Surgeon who started as hospital porter retires

Ben Banerjee has been presented with an honorary doctorate of medicine by the University of Sunderland

A surgeon who started his NHS career as a hospital porter has retired after more than 40 years.

Ben Banerjee first signed up to help patients in 1982 when he started work at Sunderland Royal Hospital.

He has now stepped down from his role as a consultant vascular surgeon with South Tyneside and Sunderland NHS Foundation Trust.

Paying tribute, the organisation said Mr Banerjee, who also completed his training at hospital in Newcastle before returning to Sunderland in 2004, had cared for thousands of patients.

As well as celebrating his retirement, Mr Banerjee has also been presented with an honorary doctorate of medicine by the University of Sunderland.

It recognises his services to the city, the NHS and the military having joined the Army Reserves while he was a medical student.

He was later deployed to Iraq, Bosnia, Kosovo and Afghanistan and was appointed as one of the Queen's honorary surgeons in 2019.

He remains an honorary clinical senior lecturer in vascular surgery at Newcastle University.

Mr Banerjee thanked his hospital colleagues for their help over the years

Easington-born Mr Banerjee thanked the health trust for his surgery career and also for facilitating his military deployments.

He said: "I have thoroughly enjoyed my time here at the trust, serving the people of Sunderland to the best of my ability in the NHS and the Army.

"I leave behind a fantastic team everywhere in this hospital, all of whom have supported me in some way over the years."

The trust's executive medical director, Dr Shaz Wahid, said Mr Banerjee had "helped care for thousands of patients" and "used his expertise to not only treat those we look after, but share his knowledge with his colleagues".

"His achievements through the Army are also a testament to his dedication to helping others and he is to be congratulated for the distinctions he has earned," Dr Wahid said.