Shepton Mallet NHS Treatment Centre has appointed George Tamvakopoulos as its newest consultant orthopaedic surgeon.

This brings the total number of consultant surgeons with an orthopaedic speciality at the hospital to seven.

His medical qualification is from King's College School of Medicine in London which he achieved after completing two degrees and basic science research in Boston in the United States.

After medical college in London, George completed his basic surgical training in London and Norwich and his higher surgical training in North West London and the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital.

George's fellowship training was at The Royal Orthopaedic Hospital (Birmingham), arthroplasty fellowship at the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital (Stanmore) and upper limb fellowship at the Royal London Hospital.

His has a particular interest in upper limb musculoskeletal conditions including sports injuries in all three joints in the upper limb (shoulder, elbow and wrist).

George is a keen sportsman and still pursues tennis and skiing to a very high level. In his school days George was a national champion in shot-put and during college he attained a first degree black belt in Tae Kwon Do.

Having experienced the psychology of competitive sports George appreciates the emotional factors during rehabilitation and works closely with physiotherapy colleagues to facilitate recovery.

Connie Stocker, interim hospital director at Shepton Mallet NHS Treatment Centre, said: "We are delighted to welcome George to our team.

"He joins us at a time when our orthopaedic work is on the increase, with a growing number of patients not just from Somerset but from across the South West and beyond.

"His experience and skills make a significant offering to our already outstanding levels of care, which recently saw us declared top in the country for hip replacements, and in the top five per cent for knee replacements, according to the national Patient Recorded Outcome Measures (PROMs)."

In the national Friends and Family Test Shepton Mallet NHS Treatment Centre recently achieved the overall score of 100 per cent of patients stating that they would recommend the hospital to their nearest and dearest, for each month over the past five months.

The hospital scored 99 per cent for inpatients, 100 per cent for day cases and 100 per cent for outpatients.

The hospital was also the first of its kind to be rated Outstanding by the Care Quality Commission across all five domains of the quality mark.