D. Phillip Thomas: Consultant Trauma and Orthopaedic Hip Surgeon in Cardiff

Training and experience

Mr Thomas attended St Thomas’s Hospital, London in 1985 for his medical training, qualifying in 1990. He returned to South Wales for one of his house jobs and then to do a casualty post at the Cardiff Royal Infirmary. In 1994 he became a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of England and started his orthopaedic training in 1995 on the South Wales rotation. He worked in several hospitals in the South Wales area, including the Royal Gwent, Morriston, West Wales General and the University Hospital in Cardiff.

In 1999 Mr Thomas took his final orthopaedic exams and gained the FRCS (Trauma and Orthopaedics). After this, to complete his training, he went to Canada to do a Fellowship in Paediatric Orthopaedic Surgery at the world famous Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, developing his interest and expertise in paediatric and young adult hip disease.

In 2001 Mr Thomas was appointed a Consultant at the University Hospital of Wales and Llandough Hospital, a full time appointment in a busy teaching hospital. He continues to work there on a full time basis with a practice mainly involving paediatric and young adult hip problems. He also specialises in paediatric trauma. He is an Honorary Tutor to the medical school and is regularly involved in teaching and examining medical students.

Mr Thomas has a well-established medico-legal practice and regularly deals with patients who have sustained a personal injury and those affected by medical negligence.

Specialises in

• Hip arthroscopy
• Hip replacement (including Mako Robotic Assisted Surgery)
• Hip osteotomy
• Paediatric hip disorders, including hip dysplasia and Perthes disease
• Medico-legal services

Treatment

Initial consultation fee: £200

Follow-up consultation fee: £100

Mr Thomas offers treatment for the full range of conditions affecting the hip, including:

• Osteoarthritis
• Rheumatoid arthritis
• Developmental dysplasia of the hip
• Hip impingement
• Hip labral tear
• Hip condral injury
• Pubic symphysitis
• Perthes disease
• Hip overuse syndromes in adolescents
• Irritable hip
• Slipped upper femoral epiphysis

Clinical interests

Mr Thomas has a special clinical interest in paediatric and young adult hip conditions, using the very latest techniques and materials to achieve the best and most appropriate outcomes in these patients. Recognising that physical examinations of babies for developmental dysplasia of the hip (DHH) are not always definitive, he provides ultrasound screening for babies under 4 months who are at risk, including those with a family history, those who were born breech or experienced low levels of fluid in the womb, first born girls and those with foot abnormalities at birth.  

Mr Thomas also has a specialist expertise in the treatment of sports injuries of the hip, providing orthopaedic services to Llanelli Scarlets and the senior Wales rugby teams. He is one of only a few hip surgeons in the UK regularly performing hip arthroscopy (keyhole surgery) for selected hip conditions, including sports injuries such as hip labral tears, femoral-acetabular impingement and cartilage injuries.  This minimally invasive surgical technique is ideally suited to professional and recreational sportspeople who want to return activity at the earliest opportunity.

Research interests

Mr Thomas is a regular participant in orthopaedic research programmes at The University of Wales and has published a number of peer reviewed articles in his fields of interest.

In the news

• Dinas Powys woman first in Wales to get robotic hip surgery
• Grandmother's hip replaced using robotic arm in first for Wales

What patients say about Phillip Thomas

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