To ask for help with a surgeon

[2ndrockinthepond]

posting for traffic as I need an op on my hand to cure Dupuytren's disease. The NHS won’t treat it so I will go private (please not judgement on this it needs to be done) so I can get back to being able to grip properly.
I’m not looking forward to it as a few years ago a routine op left me permanently disabled due to the surgeon’s cavalier mistake. This time as I’m going to elect the surgery is there way of knowing how many ops the surgeon has done successfully?
TIA

As you are paying perhaps contact his secretary to clarify your concerns. That works for me when I had a back operation privately .

Ah sorry if I wasn’t clear - I wanted to know how to select a good surgeon in the first place.

No judgment from me for taking yourself off the waiting lists if you can afford it. Wish more would do so.

Google hand surgeons. Then look at their bio. Many will stats their interests or that they’ve done a fellowship in a particular area.

Many will state

Can’t get on a waiting list to be fair, wish I could. I’m so scared of something going wrong again and I don’t know where to go so it’s not just pick a name out of a hat almost

Have a look on bupa consultant finder.

It depends where you are and how far you're willing to travel. Mr Ullah at Spire in Leicester is good but you might be in Scotland or Cornwall!

Happy to travel anywhere

Look up hand surgeons and it will list their experience and special interests

The British Dupytrens Society has a list of UK surgeons which may help you to find someone

I don't know about searching for surgeons. But re consultant for ASD ds1 diagnosis, everyone I spoke to said consultant was good.
Re frozen shoulder I was operated on. Turns out guy was amazing. He asked me to review which I did when I read his reviews = absolutely amazing. Then Dh had him do one shoulder, then the other, because of me. We were lucky to find him!

What I meant by that is talk to GP and others. Read all reviews re hands locally. Re the surgeons.

My sil had had Multiple surgeries on hand in Colchester. She knows who is good.

I was researching Duypetrens surgery for my DM who also suffers terribly. The outcomes are pretty poor and most people only end up with temporary relief before it redevelops. The most effective treatment seems to be managing with heavy duty stretching and physio if you can get to it before its too contracted.

I certainly would NOT use the Bupa finder as suggested by a previous poster.
Bupa fees for surgeons are now so terrible most really good surgeons will not see Bupa patients or if they do they are not fee assured so aren't "preferred" consultants on Bupa finder.

OP where are you based? If SW can recommend good hand surgeons

The majority of hand surgeons working in private health care will have a good track record alongside their NHS practice. I would suggest finding your local private hospital, Circle, Nuffield and then reviewing the hand surgeons. You can always ask them to provide information as to their activity numbers, complication and incident rate. Any good surgeon would be happy to provide you with this. The other thing to look for is does the hospital offer a specific hand therapy service to support post op recovery.

Thanks m in Banbury but happy to travel

The wellington hospital in London has a specialised hand unit. Eckersley has a good rep but terrible bed side manner I recall!!
www.hcahealthcare.co.uk/facilities/the-wellington-hospital/our-centres/the-london-hand-and-wrist-unit

Go And see Henk Giele in Oxford. An absolute legend of a surgeon and a nice guy too.
He does lots of complex stuff so this would be a walk in the park for him. To be honest any of the plastics hand team in Oxford would be good.

Hi, In almost the same boat. I have seen a few and happy to give you a couple of names of surgeons who do private work and won't be phased. NHS pretty much written me off too (after a dreadful cavalier ortho mistake)The surgeons I think could help you do private but are also practising in the NHS . The BSSH website surgeon finder appears to not be working. Where abouts are you? I'm london based. Sam Gidwani and Donald Sammut - both at One Welbeck spring to mind

I second Henk Giele

You need to stop thinking of Dupuytrens surgery as a ‘cure’. Most will recur over time, no matter how good the surgeon.
You will need to work hard with physio exercises post-op to maintain the improved function as long as possible.
Good luck with it! 💐

Thank you everyone 😍

I’m in a really similar situation though my hand doesn’t need work yet. I saw a hand surgeon privately and he also mentioned radiotherapy treatment for Dupytrons and while he wasn’t pushing it he did seem quite hopeful about a less invasive treatment than surgery. The longer term results data isn’t there though.

We saw a hand surgeon for my son (who didn't end up needing surgery). It was Michael Elvey who practises at various London hospitals including St John's & Elizabeth's in St John's Wood. Really nice guy and particularly good with my teenager.

When I was picking my hip surgeon, I looked at sites such as Doctify and also when I clicked on his profile, it took me through to some national orthopaedic website with his stats - mortality rate, typical age and sex of patient etc. I'm guessing the same thing exists for other types of surgeons.