Dr Aneel Nihal MBBS, FRCS (Tr & Ortho), FRACS (Ortho), CIME (ABIME)

Dr Aneel Nihal has worked in the field of Orthopaedic surgery for the last 25 years, both in the UK and Australia. Dr Nihal undertook his Orthopaedic registrar training at St George’s Teaching Hospital, London and St James University Hospital, Leeds, Yorkshire.

Dr Nihal was appointed as a Consultant Orthopaedic and Trauma Surgeon in 2000 at one of Yorkshire’s largest Teaching hospitals, the Hull & East Yorkshire NHS Hospital Trust where he worked as a consultant from 2000 until 2007. He moved to Australia in 2007 and has worked as a consultant Orthopaedic surgeon at Metro South Brisbane Health District and Gold Coast Hospitals.  Dr Nihal was awarded the academic title of Associate Professor at the School of Medicine at the Gold Coast Campus Griffith University from 2009-2016.

Dr Nihal has also completed two prestigious clinical fellowships in Orthopaedic surgery, one in the UK and one in the USA. He was chosen for the Sir John Charnley Hip & Knee fellowship (1996) in the UK followed by the Paul Lapidus fellowship (1999) in foot & ankle surgery at the NYU Hospital for Joint Diseases, Manhattan, New York.

Dr Nihal has published extensively, having written various articles and contributed to Orthopaedic book chapters. He has also been invited to give numerous lectures at local, regional, national and international levels. His area of main interest is in revision and salvage foot and ankle surgery.

Dr Nihal has been appointed (2010 to date) by the Queensland Government Attorney General to be a member of the Queensland Orthopaedic Medical Assessment Tribunal in Brisbane

Foot & Ankle surgery is also a rapidly evolving specialty and a more attractive & lucrative field for young orthopaedic surgeons, who see their peers increasingly prospering. This younger group of Orthopaedic surgeons with less experience in foot and ankle surgery along with the non-medically qualified (Non MBBS) podiatrists calling themselves “Doctors” who are operating independently, have led to increasing complaints and litigation cases across the globe.

As the number and complexity of foot and ankle surgeries increase (which here is driven by 3 specialities – general orthopaedic, foot and ankle orthopaedic and podiatric surgeries), the number of complaints, litigation and pay-out is also increasing.

The speaker will share his experience in how to minimise/avoid the risk of complaints leading to litigation.