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The Spinal Surgical unit at RNOH includes one of the largest Spinal Deformity Services in Europe. Referrals to this service come from throughout the UK and internationally, and the unit has a world-renowned reputation for its pioneering work. Specialist Spinal Surgeons treat a wide variety of patients from simple to very complex problems.

Acute

Non-Acute

Surgical and non-surgical management of children and adults with congenital and acquired spinal deformity ranging from vertebral (spinal) and neuro-muscular disease to trauma and tumours. This includes:

  • Infantile Scoliosis
  • Adolescent Idiopathic Scoliosis
  • Ankylosing Spondylosis
  • Muscular Dystrophies
  • Syndromic Scoliosis
  • Cerebral Palsy patients with associated spinal deformity
  • Complex cervical and lumbar degeneration and deformity
  • Adult scoliosis and deformity
  • Revision spinal surgery
  • Sacroiliac joint pain requiring fusion
  • Pars defects

Please note that the unit does NOT provide an injection service and patients requiring injections should be referred to their local pain management service

Diagnostic Facilities

  • MRI and CT scanning
  • Bone Scanning
  • Bone densitometry
  • CT guided Biopsy

For emergency and urgent referrals you must call the Spinal Surgical department directly on 07552 415 816 as well as submitting the referral through EpicCare Link.

Please specifically contact the oncall spine registrar on (07552 415 816) during 08:00 to 17:00 Monday to Friday. For out of hours and weekends, please contact the oncall on 020 3947 0100 followed by the 1st registrar oncall bleep number.

For elective referrals, please note that RNOH is a national tertiary referral centre that only accepts referrals for surgery for complex cases.  The patient has to be assessed by their local spinal services team first and a consultant to consultant referral made if surgery deemed to be complex enough for referral to RNOH.

The basic referral criteria are:

-              Assessed by local spinal unit

-              MRI scan within 3 months of referral

-              Patients definitely requires and accepts surgery

-              Case is complex enough to require referral to RNOH

In addition, fusion surgery is not offered to patients who currently smoke and they will need to have stopped smoking for a minimum 6 months before surgery will be considered.  Also, patients who have a BMI in excess of 35 will not be considered for fusion surgery.

Referals via EpicCare Link

To make a tertiary referral to RNOH you will need to register for an account on EpicCare Link. Please follow the instructions here. 

Referrals are accepted from GPs and consultants. If you are a GP referring to the RNOH please use the NHS e-Referral Service system, e-RS.

This process is NOT for private patients.

Your referral will be rejected if images are not available at the RNOH server.

MDT Referral Process

  • MDT requests from outside the Trust should be submitted via rnoh.mdtspines@nhs.net.
  • Imaging must be IEP’d to RNOH in advance of the request.
  • Once received, the patient will be registered and added to the MDT list.
  • MDT outcomes will be circulated after the meeting.

Spinal Deformity and Injury

  • Mr Hanny Anwar - Specialist with fellowship training in spinal surgery: Acute spinal conditions (disc prolapse, sciatica, arm / neck pain), Spinal tumour surgery.
  • Mr John O Afolayan - Spinal tumour management, Spinal deformity in children and adults, Acute spinal conditions (spinal trauma, disc prolapse, sports injuries), Degenerative spinal conditions affecting the cervical, thoracic and lumbar spine
  • Mr Alexander Gibson - Deformity (scoliosis and kyphosis), fractures, infection, tumours, and degenerative disease.
  • Mr Nicholas Haden - Cervical and craniocervical problems, Chiari malformation, intradural and intramedullary pathologies, spinal cord dysraphism, CSF leaks and thoracic disc prolapses.
  • Mr Jan Herzog - Paediatric and Adult Spinal Deformity and Injury, Navigation in Spinal Surgery, Degenerative Spinal Pathologies, Spinal Disease in Myeloma
  • Dr Majella Horgan - Speciality Doctor - Spinal Myeloma Service
  • Mr Jan Lehovsky - Spinal deformity, scoliosis, spinal injury, spinal tumours, and cervical spine.
  • Mr Robert Lee - Complex adult degenerative disease and deformity, minimal access spinal surgery, computer navigated spinal surgery, pars fractures, sacroiliac joint pain, revision surgery
  • Mr Julian Leong - Spinal Deformity and Spinal Surgery
  • Mr Michael Mokawem - Paediatric spine deformity. Minimally invasive spine surgery. Computer-navigated spine surgery. Adult spine deformity. Lumbar spine stenosis....
  • Mr Sean Molloy - Scoliosis and kyphosis on all age groups. He has a particular interest in adult degenerative scoliosis. He also sees a large number of patients with...
  • Mr Kia Rezajooi - Cervical and lumbar disc disease, cervical artificial discs, spinal trauma, complex spinal neurosurgery including spinal tumours, syringomyelia, spinal stimulators, and intrathecal devices.
  • Mr Roozbeh Shafafy - Paediatric and Adult Spinal Deformity, Scoliosis, Kyphosis, Degenerative Spinal Disease, Myeloma of the Spine, Spinal Tumours, Spinal trauma.

Appointments

  • New Appointments Spinal – if you know your consultant, please contact their secretary, if unsure, please call: 020 3947 0053
  • Email: rnoh.spinaladmine-referrals@nhs.net
  • Follow-ups – 020 3947 0053

Adult Spinal Nursing Team

  • Clare Harman – Lead Nurse for Adult Spinal Deformity and Tumours: 020 8909 5828

  • Louise Ward and Najwa Al-Jariri - Clinical Nurse Specialist for Adult Spinal Deformity:
    020 8909 5617/5956

  • Email: rnoh.adultspines@nhs.net

Paediatric spinal 

  • Danielle Law and Candace Smith - Paediatric Spinal Clinical Nurse Specialist
  • Helen Harshorn - Lead Nurse for Paediatric Spinal Deformity

email:  rnoh.paediatricspines@nhs.net

Telephone: 020 8909 5328

At the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital NHS Trust, our spinal consultants use the British Spine Registry which is a web-based database for acquiring information about spinal surgery and for monitoring surgery outcomes in the UK. This is a vital tool in the treatment that we give to our patients and will immensely impact the future of patient care.

Patient involvement with the British Spine Registry focuses on pre-operative and post-operative questionnaires which provide our consultants with information about the pain, mobility and daily activities of our patients. These answers are compared with those of other patients who have had similar treatment which then enables surgeons to evaluate how effective and successful our surgeries are and where improvements can be made.

The information on the British Spine Registry is managed by the British Association of Spine Surgeons (BASS) and all data is kept secure and confidential. Personal details needed by the BSR are: Name, Gender, Date of birth, Address, Email, and NHS Number.

Participation with the British Spine Registry is greatly appreciated by the hospital and the consultants, and NHS England. We thank you for helping us to improve our hospital and the care that we are able to provide.

“RNOH fully embraces the use of the BSR for collecting patient outcomes. It is crucial for the long term follow-up for our patients and also opens up research opportunities. Being able to collect our patients’ outcomes enables the spinal unit to validate the specialist complex spinal surgery that we offer our patients.”

– Mr. Robert Lee, Consultant Spinal Surgeon, Previous National Lead for British Spine Registry

 

Further information can be found at: www.britishspineregistry.com

For enquiries, please contact: RNOH.BSRQueries@nhs.net

See the full list of Patient Information Guides.

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