Personal Profile
He was appointed Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon to Heatherwood and Wexham Park Hospitals Berkshire in 1994 with an interest in shoulder and elbow surgery. As the first consultant to be appointed with this interest in East Berkshire, he then established and developed this service both within the NHS and the private sector. This surgery involves both arthroscopic (keyhole surgery) and open procedures such as shoulder and elbow joint replacement working with specialist anaesthetists (performing specialised regional nerve blockade for post-operative pain relief) and physiotherapists (specialising in this area to give the best post-operative rehabilitation). He also served as clinical director of his NHS department for 7 years, over twice the normal time spent in this role.
Since 2008 in addition to his work in East Berkshire Mr Thomas has been elected to serve in various roles on the council of the British Elbow and Shoulder Society (BESS) as well as being a member of the BESS Research Committee. He was most recently elected by the membership to the position of Vice President (President Elect) in 2013 and has now taken over as President of the society from June 2015 to serve for the next 2 years. He is also an Associate Editor of Shoulder and Elbow, the official journal of BESS, reviews articles for a number of other orthopaedic journals and is a member of the Medical Advisory Committee of the National Joint Registry.
Mr Thomas has written a number of articles and book chapters on shoulder and elbow problems as well as contributing to a number of published guidelines on patient care pathways produced by the British Elbow and Shoulder Society (BESS) and the British Orthopaedic Association (BOA) to advise healthcare professionals treating these conditions. He has also been invited to lecture and teach on shoulder and elbow surgery to many countries around the world and as a visiting surgeon to a hospital in Cairo, Egypt.
