Website     https://www.uhsussex.nhs.uk/about/trust/equality-diversity/armed-forces/

Musculoskeletal clinic for service personnel and veterans (Chavasse clinic)

Our Chavasse Clinic is a specialist musculoskeletal clinic for service personnel (regular or reserve) and veterans. It is held monthly at the Fracture Clinic, Royal Sussex County Hospital, Brighton.

Appropriate medical practitioners (e.g. GP, physio) can complete a Chavasse Clinic referral form and email it to [email protected].

Pre-booked appointments are available monthly from 8.30am to 1pm on Thursdays.

As a serving officer in the RAMC and an orthopaedic surgeon who had trained at the prestigious Robert Jones and Agnes Hunt Orthopaedic Hospital in Oswestry, Lt Col Benjamin Caesar, a Consultant Trauma and Orthopaedic Surgeon at BSUH, was inspired by this story of selfless commitment and sacrifice. He felt compelled to follow in Noel Chavasse’s example and set up the Chavasse Clinic to run on his days off in spare rooms in fracture clinic at the Royal Sussex County Hospital in 2016.

With support from the Sussex Armed Forces Network, the clinic proved to be a success and popular with not only the Veteran population, but also the Regulars and Reservists who attended. This was recognised by the Trauma and Orthopaedic Directorate, who formally recognised this clinic as part of Lt Col Caesar’s work and has continued to support the clinic as it develops and grows. 

The plans for the future are to increase the number of clinics each month, and Lt Col Caesar will be joined in this venture by Sqn Ldr Tom Crompton, a fellow orthopaedic consultant working at BSUH and RAF Reservist with 4626 Aeromedical Evacuation Squadron. This will allow the clinic to run uninterrupted during periods of deployment, such as Lt Col Caesar recent work with the UN in South Sudan.