Each of the four specialists at the Surrey Foot and Ankle Clinic is a fully qualified doctor and orthopaedic surgeon (Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons). We have specially trained to apply these skills to care of the foot and ankle and this represents practically all of our non-emergency work. From medical school to consultant practice, this training takes ten to twelve years. Since we specialise in the same discipline, we can support each other’s work and share our expertise, much to the advantage of our patients.
Our busy NHS practices involve foot and ankle orthopaedic surgical care plus treatment of injuries and fractures via the hospitals’ 24 hour on-call rotas. Orthopaedic surgeons, unlike non-medically qualified podiatric surgeons, are fully qualified trauma surgeons so we have generic skills and experience in treatment of injuries to all the body’s bones and joints. This greatly enhances our ability to deal with difficult non-injury cases. Many medical conditions can manifest first in the foot. A good understanding of any patient’s general health is, in our view, so important that the clinician in charge of surgery to the bones, joints and tendons of the foot should be a qualified doctor.
All of the consultants in our Clinic are active in developing and teaching orthopaedic foot and ankle surgery. We regularly attend both national and international conferences, contributing directly to many. Our patients benefit from the very latest thinking and recognised techniques.
MR MATTHEW SOLAN
Matthew graduated from St Thomas’ Hospital Medical School in 1992 and trained in London, Guildford and Oxford. His specialist Orthopaedic training was in the South Thames (West) Region. Matthew was awarded a British Orthopaedic Travelling Fellowship to Dublin. Mr Solan has also worked overseas in South Africa and at the Universities of Johns Hopkins and Maryland, Baltimore, USA. In 2003, Mr Solan was appointed as a Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon at Frimley Park Hospital. He was appointed to the Royal Surrey County Hospital in 2006. His special interests are in Foot & Ankle disorders in adults and children. Mr Solan has published extensively on foot and ankle surgery, maintains an active research role and is actively involved in the teaching and training of junior doctors