A BRADFORD surgeon who performed a Europe-first reconstructive procedure on a breast cancer patient has been honoured with a top fellowship award.

Rick Linforth, 49, who has worked at Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust since 2006, was presented with The Fellowship in General Surgery award for educating breast surgeons of the future.

The award was given to him at Manchester Town Hall by the President of the Royal College of Surgeons (RCS) England, Professor Derek Alderson.

Mr Linforth, who is a Consultant Oncoplastic Breast and Reconstructive Surgeon, has been teaching about skin sparing mastectomies and immediate reconstruction to consultant surgeons and senior registrars for the past 10 years.

Bradford Teaching Hospitals is one of only 12 national training oncoplastic centres for the Association of Breast Surgery. Oncoplastic surgery combines the latest plastic surgery techniques with breast cancer surgery to restore a natural appearance to the breast shape.

In 2015, Mr Linforth was made a Member of the College Academy of Surgeon Educators. He is certified by the General Medical Council and is a Fellow of both the Royal College of Surgeons England, and the Royal College of Surgeons Edinburgh. He is also a full member of the Association of Breast Surgery of Great Britain and Ireland.

In July 2008 he performed the first European case of breast reconstruction on a patient in Bradford using a biomaterial called Alloderm, which comes from skin taken from donated cadavers. And in September he presented his latest research to the Nottingham International Oncoplastic Reconstructive Breast Symposium on a way of saving patients from having major surgery.

Mr Linforth said: “The Fellowship in General Surgery was awarded to me for services in education and training in breast surgery delivered at the RCS, on behalf of the Association of Breast Surgery of Great Britain and Ireland, over the last decade.

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“It’s a great honour and one which would not have been possible without the support of my colleagues at the Foundation Trust. I sincerely believe in providing our patients with individually personalised, high-quality care, while at the same time, empowering them to maintain and improve their health after surgery. Educating patients and working with them to achieve the best physical state possible is something I hold very dear and instil in my teaching to my junior doctors and newly appointed consultants.”