Who is the Best Orthopaedic Surgeon?

by Pamela
(Hip Replacement and Recovery)

Who is the best orthopaedic surgeon? That's a great question but, currently, one without an answer. Something that Andrew Lansley, the UK's Health Secretary plans to put right.

As people interested in hip replacements we all know that the single most important factor in a successful operation is the skill and experience of the surgeon and yet it's a totally uphill struggle to find any information about an individual's performance.

When I started to write the pages about choosing a hospital I had planned to include a page on how to find the best hip surgeon. That way you would be able to look for the best combination of hospital and surgeon. But after many phone calls and hours trawling the internet I was forced to give in.

The CQC (Care Quality Commission) couldn't answer, the Royal Colleges wouldn't answer and when I talked to individual doctors I was told that I was really asking the wrong question.

The right question would be, not "Which is the best surgeon?" But "Which is the best team?"

The reasoning goes like this - a successful operation is not dependent solely on the surgical skill of the person operating but must be seen in the context of the entire process from assessment to rehabilitation. I have some sympathy for this view - a clean hospital and good nursing, occupational therapy and physiotherapy staff are essential for the best outcome but in the end. let's face it, if the implant is put in wrong its not going to work.

So I am very pleased to hear that Andrew Lansley, has said that patients should be able to check their surgeon's results against a national register.

Sound's straightforward enough but the estimated time till completion is a minimum of two years.

So to fill the gap whilst we wait the Mail Online set out to find the ten top hip replacement surgeons - as selected by their peers. These are (in no particular order): -

John Timperley - Princess Elizabeth Orthopaedic Centre, Exeter
Ian Stockley - Northern General Hospital, Sheffield
Graham Gie - Princess Elizabeth Orthopaedic Centre, Exeter
Martyn Porter - Wrightington Hospital, Wigan
Sarah Muirhead - Allwood Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital, London
Colin Howie - Edinburgh Royal Infirmary
Phillip Mitchell - St George's Hospital, London
David Dunlop - Southampton General Hospital,
Simon Bridle - St George's Hospital, London
David Beverland - Musgrave Park Hospital, Belfast

In the Highly Recommended category came

Andrew Manktelow - Nottingham University Hospital
John Nolan - Norfolk & Norwich University Hospital, Norwich
Derek McMinn - Royal Orthopaedic Hospital, Birmingham
Hugh Apthorp - Conquest Hospital, Hastings

I was very surprised not to see my own surgeon, Mr Johan Witt,included in the list. Mr Witt has a fantastic reputation for operating on younger patients and is surely one of the finest orthopaedic surgeons in the country.

What about your surgeon? UK or elsewhere we'd love to hear about the great and the not so great.

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