Mr Sam Rajaratnam

The Schoen Group have been one of the worlds leading orthopaedic outcome measure driven healthcare organisations over the last two decades, and have pioneered data collection in orthopaedic surgery, and their new orthopaedic hospital in London was declared the best private hospital in the UK. 2019 in the Laing and Buisson Healthcare awards December 2019. 

Super-specialising in Knee Surgery

World class surgical education

After completing his medical training at Guys & St.Thomas’s Hospitals and qualifying with a First Class degree in anatomy and an MBBS in 1997, he undertook higher surgical training via the Royal College of Surgeons in London, followed by Fellowship Training in soft tissue and knee replacement surgery in Sydney, Australia.

Since then, Sam has gone onto become a leading Orthopaedic Surgeon in his speciality and is now internationally known for his specialist expertise in knee replacement surgery with an emphasis on 'rapid recovery'. He is Co-Head of Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, at the Schoen Clinic in Wigmore Street, London.  Schoen is a dedicated, world class private Orthopaedic hospital in the Harley Street medical Area of London.

He has amongst the lowest revision rates recorded on the National Joint Registry (NJR) and to date has personally conducted close to four thousand joint replacements. It is this level of focussed experience that contributes to the exceptional high positive outcome scores.

Sam performs amongst the highest number of successful knee replacements on the UK National Joint Registry (approximately 400 Joint Replacements) each year with excellent outcomes. 

He is also known for developing the latest 'rapid recovery' and pain relieving techniques following knee replacements. He has recruited and developed an expert multidisciplinary team of specialist anaesthetists , physiotherapists and nurses to deliver excellent care. He believes that making lots of small improvements in surgical and anaesthetic technique can lead to better outcomes and the overall patient experience (the theory of cumulative marginal gains). This multidisciplinary team based approach is another reason why he has one of the lowest revision rates for knee replacement surgery on the UK National Joint Registry. 

With patients increasingly asking more questions, demanding better outcomes and reviewing their choices, Sam is a huge advocate for transparent 'outcome measure driven healthcare' i.e. the ability to measure and communicate the effectiveness of surgeons and their outcomes .  

Patients are encouraged and advised to always check the performance data of their potential surgeons, because this information is freely available.

Whilst specialising on knee joint replacement surgery, he also is renowned for ,

• Soft tissue knee injury and reconstruction; this involves treating professional and amateur athletes and Sam is one of the chosen surgeons who regularly treat members of the Professional Football Association (PFA). He performs approximately 100 ACL reconstructions annually and many other soft tissue reconstructive procedures on the knee.

• Cartilage repair surgery to the knee. He is also interested in stem cells and biological solutions for treating cartilage defects in the knee, where these treatment might be appropriate.

Training and Awards

Sam was awarded the “Walter Mercer Gold Medal” for the best performance throughout Great Britain and Ireland in the final FRCS Orthopaedics examination in 2006.

He was the British Orthopaedic Association Ambassador to Hong Kong in 2007 and worked in Sydney Australia at some of the world’s best knee injury units before being appointed Consultant Surgeon in the UK in 2008. 

He has been the Senior Trainer for the Orthopaedic Specialist Registrars for the London Deanery and the South East the London and Kent - Sussex - Surrey Deaneries and lectures internationally on advances in knee surgery and rapid recovery regularly.  He is on the invited Faculty for the Annual FIFA Isokinetic Football medicine Conference each year.

Personal treatment philosophy

"Giving patients accurate and good advice on their condition, treatment options , and explaining all the conservative and surgical options carefully. 

There has to be transparency in showing patients the independent outcome scoring data for each surgical intervention to allow for informed choice".

Why knee surgery?

"I love knee surgery, as most knee conditions can actually be cured. Treatment often adds tremendous value to a person's quality of life".

What makes a ‘good day’ at the office ‘for you’?

"A clinic full of happy patients"

What piece of advice do you most often give to your patients?

Please ask your surgeon questions, especially regarding their surgical outcome data. What are their success rates? The all-important “national level outcome data” is available and your surgeon should be able to share this information with you at your request. This independent data will allow you to make an informed decision on choosing the right surgeon for your condition.

You need to be able to gauge how much of an expert your surgeon really is by getting an idea of how many relevant cases he/she undertakes each year , and of greater importance, as to the proven outcomes published for his/her practice are.

The starting point when choosing any joint replacement surgeon is to see their published National Joint Registry (NJR) surgical performance ratings.  Also check the data available on your surgeon's NJR, five and ten year revision rates for their joint replacement surgery.