Professor Richard Field

Richard Field is a Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon specialising in Hip and Knee surgery. He is the Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery, St George's University of London. His NHS clinical practice is undertaken at the South West London Elective Orthopaedic Centre (SWLEOC) where he has been the Director of Research since 2004. His Private Practice is undertaken at The Lister Hospital in Chelsea, at Spire St Anthony's Hospital in Cheam, Surrey and now also at SWLEOC.

Prof Field is the UK's most experienced surgeon in Direct Anterior (minimally invasive, muscle sparing) Hip Replacement and has been using this approach since 2008. He uses the standard longitudinal and the less visible, bikini incisions, as appropriate. He lectures internationally on both hip and knee surgery and has operated with surgeons in more than ten countries. He is a pioneer of Arthroscopic Hip surgery and was the President of the International Society for Hip Arthroscopy (ISHA - www.ISHA.net) in 2017. He was the first surgeon in the London area to adopt hip resurfacing and continues to use the Birmingham Resurfacing Hip (BHR) in selected patients. Prof Field has been actively involved in the design and evaluation of new implant designs since 1983. He is currently undertaking clinical studies on short femoral stem implants as well as some of the new generation of hip resurfacing designs and knee replacements that more closely reproduce the natural knee joint's movement. He uses patient specific custom cutting blocks to achieve optimal component alignment, where possible. Patients wishing to be considered for inclusion in studies on new implants may need to be treated at SWLEOC.

Prof Field completed his medical training at the Westminster Hospital in 1980 and went on to hold positions at a number of hospitals across London, including St Stephen's Hospital, University College Hospital, and the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital. After being awarded a PhD from the University of Cambridge in 1988, he continued to his specialist training in Orthopaedics in London, Cambridge and Melbourne. He was appointed as a Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon at St Helier Hospital, Surrey in 1994. Over the past 25 years, he has gained enormous experience in complex sports and developmental related hip problems and is a world leader in hip preservation and rapid recovery hip replacement surgery.  He continues to undertake over 300 hip operations per year. He has previously been an adviser to the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence.