Surgery

General Surgery

General Surgery includes the specialties of Breast Surgery, Vascular Surgery, Upper Gastrointestinal Surgery, Colorectal Surgery and Paediatric Surgery. We have dedicated Consultants who regularly treat specialist conditions and also in many cases undertake routine inpatient and day case general surgery procedures, for example hernia repairs.

The General Surgery department comprises of 14 Consultants who provide a full range of elective and emergency services for patients. Surgery for common surgical conditions such as skin lesions, hernias of all types and gallstone disease is provided across the Trust. Many of these conditions can be treated by Laparoscopic (key hole) surgery.

The Trust has excellent ICU and HDU facilities to support patients undergoing major surgery. Patients also benefit from the wide range of on-site Medical Specialties (cardiology, respiratory medicine and endocrinology) necessary for patients with multiple needs.

A 24 hour a day Emergency Surgical Service is currently provided at Barnet Hospital and Chase Farm Hospital but re-configuration is planned under the Barnet, Enfield and Haringey Clinical Strategy.

We are currently establishing a Pelvic Floor Service for patients suffering from incontinence, rectal or gynaecological prolapse or defaecatory difficulty. This is facilitated by an MDT of surgeons, gynaecologists, radiologists, nurse specialist, and physiotherapists.

General Surgical Consultants and specialties:

Mr Ian Mitchell (GI)
Mr Steve Warren (Lower GI)
Mr Colin Elton (Lower GI)                               
Mr Martin Klein
Mr Pawan Mathur (Lower GI)
Mr Daren Francis (Lower GI)
Mr Gary Atkin (Lower GI)
Mr Michael Saunders (Lower GI)
Mr Alex Loh (Vascular)
Mr Nick Law (Vascular)
Mr Richard Bird (Vascular)    
Mr Hamish Hamilton (Vascular)
Ms Helena Tabry

Contact details

All Consultants can be contacted via their PAs through switchboard.

Minimally Invasive Surgery (Laparoscopic or ‘key hole’ Surgery)

We are proud that we provide a wide range of minimally invasive procedures across the Trust. This technique has major benefits for patients in terms of quicker post operative recovery, less pain, quicker discharge from hospital and quicker return to work.

Simple conditions we can treat with laparoscopic surgery include the majority of day cases, Gallstone disease and Hernias of all types eg groin, abdominal, recurrent, incisional.

Complex conditions we can treat with laparoscopic surgery include Colon cancer, Rectal Cancer and Inflammatory bowel disease (eg ulcerative colitis or Crohns disease).

We are also unique in the Trust as we currently offer more innovative minimally invasive techniques such as TEMS (Trans-Anal Endoscopic Microsurgery) and Robotic Surgery for a range of different colorectal problems.

Lower Gastrointestinal Surgery

The Trust has a strong Lower GI Surgical Team. We have an expertise which covers the management of a wide range of colorectal conditions both benign (eg haemorrhoids (including procedures such as stapled haemorriodopexy and HALO [Haemorrhoidal Artery Ligation Operation], inflammatory bowel disease and prolapse) and malignant (eg colorectal cancer).

The Surgeons work closely with a team of Gastroenterologists, dedicated Gastrointestinal Radiologists, Oncologists and Pathologists to deliver this comprehensive service. They are supported by Clinical Nurse Specialists and Stoma Nurse Specialists.

Comprehensive guidelines and operational policies for the management of patients with colorectal conditions have been developed, all of which are discussed in a multi disciplinary setting with weekly MDT (Multi Disciplinary Team) meetings (comprising of Surgeons, Gastroenterologists, Oncologists, Radiologists, Pathologists, Nurse Specialists, Palliative Care Teams and MDT Co-ordinators).

We are proud to report that we have consistently achieved a high standard in our annual National Peer Review assessment for our Colorectal Cancer Service.

Breast Surgery

The Trust run a dedicated breast clinics staffed by consultant breast surgeons supported by surgical staff and clinical nurse specialists from the breast unit. The diagnostic breast team includes clinicians, specialist breast radiologists and breast pathologists. Mammography, breast ultrasound and fine needle aspiration cytology are undertaken in the clinic and patients attending the “triple assessment” clinics can often have all the necessary investigations at the same visit.

A full range of breast surgery procedures is available (including immediate and delayed breast reconstruction). The breast surgeons are part of a multidisciplinary breast cancer team which includes medical and clinical oncologists, nuclear medicine, clinical geneticist and nursing support. 

Vascular Surgery

The Vascular Surgery department offers a service for the diagnosis and treatment of a wide range of arterial, venous and lymphatic diseases. The Vascular Surgery department treats the following conditions;

Carotid disease
Carotid endarterectomy
Carotid body tumours

Aneurysmal disease
Abdominal aortic aneurysm surgery
Abdominal aortic endovascular stenting
Thoraco-abdominal aortic stenting
Complex fenestrated aneurysm treatment

Peripheral arterial disease
Critical limb ischaemia
Treatment for claudication

Surgical and endovascular treatments
Balloon angioplasty and stenting and open surgery

Surgical management of the diabetic foot

Venous diseases
Varicose vein surgery
Endovenous radiofrequency ablation of varicose veins
Leg ulcer management
Compression bandaging

Management of hyperhidrosis
Botox injections
Thorascopic sympathectomy

Lymphoedema service 

Emergency Vascular services

Emergency vascular surgery for North Central London is focused at the Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust and all four vascular surgeons from Barnet Hospital and Chase Farm Hospital are involved in the emergency surgical rota at the Royal Free Hospital. Emergency referrals that do not need surgery for either life or limb threatening conditions will still be seen at Barnet Hospital or Chase Farm Hospital. Emergency referrals can be made via the on-call surgical registrar who will determine which of the vascular consultants are available.

Inpatients

All inpatient peripheral vascular surgical procedures will be performed at Barnet Hospital. Elective aortic procedures and elective carotid operations area all performed at the Royal Free Hospital performed by surgeons from Barnet Hospital and Chase Farm Hospital as part of the vascular network.

Outpatient clinics

There are two vascular clinics a week at Chase Farm Hospital and two vascular clinics a week at Barnet General Hospital. In addition, vascular patients are seen in clinics at Edgware Community Hospital and Potters Bar Community Hospital.

Referrals

GPs are encouraged to refer patients to the local hospital clinic where patients will undergo full investigation. The centralisation of vascular services will not change the referral pattern for GPs or other referrers into the service. GP referral should be addressed to the Vascular Surgery department or to a named consultant, Mr Law and Mr Hamilton at Chase Farm Hospital and Mr Bird and Mr Loh at Barnet Hospital.

Vascular and endovascular surgeons:

Mr Nicholas Law
Mr Hamish Hamilton
Mr Richard Bird
Mr Alex Loh

Vascular interventional radiologists:

Dr Ashish Saini
Dr Sri Mandamulla
Dr Zaid Dabbagh
Dr Kevin Lotzoff
Dr Adrian Marcus

Vascular registrar:

Available on bleep 3301 (Chase Farm Hospital)
Available on bleep 2449 (Barnet Hospital)

Secretaries:

Mr Law and Mr Hamilton 020 8216 4354
Mr Richard Bird 020 8216 5440
Mr Alex Loh 020 8316 4031