Mr Ahmed Hamouda

My name is Ahmed Hamouda. I am a General Surgeon, but I also do upper GI, which is the upper gastrointestinal tract, surgery. I specialise in laparoscopic surgery.

So, I've been doing it for quite a few years, including – obviously - operations like gallbladder operations, hernia, operations and reflux surgery.

I trained in Egypt, in Cairo, and I spent quite a period of time there learning to do general surgery operations, but mostly open. And then when I came to the UK, approximately 23 years ago, I started developing an expertise in laparoscopic surgery - which is keyhole surgery - mostly to do with the gallbladder, gallstones, but also exploring bile ducts to remove stones.

So, transferable skills. Obviously, I took those skills across to other areas of laparoscopic upper GI surgery, such as reflux, which is really one of the big things that I also do, which is treat heartburn or reflux patients by operating on them and offering laparoscopic fundoplication and hiatal hernia surgery.

I'm a member of the Upper GI Surgical Association as well as BOMSS. Obviously, I'm also a member of the Royal College of Surgeons of England.

Upper GI is one of those interesting specialties where most of the work is laparoscopic. So, of course, I think because I specialised in laparoscopic keyhole work, it drove me to that specialty more than any other, particularly in those days. And there was a lot of talk about laparoscopic treatment of cancer of the upper GI tract.

So, I've worked in healthcare systems where you don't get to follow the patient throughout their journey. And that's one of the reasons why I particularly like to work at Benenden, but also within the private sector, because what that does, and what it means, is that you see the patient for a consultation, you have a good chat and you're given time to work through all the issues, diagnoses etc. And then you follow on to actually doing their operation and seeing them for a follow up. So that journey seems complete to me. And I think that's one of the major reasons that I enjoy working within private health care and Benenden Hospital in particular.

But the fact that you can do most of the surgeries with keyhole means that the recovery is much quicker for patients. It means that eventually, you know, the complications and the risks are diminished because the scars are quite small and neat. And I think that is quite an appealing feature to me.

Well, the people at Benenden are amazing. I mean, from walking through the reception area and the large Atrium that's very well-lit and flooded with light and the history behind it, obviously. And you can see that on the wall panels, and it brings it all to life. And the location is exceptional, being obviously in open countryside; it's very relaxing and I think very calming for patients to come here.

And the facilities in theatre are great. They're exceptional. They're, you know, top class and we have a lot of laparoscopic equipment and kit here that is very, very avant-garde and at the high end of the technology.

So, I very much enjoy sports with my children, and they are quite sporty as well. Generally, I tend to play squash with them and, and try to get them to, to play that game. Most recently, they've introduced me to Padel, which is a really social and very appealing game for people to play. So that’s mostly what we do in our spare time – and that's what we enjoy.