About Professor Bailey

Professor Michael Bailey is a Consultant Laparoscopic and Abdominal Surgeon at The Guildford Nuffield Hospital and Mount Alvernia Hospital in Guildford. He is Professor of Surgery and Director of Minimal Access Therapy Training at the Postgraduate Medical School of the University of Surrey and an Honorary Consultant Laparoscopic and Abdominal Surgeon at The Royal Surrey County Hospital, Guildford. He is a Hunterian Professor of The Royal College of Surgeons of England and has twice been awarded the Moynihan Prize and Medal of the Association of Surgeons of Great Britain and Ireland.

During his time in Guildford he has established the most successful Minimal Access Therapy Training Unit (MATTU) in the UK, and, over the past decade, has concentrated his efforts on enhancing the teaching, techniques and technologies of laparoscopic surgery in Great Britain and internationally. He has strong connections with leading international laparoscopic institutions worldwide and frequently links with those institutions by tele-communication allowing surgeons from one part of the world to view an operation elsewhere. His expertise in laparoscopic surgery means that he is frequently referred patients from many parts of the country and abroad. On many occasions, he has been invited to act as an Advisor and he represented The Royal College of Surgeons and Association of Laparoscopic Surgeons of Great Britain and Ireland at the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence appraisal of laparoscopic hernia repair. He is also a specialist adviser to the Interventional Procedures Programme of the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence.

He is a member of the Executive Board of the European Association for Endoscopic Surgery and Chairman of the Publications Committee.

For the past four years as Minimally Invasive Surgery Tutor at The Royal College of Surgeons of England, he has been active in establishing a new structured laparoscopic training programme for all surgeons in the United Kingdom.

He was President of the Association of Laparoscopic Surgeons of Great Britain and Ireland between 2003 and 2005. He is a past Examiner for the Intercollegiate Board in General Surgery for Great Britain and Ireland and was previously a Member and Secretary of The Court of Examiners of The Royal College of Surgeons of England. In addition, he has been invited to examine in many parts of the world including Baghdad, Cairo, Hong Kong, Kuwait and Oman.

Professor Bailey is internationally recognised for his skills as a Laparoscopic Surgeon and has been invited to give over one hundred and sixty lectures on the subject, in over thirty different countries across the world (highlighted in red in the image below).

Professor Bailey has performed thousands of laparoscopic operations, including one of the first gallbladder removals in this country using laparoscopic surgery. The technique, laparoscopic cholecystectomy, is now the most commonly carried out laparoscopic operation and today most gallbladder removals are performed using keyhole surgery.

Since the early 1990s he has evolved techniques for laparoscopically operating on many conditions including inguinal hernia repair, gastro-oesophageal reflux disease and the treatment of achalasia of the cardia, laparoscopic appendicectomy, adrenalectomy and laparoscopic stomach and bowel resections. Techniques are constantly being refined and developed.

A comprehensive study of telemedicine out patient consultations with local GP surgeries and their future role within the National Health Service has been undertaken. The use and application of virtual reality simulators is a current field of research, as is the role of robotic surgery.

Through their research and clinical practices, Professor Bailey and his team have helped to make the advances of laparoscopic surgery a reality to patients. He is an important force in laparoscopic surgery, forming close partnerships between surgery and industry, which he has used to benefit both patients, hospital and industry alike.