Mr Am Rai (Amarjit Singh Rai) was awarded the iWantGreatCare certificate of excellence in 2024 for delivering outstanding care.
Reviews
Recommend
Trust
Listening
Mr Am Rai (Amarjit Singh Rai)
2023-07-03
Person
5
5
0
3rd July 2023
I had suffered with Spinal Stenosis & a bulging disc at L3 & L4 for over two & half years,
causing extensive constant sciatica pain in both legs with numbness and tingling.
This caused me to give up all of my interest going out for meals, Théâtre trips out holidays enjoying my grandson, and sadly had to give up driving due lack of movement and the excessive pain. My sleep pattern was interrupted every night all night never being able to get comfortable due to the pain.
Walking became almost impossible going up stairs on all fours, using a walking stick then having to purchase a mobility scooter so I could get out of the house.
My wonderful husband took over the daily running of the house, shopping and looking after me.
All the drugs I was taking just made me more or less like a zombie but not hitting the pain.
As I was not getting any where with the NHS decided to look elsewhere.
I had my first appointment with Mr Rai in mid February 2023. All new scans x-rays taken. Mr Rai explained fully what was going on in my spine with the nerves being so severely compressed from the Stenosis & prolapsed disc, and all the amount of drugs I was taking would not make any difference to the amount of pain I was in.
He explained in full what was going on in my spine and how with an operation what the outcome would be going forward.
I would need to have my disc removed then two metal rods with screws going across which would support my spine and make room around the facet joint that has stenosis to make room for the nerves.
With everything fully explained including the full details of the operation I would need. Went home talked everything over with the family & decided this was the best way forward and the option to do nothing was not an option I wanted my life back.
My second appointment at the end of February 2023. We talked over everything again with Mr Rai all question answered but overall I really felt safe in his hands.
On the 10th March 2023 I went in for my procedure. Not going to lie it hurt, but the first thing I noticed was the relief from the nerve pain that had plagued me for so many years. The care of nursing staff and Mr Rai visits to see me I knew | had made the correct decision. I left hospital a few days later & started my road to recovery.
My physio played a very important part of my recovery giving me good exercises advice going forward. PLEASE FOLLOW ALL ADVICE YOU ARE GIVEN. I still have some lower back pain but that is just ware and tear I can live with that.
I have had regular visits to see Mr Rai and my last one will be in September 2023.
I now have my life back swimming keep fit classes walking holidays back on the terraces at Norwich City this season hope we do better all the things you want to be
doing in your life, my grandson is very happy that nanny can now do all the the things with him again.
I will always be very grateful to Mr Rai and his team for all they have done for me and my family. If and I hope it never happens I would Mr Rai on my side.
Mr Am Rai (Amarjit Singh Rai)
2023-06-28
Person
5
5
0
28th June 2023
Mr Rai is an excellent doctor. He has extensive experience in dealing with problems with the spine and is skilled in the surgery to sort them out. He has a depth of knowledge and skill second to none. He has an understanding of the pain suffered through such problems and is caring and empathetic whilst highly professional. He explains carefully and clearly what procedures he will carry out. He treated me for a similarly problem thirteen years ago and his treatment was exemplary then as it was this time. I am very grateful to him.
Mr Am Rai (Amarjit Singh Rai)
2023-06-23
Person
5
5
0
23rd June 2023
Mr Rai was a very friendly, approachable and professional person. I was made to feel at ease within seconds of my consultation. I was made to feel that I was important and not just another patient.He clearly explained the issues and options. He reassured me that the medication prescribed by my GP was appropriate and explained the way forward. I felt it was a very successful consultation and came away a much happier person.
Mr Am Rai (Amarjit Singh Rai)
2023-06-20
Person
5
5
0
20th June 2023
Mr. Rai has a very pleasant and engaging manner which immediately made me feel at ease. He examined and questioned me about my problem and a way forward was agreed.
Mr Am Rai (Amarjit Singh Rai)
2023-06-13
Person
5
5
0
13th June 2023
Successfully operated on me for Spinal Stenosis. A very good outcome and no problems. I have total trust in his skill.
Profile
Experience and training
Mr Am Rai was elected President of the British Association of Spinal Surgeons by his surgical peers and has been on the BASS Executive Committee for 6 years. He has published on national best practice surgical guidelines, helped develop the British Spinal Registry (over 150,000 patients), involved in National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidelines and government led regional variation in surgical practice across England. Mr. Rai set up the Travelling Spinal Fellowship (administered through BASS & British Scoliosis Society) aimed at prospective new Spinal consultants.
He is fellowship trained (Australia, European Travelling Fellowship, South Africa and USA) and to date has trained over 12 spinal consultants who currently work throughout the UK. Mr. Rai has helped develop core curriculum for spinal training and was the Foundation Programme Director for junior doctors.
He has more than 20 years of consultant spinal experience and has been involved in over 10,000 surgical procedures.
He is director of a spinal charity Spine Aid which, arranges regular trips abroad for a team of spinal surgeons, medical students, neurophysiology technicians and anaesthetists to help treat under privileged children with spinal deformities. Mr Rai hopes to devote more time to this charitable work.
What Can you expect?
Surgery is always a last resort, but certain conditions and states of health may suggest it as a best option. There is good evidence in the literature that spinal surgery for nerve compression gives the best validated results as good as any other surgical procedure. Many patients are keen to get the best surgical opinion which is based on experience, training and appropriate patient selection. Surgeons in the modern era are duty bound to validate their results to ensure patients receive advise based on outcome data.
Mr Rai is an advocate of giving experienced and validated advice with outcome data to confirm treatment plans. He will allow as much time as is required to give his patients a balanced opinion. This will often involve reviewing images, discussion with other specialists and surgical colleagues.
Mr Rai appreciates the disability from spinal disease as he himself has had spinal surgery.
British Spinal Registry(BSR).
Since 2008 I have prospectively collected outcome data on all my private patients undergoing spinal surgery. This allows me to look at all my surgical results, compare them with other units and ultimately improve and monitor patient outcomes.
I have one of the largest series of outcome data from an individual consultant in Europe and our unit is in the process of publishing this.
The following is example of the data we have collected since 2008:
This data is collected on my behalf by an independent Spinal Specialist physiotherapist (Jonathan Geere) who is the main driver responsible for us to have data collection as good as anywhere in the world. This table shows, with our patients’ help, we collect 97% of the data compared to the national average of 43%. At one year after surgery the data we have collected as comprehensive as the Scandinavian (considered as gold standard in terms of data collection in healthcare in the world).
With this data we can look at various interactions and analyse and compare our results with other countries
Results of discectomy patients
Comparison group / other centres was from:
Rushton, A., et al. (2020). "Clinical course of pain and disability following primary lumbar discectomy: systematic review and meta-analysis." Eur Spine J 29(7): 1660-1670.
We can also look at how comorbidities and sex affect results of spinal surgery. This has revealed hormonal changes around the menopause may affect surgical results.
We also looked at diabetes and found greater proportion patients requiring revision surgery. This emphasises the importance of improving ones health prior to surgery.
Nearest Orthopaedic and trauma surgeons
(1)
(8)