Mr Kalpesh Vaghela

Dr Kalpesh Vaghela is a consultant orthopaedic surgeon specialising in hand and wrist surgery, practising at the Royal London Hospital, Barts Health NHS Trust. His clinical work focuses on the assessment and treatment of conditions causing pain, functional limitation and disability of the hand and wrist, with experience across both elective and trauma-related presentations.

His surgical practice covers the full breadth of hand surgery, including wide-awake local anaesthetic no tourniquet procedures, microsurgery, complex hand and wrist trauma, arthroscopic (keyhole) techniques and small joint replacement. He works with a multidisciplinary team to deliver evidence-based surgical care tailored to individual clinical needs.

Dr Vaghela qualified in medicine from Imperial College London in 2010 and completed a Bachelor of Science degree in Surgical Sciences, graduating with first-class honours. He undertook his specialist orthopaedic training on the Percivall Pott rotation before completing a Training Interface Group integrated orthoplastics hand surgery fellowship at the Pulvertaft Hand Centre in Derby. His training was further broadened through international experience at Royal North Shore Hospital in Sydney, Australia. On returning to the UK, he worked as a consultant within the hand surgery unit at Guy’s and St Thomas’ Hospital.

He has received a number of competitive national and international fellowships, including the British Society for Surgery of the Hand Travelling Fellowship, which involved training at Institut Kaplan in Barcelona. He was also awarded the American Society for Surgery of the Hand International Fellowship, visiting specialist centres in the United States such as Hospital for Special Surgery and Montefiore–Einstein in New York, Vanderbilt Health in Nashville, Mayo Clinic in Rochester and Duke University in Durham.

Dr Vaghela holds dual diploma qualifications in hand surgery, having completed both the European and British diplomas. He was awarded the Vivien Lees Gold Medal for achieving the highest performance in the British diploma examination and now contributes to training future hand surgeons as a British Society for Surgery of the Hand diploma tutor.

Alongside his clinical work, Dr Vaghela has a strong commitment to education and training. He holds a Master’s degree in Medical Education from University College London and has been awarded the Robert Jones Medal and Association Prize by the British Orthopaedic Association for his work in human factors training and virtual reality simulation. He currently serves on the British Society for Surgery of the Hand Education and Training Committee and acts as a UKITE examiner.

Dr Vaghela is actively involved in both basic science and clinical research. His work has been published in peer-reviewed journals, specialist textbooks and presented at national and international scientific meetings.

Royal London Hospital, Barts Health NHS Trust