Spotlight on: Anish Sanghrajka, Consultant Paediatric Orthopaedic Surgeon
Anish joined NNUH in 2012 as a consultant, having completed his training at the Royal London then as a Fellow in Sydney, Great Ormond Street Hospital and Sheffield’s Children’s Hospital.
“When I came to the N&N, I was looking for a good hospital where there were opportunities in the paediatric section of the Trauma and Orthopaedic department to help grow the service and somewhere that would be good for work-life balance in a family-friendly location such as Norfolk”, said Anish.
“I love the ethos we work by in the N&N’s Paediatric Trauma and Orthopaedic department, prioritising the patient’s needs at all times, which reflects why I wanted to become a doctor. The ethos is also one of innovation.
“Through having the right team in place and continuing to build relationships with partner hospitals, we’ve expanded what our service can offer patients. We established specialist paediatric trauma and orthopaedic clinics at Norfolk’s other acute hospitals plus West Suffolk and East Suffolk and North Essex hospitals, which offer a much better service, meaning families don’t have to travel so far to see a specialist, as N&N consultants travel to see them.
“We’ve also established a 24-hour regional on-call supported by specialist paediatric anaesthetists and radiology.
“It’s a really exciting time here, some amazing things have been set in train. We will soon have two purpose-built clinic rooms for children in the Orthopaedic clinic and two new dedicated operating theatres for children which all means that we can offer expanded specialist services to more patients. We also have a virtual paediatric fracture clinic where we can triage by x-ray and notes reviews so that families who don’t need to come back to the hospital for follow-up are saved unnecessary journeys.”
Another fundamentally important part of Anish’s role is as Training Programme Director for Health Education East of England, for Trauma and Orthopaedics overseeing 70 trainees in the region.
“The programme extends across the region from Bedford and Harlow to Colchester and Kings Lynn. I love teaching and training the surgeons of the future and supervising the programme, supporting everyone as they progress. What I really enjoy seeing is talented surgeons coming through – it’s always inspiring.
“The paediatric trauma and orthopaedic team I work within is incredibly knowledgeable and hardworking – the theatre staff, the secretaries, nurses and allied health professionals such as physios and Occupational Therapists. What I love about working at the N&N is the team, the combination of all the innovation and development we’re able to do here in the department and the fact that at our Trust it’s not about what you look like, it’s about your work.”