Mr Paul Halliwell

Paul Halliwell has been Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon at the Royal Surrey County NHS Trust in Guildford since 2001. His private practice has thus far been based solely in Surrey. He feels privileged to have joined such an elite team of specialist orthopaedic surgeons at the Wellington HCA Hospital, London.

Orthopaedic Profile

Paul specialises solely in problems of the foot and ankle in both adults and children, the latter the result of Fellowship training at Great Ormond Street Hospital, London. His other Fellowship, in Toronto, was in Trauma and Joint Reconstruction. He qualified from Guy’s Hospital, London in 1988 before completing the South West Thames Higher Surgical Training Programme. This combination of higher orthopaedic training led to a particular interest in total ankle joint replacement (TAR), which he began in 2003 and continues to perform on a frequent basis as one of the few high-volume ankle replacement surgeons in the UK. He teaches the uses and technique of TAR internationally and was a Principal Investigator for the national TARVA ankle replacement study.

Clinical Approach and Wider Professional Work

Perhaps unusually for such a supposedly mechanical surgical speciality, Paul has always had an interest in the psychology of medicine and neuropsychology, so much so that he intercalated a BSc in the subject during medical school training. He has a reputation for empathy and for attending to his patients’ concerns at a “human” level. This passion for treating patients as people is ever-present when he teaches, whether students, trainee doctors or peers. He was Director and developer of the British Foot and Ankle Society (BOFAS) national training course whilst a member of BOFAS’ Education Committee and is now Chair of BOFAS’ Outcomes Committee. In the latter role, he co-ordinates the BOFAS Registry, a UK-wide online system for measuring the results of foot and ankle surgical treatments.

And to Relax....

Outside of professional life, Paul enjoys healthy stimulation and escapism in amateur dramatics, which local companies take pride in executing to a high standard in his home county of Surrey. He can “carry a tune”, but particularly enjoys Shakespeare and gritty non-musical dramas such as those by Pinter. Henry V, the Homecoming and Jekyll & Hyde have been some of his favourites in recent years.