Martin Kurzer

Written by a patient at St John & St Elizabeth Hospital

I had my hernia repair operation in July 2018. This went very well. From the initial consultation with Martin Kurzer, I felt that he knew exactly what he was doing and was an expert in his field. I also appreciated his confident, friendly and informal approach. We very quickly agreed the date for the operation, just one week after the consultation, communicating effectively by phone and email. I arrived at 8.30am at the hospital on a Monday morning, and the nursing staff and anaesthetist were very friendly, efficient and considerate. I had the operation that morning under light general anaesthetic, and was eating smoked salmon sandwiches for lunch at 1.00pm, and a Mediterranean fish stew at 6.00pm. I almost enjoyed the experience! It is now 11 days since the operation and I am recovering well. I have had very little pain and taken only a few pain killers in the first two days after the operation. Martin has been in touch since the operation to check how things were going. Overall, I am very happy with the operation and how Martin and his colleagues looked after me. The only issue I would raise was the noise level - I think from the air conditioning system - at night (as I stayed in the hospital for one night after the operation). This is a relatively minor point, but it might be worth investigating if this could be lessened by upgrading the system in some regard.

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Written by a patient at St John & St Elizabeth Hospital

Mr Martin Kurzer is the complete professional. He has excellent interpersonal skills and presented an air of calm confidence that was just what I wanted to see in my surgeon. More importantly, he is a true expert in his field, and has possibly unmatched experience. He repaired my inguinal hernia on 21 Mar 2018. From the start I was impressed by his prompt responses, initially by email, and later by phone. He was the only surgeon of the four that I contacted who replied to me personally. I valued that, as evidence of his concern and interest in his patients. He could not have been more helpful in answering my questions, and then in setting up the surgery. I live in British Columbia, and the time difference and travel issues could all been difficulties. Martin was happy to work around all that and I appreciated his enthusiasm, and how easy he made it for me. I had travel constraints, and UK family commitments to work around, and he was a great help. The first meeting and consultation ran to time of course. Martin is easy to talk to, informal, but very professional. He listened to and answered all of my and my wife's questions. His explanations and discussion of the options were thorough. It was very reassuring to listen to a man who is a master of his profession. The process and the surgery went exactly as described by Martin. The induction process and the preparation for the surgery were smooth and faultless. The staff were attentive and helpful. It felt like five star treatment. I really was not aware of the surgery at all, and was soon back in the room recovering. A very nice touch at the Hospital was that a thoughtful member of the team noticed that had I left the bread from my cheese sandwich, and asked would I like an avocado salad instead. Only took minutes to arrive too. Overall I was very impressed with all of Martin's team, and the Hospital. I could not have asked for more thoughtful and concerned treatment. I had no issues at all with the incision or dressing, and it all unfolded as described by Martin, and in the briefing notes. Ibuprofen for a few days controlled the initial pain, overall, I'd describe the pain level as "uncomfortable" . Coughing did hurt more though. I was active and took the train back the following day. I was driving a day later. I did sleep a lot for a couple of weeks. I can say that I am very happy with my results, and could not have asked for a better experience than I had with Martin and his team. I wholeheartedly recommend him and St John and St Elizabeth to anyone contemplating hernia surgery. You will be in good hands. Finally, although cost was not a major concern in my decision, Martin's package for a self funded patient was, competitive, and much less than some Canadian and US options that I had considered.

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Written by a patient at St John & St Elizabeth Hospital

Mr Kurzer performed an inguinal hernia repair for me several years ago, which has caused no problems at all since it was repaired. Recently I suffered an inguinal hernia on my other side (unrelated to the first), so naturally I sought out Mr Kurzer to fix this one. For me the benefit of a procedure involving local rather than general anaesthetic was a major point, along with the advanced mesh repair technique that does not involve internal stitching. Mr Kurzer was extremely pleasant to deal with and kept me informed throughout the process. The operation itself was not stressful and the staff at St John and St Elizabeth were professional and friendly. I am pleased to say that my recovery so far has gone very well. Post-op pain was minimal; there was some mild discomfort once the anaesthetic wore off, but this was manageable and subsided quickly. In my opinion Mr Kurzer is an excellent specialist hernia surgeon.

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Written by a patient at St John & St Elizabeth Hospital

Had large inguinal hernia, and have a friend who suggested the London hernia hospital after he had successful open mesh repair 4 years earlier. After looking at reviews had consultation with mr Martin Kurzer on 25th September 2017. My hernia was quite large & had a bilateral open inguinal hernia repair the next day. I was met by the anaesthetist who explained that procedure would involve a general anaesthetic and also met Mr Kurzer who reassured me. When I came round after the operation I had no pain and felt comfortable. I was able to take a short walk down the corridor six hours after my surgery with little discomfort. I was monitored closely by excellent nursing staff who were all very professional, caring and reassuring. Mr Kurzer also called to see me to reassure me that the surgery had gone well. During my stay I was given antibiotics, codeine and ibuprofen to help with pain. Before I was discharged the following day Mr Kurzer saw me again to reassure me. I received excellent patient information informing me what to expect post-operatively which was really useful. Once home I was able to start short walks straight away and gradually increase distance over the next few days. Dressing and steristrips were removed after eight days and wound was clean with only a neat faint scar. I continued to take painkillers for ten days but was then able to reduce the dose and then stop by the tenth day. I was told I could return to work after two weeks but took three weeks off as my job as a lorry driver can involve physical work. It is now four and a half months after my surgery and my recovery has been amazing. I have just had a week in the Lake District and climbed Skiddaw mountain at a height of 931m (10 miles of ascent and descent) with no discomfort which is remarkable considering what I have been through. I cannot recommend Mr Martin Kurzer highly enough for his remarkable technical ability and professionalism and all the wonderful staff at the Hospital of St John and St Elizabeth. Deciding to go private was definitely money well spent.

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Written by a carer at St John & St Elizabeth Hospital

Mr Kurzer very kindly agreed to operate on my uncle, who had two failed inguinal hernia repairs this year in the USA. Mr Kurzer was charming, extremely helpful, supportive and arranged everything with the minimum of disruption for my 90 year old uncle, who is a retired eye surgeon. The operation was done in the extremely comfortable St John and St Elizabeth hospital in London ( which was excellent)and the post operative course was exceptionally smooth, with my uncle only taking two doses of pain relief on the day after, with nothing required subsequently at all ; that in itself a record! My uncle rested for a few days, still not requiring pain relief, then walked a mile three days post operatively, over hills, as he felt well enough to do so. My Uncle then had a 5 day holiday in Wales, visiting relatives. I have just taken him to Heathrow, to catch his flight home, 9 days after surgery and he insisted on pushing his own luggage trolley. He has said that he has had no pain at all since day three and feels really well. I cannot thank Mr Kurzer enough and recommend him highly, to anyone fortunate enough to be under his care.

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