UK's top surgeon calls for new procedures to undergo clinical trials

Prof Derek Alderson says innovations should be backed by evidence before use on NHS

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Britain's most eminent surgeon has called for new surgical procedures and implants to be tested in clinical trials before being made routinely available on the NHS.

Prof Derek Alderson, the president of the Royal College of Surgeons, said the benefits of surgical innovations must "absolutely, unequivocally" be backed by evidence, either through randomised controlled trials or official registries designed to track patient outcomes. The move would bring surgical innovation more closely in line with the way new drugs are introduced.