Mr Eddie Chaloner, Consultant Vascular Surgeon at Radiance Vein Clinic, welcomes and fully supports the new National Institute for Health and Care Excellence’s (NICE) guidelines on varicose veins.NICE acknowledges what Radiance Vein Clinic’s team has maintained for an entire decade – open surgery should be the last resort for varicose veins, so patients should be offered heat or laser treatments as a first choice. These techniques are safer and less invasive than surgery; they also leave fewer scars, as they involve fewer and smaller incisions. Additionally, laser and heat treatments are cheaper and quicker – patients can usually go home on the same day.The new NICE guidance has exposed an issue with regard to the way the NHS operates – surgery is currently the first choice for varicose veins in the UK and Wales. Furthermore, the majority of NHS hospitals do not offer heat or laser treatments.Why does this happen, if the more modern options are cheaper, less invasive, safer and more effective? Because surgeons operating through the NHS lack in training on the newer techniques.
Mr Eddie Chaloner suggests NHS surgeons should learn the new techniques and learn from established surgeons who have used them consistently since they have been available. Moreover, he believes that private patients, who always have a choice, should no longer accept open surgical options.
As a pioneer of minimally invasive vein treatment in the UK, Mr Chaloner has advocated the superiority of laser and heat treatments for a decade. Operating through Radiance Vein Clinic, benenden hospital and through the NHS, Mr Chaloner’s practice constitutes one of the largest varicose veins practices and the biggest user of Angiodynamics laser fibers in the UK.
Author Info