Personal Profile
As part of his busy practice he operates on patients with symptomatic gallstones and other problems of the gallbladder and is the surgical lead for Upper GI services at Croydon University Hospital.
A particular interest has is the enthusiastic and rapid surgical management of acutely presenting gallbladder pathology such as infections, pancreatitis and jaundice.
At Croydon, he led the introduction of the acute gallbladder surgery pathway for managing these patients, with excellent results and a significant proportion of these patients are managed in this way; this service is also offered where possible at The Shirley Oaks hospital.
Additionally, Mr Thomas has an interest in surgery for herniae of all types. This includes groin (inguinal & femoral) and abdominal wall herniae. He has a particular interest in recurrent abdominal wall herniae and complex herniae repair.
Mr Thomas believes that there is no “one size fits all” approach to managing patients with herniae and prefers to tailor his surgical approach to each patient following a detailed discussion of the risks, benefits and expectation of the patients prior to surgery.
This may involve a period of observation, open surgery or keyhole surgery, depending on the joint decision-making tailored for the patient.
In addition to this, Mr Thomas has developed Acid reflux surgery at Croydon Hospital and leads the service.
He is a qualified JAG accredited upper GI endoscopist and scopes regularly at Shirley Oaks Hospital. He sees patients with all types of general surgical emergencies at Shirley Oaks hospital.
Mr Thomas qualified in 2003 and undertook junior doctor training in London and Guildford, obtaining Membership of the Royal College of Surgeons in 2006.
Following further general surgical training and a period of Research at the Royal Surrey County Hospital in Guildford he was appointed as a registrar to the prestigious South West London Registrar Training scheme in 2007.
This involved intensive training in Kingston, Croydon, Chichester and three years at the renowned Bariatric and Upper Gastrointestinal unit at St Georges Hospital, London under the mentorship of Professor Marcus Reddy.
In 2015, he was appointed as Consultant Upper GI and General Surgeon at Croydon University Hospital, and he has developed the service there, supervising the expansion from one to three full time consultants.
He is a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of England, having passed the FRCS examination with a special interest in Upper GI Surgery in 2015 and was appointed to the Specialist Register in 2015 having Completed Specialist Surgical Training in 2015.
Mr Thomas consults at Shirley Oaks every Tuesday morning and alternate Thursday afternoons. Additionally, he offers face to face and telephone consultations where appropriate. He operates every Wednesday morning.
Mr Thomas works with an experienced anaesthetist with an emphasis on safe, effective anaesthesia and surgery with a resulting low rate of long hospital stay for keyhole gallbladder and hernia surgery.
Additionally, he maintains records of his cases with a regular audit of results, demonstrating low conversion rates to open surgery, low unplanned admission rates and low complication rates.
Mr Thomas accepts referrals from all major insurers and has a particular interest in managing patients who are self-funding their treatment; he is a firm believer in addressing patient’s expectations and catering investigations and treatment to suit their needs.
In his spare time Mr Thomas enjoys cycling as much as possible, watching sports, particularly Cricket and Rugby, singing in a Welsh language choir, cooking and spending time with his family in South London.
To make an appointment with Mr Thomas at Shirley Oaks Hospital please contact Simone Caggiano or Caroline Godfrey on 07738 622 799 or email [email protected] or [email protected]. Alternatively, visit www.doctify.com for more information.