Mr Joseph Sudhakar is a Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon with interest in the hip and knee at Woodlands Hospital in Darlington. He sees NHS, self-pay and insured patients.

He is also a Consultant Orthopaedic and Trauma Surgeon within the County Durham and Darlington Foundation Trust. He has a busy lower limb practice, both in the Trust and also at Woodlands Hospital.

He qualified as a doctor in 1987 from The University of Kerala. He gained experience as a junior doctor in hospitals in the North West of England and obtained the Diploma of FRCS in London in 1993. He was then appointed a Clinical Research Fellow at The University of Bristol, training in Limb Reconstruction Surgery. His comprehensive Specialist Registrar Orthopaedic training was at Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals. Having gained the specialist qualifications in Trauma and Orthopaedics, he undertook specialist fellowship training in Victoria, Australia, dealing predominantly with joint replacements and soft tissue knee injury surgery.

He took up the post of Orthopaedic Consultant with the County Durham and Darlington Foundation Trust in 2004. Since then and over the years, Mr Sudhakar has consistently shared the trauma workload with his colleagues and in addition to the routine trauma work, has taken complex lower limb cases, especially fractures involving the knee joint.

He initially advocates a non-surgical approach to most bone and joint problems, as most can be managed initially without surgery. In cases where surgery is unavoidable, he offers the latest and evidence-based surgery with a comprehensive discussion with the patient, involving them fully in the management of their condition.
He is a recognised trainer for trainees in trauma and orthopaedic surgery. Over the years, he has successfully trained several doctors to reach their ambition. He is a trainer for overseas orthopaedic surgeons as part of the medical training international programme. He has been the Clinical Lead for Orthopaedics based in Darlington, but is currently the Lead for Clinical Governance for the unit.

Mr Sudhakar practices evidence-based care by carefully monitoring patient outcomes. The outcomes reflected in the National Joint Registry is testament to the success of numerous patients that have undergone joint replacement surgery in his care. Over the years, he has had patients, not only from County Durham, but a large number from all over Cumbria and also North Yorkshire and Lancashire. He has been the orthopaedic representative on the Medical Advisory Committee at Woodlands Hospital in the past.
He has published papers in national and international journals throughout his career and continues to support trainees in clinical audit and research in the NHS. He continued to work and support his colleagues during the Covid-19 pandemic, making sacrifices along with all of his colleagues in the NHS for the good of patients.

He is part of a non-profit charity group of consultants that travels to Ghana every year at his own expense to offer hands on training and expertise to orthopaedic graduates. He also is part of the team that perform surgery to poor and disadvantaged children with complex limb deformities, and also adults with complex fractures with limited facilities to treat them.