Mr James Kirkby-Bott

I have been a Consultant level Thyroid, Parathyroid, Hernia, Gallbladder, and General surgeon for over 14 years. I am a specialist in endocrine surgery with a special interest in thyroid and parathyroid disease. I specialise in general and hernia surgery. My areas of expertise in groin hernia surgery is in open local anaesthetic and keyhole repair.

I work privately at Spire Southampton Hospital. I have developed unique expertise in local anaesthetic hernia surgery for all patients including older and frailer patients which I apply to all inguinal hernias, femoral hernias, umbilical hernias and ventral hernias. Spigelian/lumbar hernias, and incisional hernias can be treated this way too on an individual basis.

I am dedicated to providing high-quality, patient-centred care, with a strong focus on improving patients’ results and experiences and ensuring that patients feel confident and well-supported.

In the last 10 years I have performed in excess of 900 neck endocrine resections, 500 cholecystectomies and over 800 groin hernia operations. I am expert in all abdominal wall hernias - inguinal, femoral, ventral, incisional, ventral hernias. I also offer local anaesthetic repairs and laprascopic repairs.

I have extensive experience in thyroid, parathyroid, hernia, gallbladder and lipoma surgery, having performed over 1,000 thyroid lobe and parathyroid gland removals, over 2,000 hernia repairs, and over 750 urgent gallbladder surgeries.

As a Thyroid and Parathyroid surgeon, I specialise in thyroid and parathyroid condition management and surgery.

I see the roles of cIONM and IOPTH as essential to improving outcomes and patient experience and use advanced nerve and PTH monitoring techniques during surgery where possible.

I trained as an endocrine surgeon at Hammersmith Hospital in London and CHRU in Lille, France, was only the fourth UK surgeon to pass the FEBS (Endocrine) exam, and was awarded the Norman Tanner Medal from the Royal Society Medicine for my work on parathyroid disease.

Outside of my clinical experience, I am passionate about research and have written numerous scientific papers, book chapters, and the first textbook dedicated to parathyroid disease.

As a Hernia surgeon, I lead Hernia Clinic Hampshire and specialise in the use of local anaesthetic and sedation in open hernia repairs. This approach helps me help patients recover quicker and with less discomfort, lower the rates of recurrence and make hernia surgery accessible to all, including those who cannot have a general anaesthetic. I am also very experienced with laparoscopic repairs.

Our unique Hernia Recovery Programme has been developed to help you both before and after surgery to manage symptoms, improve long-term comfort and improve your recovery.

As a Gallbladder surgeon, I have substantial experience performing laparoscopic gallbladder removals and I previously helped set up one of the first acute surgical units in the UK at UHS, which commonly handled gallbladder cases.

Throughout my career, I have been committed to enhancing patient care.

I have led a number of research and quality improvement projects in emergency laparotomy which has given me expertise in how patient outcomes and data can be used to improve outcomes in healthcare. And established an innovative clinical results programme at UHS, a first in the NHS, serving as its Director from 2018 to 2022.

I am currently the Director of Audit for the British Association of Endocrine and Thyroid Surgeons, sitting on the executive board (2022 – present). The database holds outcome data on Endocrine surgeons’ outcomes used for clinical improvements.

I also act as a trainer of senior trainees and consultant surgeons on the National Thyroid and Parathyroid Surgery Masterclass run by the joint colleges of surgery in the UK, and founded the Wessex Endocrine Society which provides patient-centred training and education in thyroid and parathyroid surgery across Wessex.

I am a firm believer in continuous improvement, and I actively seek out patient feedback in order to improve my patients’ results and experiences. I have been awarded the iWantGreatCare Certificate of Excellence in 2022, 2023, 2024 and 2025, for exceptional patient feedback.

All our patients surveyed have report that they were happy they decided to get treatment and that their surgery helped their symptoms.

I aim to offer an initial consultation within 7 days of first contact and to perform surgery within 2 – 4 weeks.