Accredited Member
Mr Richard Matthews has recently become an accredited member of the Academy of Experts, the professional body for experts to establish and promote high objective standards.
A founder member and former President of the Warwickshire Medico-Legal Society, Mr Matthews has great experience in preparing Medical Reports for Solicitors for clients who have suffered personal injury, frequently taking instruction on a Single Joint Medical Expert basis. He also provides professional advice in cases of alleged medical negligence within his sphere of medical expertise.
Issues associated with:
Issues associated with:
The Academy of Experts
The Federation of Forensic & Expert Witnesses
Professional Indemnity through INCISION INDEMNITY
Royal College of Surgeons of England
Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh
British Association of Plastic, Reconstructive & Aesthetic Surgeons (BAPRAS)
British Burn Association (BBA)
British Society of Surgery of the Hand (BSSH)
Rugby & District Medical Society (Past President)
UK Register of Expert Witnesses
General Medical Council (GMC)
Mr Richard Matthews is a highly experienced Consultant Cosmetic & Reconstructive Plastic Surgeon. After qualifying as a Doctor at St Thomas Hospital Medical School in London, Mr Matthews trained widely in General Surgery, Orthopaedics, Urology and Paediatric Surgery before commencing his career in Plastic Surgery, progressing through five Regional Centres for Burns & Plastic Surgery, absorbing the art and craft of cosmetic and reconstructive plastic surgery. This included two years as Burns Research Fellow at the renowned Queen Victoria Hospital and Blond-McIndoe Research Centre at East Grinstead, during which he had notable papers published on the management of burns in pregnancy and the use of amniotic membranes for wound healing.
He became fully accredited in Plastic Surgery, including Cosmetic and Reconstructive aspects, in 1984, was European Travelling Scholar of The British Association of Plastic Surgeons (now called BAPRAS) in 1985 and was appointed Consultant Plastic Surgeon in the National Health Service for Coventry & Warwickshire (catchment: 1 million) in 1986.
From 1986 to 2006, when, as Head of the Unit, he effected its transfer to the new University Hospital for Coventry & Warwickshire, he radically modernised and expanded the Plastic Surgery Unit, introducing modern techniques and services for congenital abnormalities, such as cleft lip & palate and abnormal hands, for soft tissue diseases of the hand, such as Dupuytren’s contracture, for Breast Reconstruction and Head and Neck Reconstruction in cancer cases, including microsurgical procedures, and worked hard to improve standards of care for skin cancer. He served for four years as the first Chair of the Skin Cancer Site Specific Group of the Arden Cancer Network.
Mr Matthews has been West Midlands Regional Chair for Burns & Plastic Surgery and Regional Specialty Advisor to the Royal College of Surgeons of England and has served variously as Clinical and Medical Director within the NHS.
Mr Matthews has over 30 years’ experience as an Expert Witness in his specialist field, preparing on average 60 Medical Reports a year, 50% instructed by the Claimant’s solicitor, 45% instructed by the Defendant’s solicitor and 5% as a Single Joint Expert.
Mr Matthews keeps up to date by attending Continuing Professional Development events, such as the Academy of Experts one day seminars and by reading relevant Journals and the ‘Your Witness’ newsletter of the UK Register of Expert Witnesses of which he is a member.
He recently attended the London Seminar for Members of the Academy of Experts ‘That was the year that was – 2019’ given by Michael Cohen, QDR, FAE on 31st January 2020.
In 2019, Mr Matthews was honoured as the Federation of Forensic & Expert Witnesses ‘Cosmetic & Reconstructive Plastic Surgical Expert of the Year’.
Mr Matthews and his colleague Mr click here to read more.
uropean Journal of Plastic Surgery, a Springer publication. Their article is entitled ‘An original technique for the correction of congenital inverted conchal bowl deformity in an adult’,Mr Richard Matthews has also published an article entitled ‘The Rise Of Plastic Surgery Disputes: What Should Be Done?’ in Lawyer Monthly. Commenting on the growth in personal injury cases in the field of plastic surgery, Mr Matthews explains that “unlike most other surgical specialties, plastic surgery results are immediately ‘on show’, whether of a reconstructive nature or cosmetic. This latter category is particularly at risk of litigation if expectations are not met for whatever reason”. To read more, click here.