Olly Donaldson is a specialist shoulder and elbow surgeon based at Yeovil District Hospital and has been a consultant since 2014. He qualified from the University of Bristol in 2002 and underwent his orthopaedic training in Wales. He completed fellowship training in all aspects of shoulder and elbow surgery at the Liverpool Shoulder Unit.
Mr Donaldson provides extensive experience in shoulder and elbow conditions offering a wide variety of surgical procedures. He has developed a busy practice in shoulder replacements performing approximately 50 per year, nearly 1% of all shoulder replacements performed in the UK. His experience has allowed Yeovil hospital to become a visitation centre for surgeons to observe the Equinoxe (Exactech) shoulder replacement system. He has experience in complex primary and revision shoulder replacements as well as the use of GPS navigated shoulder replacements. All joint replacements are submitted to the National Joint Registry.
Common operations also include keyhole surgery to the shoulder to treat subacromial pain, rotator cuff problems, shoulder instability and upper limb trauma. He has an active interest in teaching and research, and is a lead author of the national guidelines on the management of traumatic shoulder instability (https://www.boa.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/Traumatic-Anterior-Instability.pdf). He has lectured in the UK and Europe on the management of shoulder and elbow conditions.
He has experience in treating tendon problems around the elbow including tennis elbow as well as elbow arthritis.
Mr Donaldson has admitting rights to the Kingston Wing at Yeovil Hospital and to the Nuffield hospital, Taunton.
Personal profile
Life away from work is spent with his wife, 4 children and 2 dogs and is enjoyably hectic. He enjoys the occasional charity challenge, such as the Welsh 3000s, and raises money for Ataxia UK, the national charity for people suffering with Ataxia. 3 of his nephews and nieces suffer with Friedreich’s Ataxia.
Current NHS position
Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon at Yeovil District Hospital
Year of first medical qualification
2002 (University of Bristol)
Special clinical interests
Arthroscopic shoulder surgery to treat shoulder instability, subacromial pain, ACJ pain and rotator cuff problems
Primary anatomic and reverse shoulder replacement
Revision shoulder replacement
Tennis and golfer’s elbow
Elbow arthritis
Biceps problems
Shoulder and elbow trauma
Research Interests
Mr Donaldson has or is the primary investigator at Yeovil Hospital for several multicentre clinical trials, including:
- Can Shoulder Arthroscopy Work? (CSAW) – Published The Lancet 2018
- Surgical vs nonsurgical treatment of adults with displaced fractures of the proximal humerus: the PROFHER randomized clinical trial. (PROFHER) – Published JAMA 2015
- PROximal Fracture of Humerus: Evaluation by Randomisation (PROFHER – 2) – Currently recruiting
- Acute Rehabilitation following Traumatic anterior shoulder dISlocAtioN (ARTISAN)- A Multi Centre RCT – Currently recruiting
His most recent publications are:
- Are on-the-day group and save samples required for elective shoulder, hip and knee arthroplasties? Hainsworth L, Tracy J, Spolton-Dean C, Donaldson O. Ann R Coll Surg Engl. 2018 Oct 5:1-3. doi: 10.1308/rcsann.2018.0154.
- BESS/BOA Patient Care Pathways: Traumatic anterior shoulder instability. Brownson P, Donaldson O, et al. Shoulder Elbow. 2015 Jul;7(3):214-26. doi: 10.1177/1758573215585656.
- Biomechanical study: determining the optimum insertion angle for screw-in suture anchors-is deadman’s angle correct? Green RN, Donaldson OW, et al. Arthroscopy. 2014 Dec;30(12):1535-9. doi: 10.1016/j.arthro.2014.07.010.
Current membership(s) of professional, national and regional bodies
British Elbow and Shoulder Society (BESS)
British Orthopaedic Association (BOA)
