Professor of Surgery, University of Liverpool, Consultant Surgeon, Member NHS England ACCIA Committee
DSc, MB, MS, FRCS (Ed & Eng)
Nationwide and Worldwide
Professor Graeme Poston was appointed as a full time NHS Consultant General Surgeon in 1991. While he retired from full time NHS clinical practice in 2019, he has been employed part time by NHS England as an assessor for NHS consultant national Clinical Excellence Awards (ACCIA) and intend to continue to do so for the foreseeable future. He undertakes instruction on allegations of breach of duty and clinical negligence or personal injury if they are relevant to his expertise.
With over 30 years experience, Professor Poston has developed an upper gastrointestinal surgical service (primarily oncological) with a major interest in hepato-biliary disease. Having moved to University Hospital Aintree in 2004, their hepato-biliary unit has become one of the largest in the UK, performing ~200 liver resections per year. Professor Poston has personally performed over 1000 elective hepatectomies for cancer with a hospital mortality rate of ~1%. His practice has been externally audited by Liverpool Health Authority and the European Liver Metastasis Resection Registry. These audits have demonstrated that one year survival following hepatectomy for colorectal metastases, exceeds 90%, 5 year survival 42% and 10 year survival 22%. Furthermore, he has one of the largest personal experiences in the UK of biliary reconstruction following cholecystectomy bile duct injury, and a major tertiary referral practice for hepato-pancreato biliary trauma. This work has allowed Mr Poston to become co-co-Principal Investigator of a number of major European clinical trials in hepato-biliary surgery.
Professor Poston has maintained an active medico-legal practice since 1995, initially working in the field of personal injury but for last twenty or so years, predominantly in the field of clinical negligence. To date he has provided over 2500 reports to the courts in England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland, Ireland, Hong Kong, St Helena and the United States dealing with issues of liability, causation, condition and prognosis on cases of alleged clinical negligence, 60% Claimant instructed.
He has attended Court on 7 occasions for medical negligence claims, the Court preferring my evidence on 5 occasions (3 Claimant instructed [including Spencer versus Hillingdon], and 2 Defendant instructed), and on the 7th case (Claimant instructed), the Court preferred my evidence on issues of Liability, but my evidence was unable to establish Causation.
Areas of expertise in clinical negligence include abdominal surgery, surgical gastroenterology and in particular the surgery of the liver, gallbladder and bile ducts, the acute abdomen, hernia surgery, and lastly loss-of-chance in cases of missed cancer diagnosis. His area of expertise in personal injury cases relates to soft tissue injuries and post-traumatic hernia. Professor Poston has prepared over 800 reports to the Courts in England addressing personal injury claims.
As part of his training in medico-legal report writing, Mr Poston regularly attends courses in report writing and courtroom presentation organised by Bond Solon, Specialist Info and other reputable bodies.
GMC Revalidation: August 2024 GMC Registration Number 2491486, Malpractice insurance with the Medical Defence Union, membership number 224068J