Mr Richard Novell qualified in 1981 following undergraduate training at Cambridge University and the Middlesex Hospital, London, gaining much of his surgical experience at the Royal Free Hospital, London.

In 1992 Mr Novell was awarded the degree of Master of Surgery from Cambridge University for his thesis on the treatment of liver tumours. In 1994 he was appointed Consultant Surgeon to the Luton & Dunstable and Spire Harpenden Hospitals and in 2006 he moved back to The Royal Free Hospital where he works as part of a team of surgeons and oncologists treating approximately 120 new colorectal cancers every year.

He offers advice on a wide range of abdominal problems including bowel disorders and hernias, diagnostic and screening colonoscopy and flexible sigmoidoscopy for patients with suspected colorectal cancer, gastroscopy and laparoscopic gall bladder surgery.

During his career Mr Novell has published and presented on a variety of conditions including inflammatory bowel disease, colorectal cancer, liver tumours and rectal prolapse.