Jessie J, Celebrity Singer - Songwriter

Dr Redfern made a very unexpected and stressful time feel very calm and made me very at ease with having reconstructive ankle surgery.

He is a very skilful and talented surgeon but also a very lovely man that in the short of it helped me recover from a very serious injury

Nicholas Witchell, Renowned BBC Journalist

I had been having trouble with my right big toe joint for about seven or eight years. It was getting progressively worse, becoming swollen and uncomfortable. But you just think – I’ll do something about it one day. It felt much worse in the cold and there was one occasion when I found myself stumbling and knew the time had come to get it done.

Mr Redfern told me that the arthritis was not so bad as to require orthodox surgery, leading to six weeks’ immobilisation. He said it would be possible to operate using keyhole surgery. I was not aware that it was possible to have keyhole surgery and I rather readily agreed.

The operation was scheduled for August, which is a quiet time for me. I hadn’t been in hospital for an operation since I was eight years old and was astounded at how much anaesthesia has improved. I woke up within minutes of my operation being completed, with no after effects whatsoever, and very quickly was ready for my lunch. I left hospital by 3pm wearing a surgical shoe.

I haven’t yet confessed this to Mr Redfern, but that same day, I then got on a bus and went into central London to help my daughter who was doing some work experience. It really was remarkable what you are able to do so soon after the operation.

I had been given some painkillers before I left hospital, but I didn’t take any. There was a little bit of tenderness and my foot was quite bruised immediately after surgery, but there wasn’t any real discomfort at any stage. I go to the gym most mornings at 6am and was able to get back into the routine two weeks after surgery. I picked up the threads of reporting immediately and went out to Afghanistan in September.

The surgery removed the bony growth which had developed at the top of my big toe joint – the surface is now smooth and flat. Two months after the operation, there is only a very small scar where the incisions were made, which is barely visible. I have far more flexibility and mobility and no pain in my big toe joint.

I’m absolutely delighted with the surgery. I had no idea that this kind of surgery was available and the recovery from it is really remarkable.

Mr Humphrey Walters, Performance Consultant, August 2019 

Dear David,

I have finally come to the end of a 2 ½ year saga with the injury to my feet after the London Marathon.

I wanted to pay you a huge thank you for all you have done for me. As you know it was a huge technical challenge medically and I suspect most surgeons would not have taken the trouble to save my feet. 

It wasn’t just the medical side but your encouragement and bed side manner was really brilliant. I realised how busy you were but nevertheless you always had a lot of time for me. This is a precious gift and kept me going over all the months spent in recovery.

I know you have also pioneered new ways in key hole surgery and you are always looking to improve the care you give to patients.

I know you are very well thought of and you deserve all the praise you get.

Best wishes

Humphrey Walters

Mr Walters has completed 48 marathons and amongst many other achievements, has also completed the Global Challenge round the world yacht race. He was performance coach to the 2003 world cup winning English rugby team and has a long history of performance coaching of elite sportsmen and women including working with Chelsea Football Club and Formula 1 racing.

Mr Paul Haggqvist, Retired Dentist, AUgust 2019

I had been aware of painful arthritis affecting my big and second toe for almost 15 years resulting in me having to buy increasingly larger and larger footwear to accommodate the increasing bunion.

As I have been living in Italy, I felt that I needed a private consultation, not because of any negative feeling towards the NHS, it was just that I needed to have potential surgery when it suited me and somewhere close to home. My NHS GP referred me to Mr David Redfern at The Montefiore Hospital which is no more than 400 metres from where I live.

On meeting Mr Redfern, I found him to be a really friendly, good-natured person who is also very easy to talk to. His sympathetic nature was most welcoming to the extent that following the appointment, I found I had every  faith in him.

Having examined my foot and the digital radiographs (x-rays), Mr Redfern discussed the various options open to me and I elected to go for the ‘gold’ option as I didn’t want any compromise to my treatment. He said the surgery would involve removing the bunion, immobilising the big toe knuckle, due to the degeneration of the joint, together with straightening of the second toe. I wasn’t able to commit to the procedure for a year due to commitments in Italy, but I returned when I was ready to go ahead.

The hospital is as you’d expect, rather plush with no crowds or noise and just like staying in an excellent hotel where they too look after you so very well. After the surgery my foot was numb from the anesthetic and I returned home with instructions and medication. Apart from the first night when my foot was definitely uncomfortable, I didn’t need to take the prescribed painkillers and I just took homeopathic Arnica instead which suited me brilliantly.

I followed the advice I had been given by resting my foot for 50 minutes each and every hour to promote good healing and started to use both crutches and applied gentle pressure which increased as the weeks passed. Now, after 12 weeks, I can walk without discomfort and without limping. The only negative aspect I can say is that I set alarm bells off when going through security gates due to the metal framework in my foot!

Mr Redfern is a remarkable surgeon who did exactly what he originally said to me. Nothing seemed too much trouble for him and I am truly grateful to him for making my foot pain-free for the first time in 15 years!

Jane Eleini, Language Tutor, August 2019

For many years I had hated my bunions.

The one on my left foot was particularly unsightly but it seemed the right foot bunion was more painful. My mother had horrible bunions and I had them from a very early age. As a teenager, I used to tie my big toes together at night in the hope that they would straighten up !! I only ever wore high heals when dressing up in the evening so that was certainly not the cause.

I put up with my bad feet right up to my 50's and finally decided to do something about it. I am fortunate in that my occupation does not require me to be on my feet.

A friend of mine had seen Mr Redfern and told me he 'was God' and that her two operations at been a massive success. On the strength of her advice, I met with Mr Redfern and went ahead with my first bunion operation.

That was now three years ago. I did as I had been told and rested with my leg up for the first two weeks. I used the time to read the whole of Tolstoy's 'War and Peace' !! Another four weeks of raising my leg whenever possible saw a great improvement and I was back in my trainers after six weeks.

I will say, however, that in my personal experience it was not until I had the pins removed after a further seven/eight months that my foot fully recovered. It then only remained to have the other foot done … !!

A year later, I again consulted Mr Redfern and went ahead with my other foot. This time I knew what to expect. My husband was hospitalised at that time and I thought we might just as well both have our feet up !! Recovery followed similar lines to my first operation and, again, I had the pins removed after six months.

I now have a perfect pair of feet thanks to the genius of one very clever man. Mr Redfern is gentle, charming, professional and highly competent. I would highly recommend him to anyone thinking of having their bunions done and, in fact, have done so on many occasions.

The Montefiore hospital is superb; I always describe it as a five-star hotel and the staff are simply wonderful. Ironically, I had my second operation on my birthday and the staff had decked my room with banners and balloons !! Altogether, a very comfortable experience all round. I would definitely repeat the experience but sadly only have two feet !!