Guide
How to check a hernia surgeon and the hospital treating you
Updated
Verifying who is operating on you costs nothing and takes about as long as reading a quote. Three public sources cover most of it.
The hospital must be registered
In England, independent healthcare providers carrying on regulated activities register with the Care Quality Commission. CQC's guidance states that service providers must register, that CQC registers the regulated activity carried on rather than the service type or profession, and that it is the legal entity carrying on the activity that registers, not the location (CQC, page last updated 29 January 2025). Use CQC's public search to pull up the hospital and read the inspection reports and ratings behind it (find care services).
In the other UK nations the regulators are Healthcare Inspectorate Wales, Healthcare Improvement Scotland and, in Northern Ireland, the Regulation and Quality Improvement Authority.
The surgeon is a separate check
Hernia repair is general surgery. The General Medical Council keeps the public register of doctors in the UK, showing a doctor's registration status, whether they hold a licence to practise, and whether they are on the specialist register and in which specialty. Search the GMC register on the GMC's own website by name or GMC number, and confirm the specialty matches the operation you are being offered.
For a second, independent view, the Private Healthcare Information Network publishes information on consultants and hospitals working in private healthcare. PHIN describes itself as a government-mandated, industry-certified independent organisation publishing information about the safety, quality and costs of private healthcare.
Then ask the things registers do not cover
- Ask which surgeon will perform the repair, and whether that is contractual or an allocation on the day.
- Ask which technique they intend to use and roughly how many of that repair they do each year.
- Ask what happens, clinically and financially, if the hernia recurs and needs a second operation.
- Ask for the inclusions and exclusions of the price in writing before you pay anything.
We do not name a best surgeon or a best hospital anywhere on this site, because we are not in a position to judge that and neither is anyone paid to introduce you. Registers, inspection findings and written answers to your own questions are the evidence worth having.