Andrew Clarke is a Consultant General and Colorectal surgeon with his private practice at The Harbour Hospital, Poole. His NHS practices are based at University Hospital Dorset and Wimborne Hospital.

Mr Clarke qualified from Manchester University in 1988 and his postgraduate training was undertaken in the North West. He worked at most of the hospitals in the region including The Christie Hospital Cancer Institute. He was awarded an MD Thesis in 2000 and after a brief period working in America took up a consultant post at Manchester Royal Infirmary in 2002. He moved to Poole in 2004 focused on developing laparoscopic and pelvic floor services locally.

Mr Clarke came to Poole with a view to bringing laparoscopic hernia surgery into mainstream practice and to date he has performed nearly 3000 keyhole inguinal hernia repairs.

He has been actively involved with Operation Hernia (OH), a not-for-profit organisation providing professional and educational opportunities to surgeons and surgical trainees, in the repair of chronic groin hernias in rural hospitals across the developing world.

In 2017, Mr Clarke participated in a mission at Bole District Hospital in Ghana, located over 350 miles inland. During this time, he performed approximately 10 hernia operations per day, many of which involved large, complex hernias in malnourished patients. These cases often required advanced surgical techniques to reconstruct the lower abdominal wall, highlighting both the clinical challenges and the vital impact of this humanitarian work.

Mr Clarke was a founder of the Southern Pelvic Floor Society establishing working practices in this field locally and was an elected member of the National Pelvic Floor Society responsible for training of juniors, and ultimately consultants, in the UK, within this field.

Mr Clarke founded and is the lead for pelvic floor services locally, having created a pan-Dorset Pelvic floor service, coordinated across the three key hospital providers in Dorset: Poole, Bournemouth and Dorchester. He developed, and chairs specialist meetings, where pelvic floor cases are discussed within a multi-disciplinary team, including physiotherapists, surgeons, gynaecologists, radiologists and physiologists, a process which is now considered best practice and has been adopted nationally.

Mr Clarke runs a regular outpatient clinic at The Harbour Hospital, where he offers expert consultations for patients experiencing groin pain, as well as those with groin and other abdominal wall hernias. In addition to hernia care, he provides specialist assessment and treatment for a range of colorectal conditions, including bleeding, itching, skin tags, and anal pain. Mr Clarke also supports patients with functional bowel disorders such as incontinence and constipation, offering tailored management plans to improve quality of life.

Find out more about Mr Clarke by visiting his website – https://www.mrandrewclarke.co.uk

Clinical Interests

• Hernias including inguinal hernia with speciality practice in key hole repair
• Colorectal and general surgery
• Endoscopy
• Pelvic floor surgery (management of incontinence, prolapse and bowel evacuation disorders)
• Colorectal surgery (lower GI)
• Laparoscopic procedures ('keyhole surgery')

Professional Memberships

• British Hernia Society
• British Medical Association
• Fellowship of the Royal Colleges of Surgeons
• Association of Coloproctology GB and Ireland
• Association Surgeons Association of Laparoscopic Surgeons

GMC

• National pelvic floor society

• Colorectal and general surgery
• Pelvic floor disorders
• Hernias, including inguinal hernia with speciality practice in key hole repair
• Endoscopy
• Pelvic floor surgery (management of incontinence, prolapse and bowel evacuatory disorders)
• Colorectal surgery (lower GI)
• Laparoscopic procedures ('keyhole surgery')

Research interests:

• Pelvic floor disorders
• Bowel cancer

• General Medical Council
• National Pelvic Floor Society
• British Hernia Society
• British Medical Association
• Fellowship of the Royal Colleges of Surgeons
• Association of Coloproctology GB and Ireland
• Association Surgeons Association of Laparoscopic Surgeons