David is internationally renowned for his work in developing minimally invasive vein treatments. He trained in Medicine and Surgery at Leeds medical school qualifying in 1979. He then held medical and surgical posts in Hull, Cork and Birmingham. Recognising the tremendous potential of minimally invasive image guided therapy as a future alternative to surgery, he decided to specialise in the then new field of Interventional Radiology gaining experience with the great pioneers in the field, Anders Lunderquist in Sweden and Duncan Irving in London. He qualified DMRD and FRCR before moving to take up a consultant position at the University Hospital of North Staffordshire (UHNS) in 1989. UHNS is one of the largest teaching hospitals in the UK and David has developed one of the busiest Interventional Radiology practices. He performs over a thousand operations a year in the NHS and has undertaken over 2000 minimally invasive varicose vein procedures.

His other clinical interests over the last 20 years as a consultant have been the development of image guided minimally invasive alternative treatments for a range of disorders including peripheral vascular disease, kidney stones, gall stones, fibroids, trauma and other acute bleeding situations. All these involve the precise and delicate manipulation of catheters, guidewires and other specialised instruments guided by ultrasound and other modern imaging devices. This experience has been vital to the success of his varicose vein work and enables him to confidently catheterize and treat even the most challenging of veins which others would manage with traditional surgery.

David was one of the very first doctors in the UK to train in the EVLA technique learning from leading experts in the US including the pioneer of endovenous laser Dr Robert Min Interventional Radiologist at Cornell University, New York. David has one of the largest personal experiences of this treatment in Europe. This experience and the recognition by his peers of his expertise in this field has led to him regularly being invited to lecture on the subject at National and International medical conferences. He has written several chapters on the management of venous insufficiency in major radiology textbooks and many articles in medical journals.

David has also appeared on programmes about EVLA on BBC radio and television and in numerous newspaper and magazine articles.
As a luminary teacher for Diomed Ltd. and Surgilas Ltd. he has trained vascular specialists around the UK in EVLA and associated procedures. For the last two years he has been a faculty member of the prestigious ESIR (European School of Interventional Radiology) and the Venous Day of the Charing Cross Symposium teaching the EVLA techniques to doctors from Europe, the Middle East and Australia. He is a fellow of the Royal College of Radiologists (FRCR) and is a member of the British Society of Interventional Radiology (BSIR), the Vascular Society and the Cardiovascular and Interventional Radiology Society of Europe (CIRSE).

To help bring these new treatments to more patients David has established a laser supply company, SDL medical, providing his personally designed kits and the highest quality laser generators at reasonable prices. Driving down the prices has enabled NHS hospitals to offer the latest minimally invasive vein treatments at a lower cost to the NHS than traditional surgery. His determination to enable as many patients as possible to benefit from the new techniques is reflected in his own clinical pricing policy. He charges a reasonable, not extortionate, price for all services. Rather surprisingly it is cheaper to have treatment personally performed by Dr West in a UK clinic than it is to travel to Eastern Europe as a health tourist.

David is married to Deborah and they live in Shropshire. They have four children the eldest of whom, Katherine, is reading Mathematics at Cardiff and Christopher is reading Sports Technology at Birmingham. James and Joe are still at school.

In his spare time David enjoys skiing and cycling. He also likes getting his hands dirty on building projects like pizza ovens, zip wires and, his latest project, a large duck pond!

Click here to view Davids Curriculum Vitae