’s knees,’ one of his peers reveals. ‘ A senior surgeon who pays great attention to detail and is very self-driven and organised.’

PRIVATE: Nuffield Health Warwickshire Hospital, Fortius Clinic in London, Spire Little Aston Hospital in Birmingham.

PHILIP CHAPMANS-HEATH

Southampton General Hospital WHAT THEY SAY ABOUT

HIM: ‘ Technically a really excellent surgeon who does both partial and total knee replacements and primary [first] knee replacement and lots of revision surgery [where the implant fails and has to be replaced]. Also a very nice guy.’

PRIVATE: Spire Southampton Hospital, Nuffield Health Wessex Hospital.