Surgery and Diagnostics

The division of surgery offers a comprehensive range of outpatient, day surgery and inpatient services. Our surgical services range from advice and routine treatments to highly complex surgical procedures in trauma & orthopaedics, general surgery, urology, plastic surgery, ear nose and throat, ophthalmology and oral surgery. These services include subspecialties of breast surgery, upper gastrointestinal, colorectal and vascular surgery. Our support services include specialist endoscopy, bowel cancer screening, audiology and orthoptic services.

We provide general and specialist outpatient services at more than 5 localities, elective surgery at 4 hospitals and emergency services at 2 acute hospitals across County Durham.

We have a team of 52 consultants working across our surgical services - supported by a dedicated workforce of 1000 doctors, nurses and health care professionals.  Each of our surgical teams work closely together and are committed to providing high quality care to ensure our patients receive expert advice, excellent treatment and appropriate aftercare tailored to individual patient needs.

We are one of the largest providers of surgery in the North East and have an excellent reputation for using advanced surgical techniques.  Our teams have access to well equipped theatres, high quality critical care and diagnostic facilities to support our clinical services.

Our surgical division is led by a highly motivated management team who encourage patients, carers and staff to give feedback and make suggestions on how we can improve our services.

Services include:

Audiology - Provides specialist and diagnostic hearing services to support our ENT doctors in clinic.  The service also provides a comprehensive rehabilitation service across County Durham.

Bowel Screening - Is provided from our dedicated Bowel Cancer Screening Centre at Bishop Auckland Hospital, mainly for the local population aged between 60 and 75 years of age.

Ear, Nose & Throat - Provides a full range of ENT services to diagnose and treat ear, nose and throat conditions.  Daily routine clinics are held across five outpatient departments in County Duham.  We have a daily casualty ENT service at Darlington Memorial Hospital for patients requiring urgent treatment.  We have a consultant who specialises in head and neck cancer surgery.

Endoscopy - Provides therapeutic and diagnostic endoscopic procedures, mainly for gastroscopy, flexible sigmoidoscopy and colonscopy. We have well-equipped dedicated endoscopy units based in four key locations across County Durham and Darlington.

General Surgery - Procedures are performed to treat common abdominal complaints.  There are several sub specialisms in surgery.  Colorectal surgery provides a comprehensive service for problems of the small bowel, colon, rectum and anal region.  Upper gastrointestinal surgey provides care for problems with the oesophagus (gullet), stomach, gall bladder, bile duct and pancreas.  Vascular surgery treats diseases of the vascular system, arteries and veins.  Breast surgery provides diagnostic, investigation and the treatment of breast cancer. Oral Surgery.  We also carry out some procedures as Day Surgery cases.

Ophthalmology - Provides a comprehensive range of ophthalmic surgical procedures and treatments.  We have a state of the art Cataract Centre at Bishop Auckland Hospital.  We also provide excellent orthoptic and optician services.

Orthopaedics - Provides emergency inpatient services and fracture clinics at University Hospital of North Durham and Darlington Memorial Hospital.  We provide general orthopaedic clinics across the County.  Our inpatient and day surgery services are provided from our four main hospital sites.  We have a purpose-built, dedicated Arthoplasty Unit at Bishop Auckland Hospital for hip and knee replacement surgery.  All of our patients are pre-screened for MRSA.

Plastic Surgery - Provides surgical intervention through reconstruction of congenital, traumatic and acquired conditions.

Urology - Services to treat conditions of the male and female urinary tract, and the male reproductive system.  This service is provided at Darlington Memorial Hospital.

Our Senior Management Team

Care Group Clinical Director - Mr Jeremy Cundall

Associate Director of Operations - Richard Morris