The BAPRAS Collection acquires Cobbett's case notes from 1968

Among the many items in the BAPRAS Collection, the Association holds the microsurgery instruments used by John Cobbett for the first microsurgical toe to hand transfer in 1968. They were donated to the Collection by Tom Cochrane in 2018.

In December 2021, we were lucky enough to receive the patient’s case notes, as annotated by Cobbett himself. They were donated by Mark Pickford, who had described the case, along with Ian Whitworth, as a 30-year follow-up for a paper published in the Journal of Hand Surgery in 2000.

He accidentally forgot to return the notes, ultimately saving them from destruction when the records were digitised. This addition to the Collection, along with the instruments themselves, allow members, researchers and the public to gain a visceral connection to this historic procedure, by viewing and handling them.

John Robey Cobbett was a consultant plastic surgeon at Queen Victoria Hospital, East Grinstead. Between 1975 and 1977, he served on the BAPS council and was honorary secretary. It was at Queen Victoria Hospital that he performed the first free toe to hand transfer on 18^thApril 1968. The patient was a 31yr old woodworker, whose accident with a circular saw left him with amputated index and middle fingers, and his thumb through the base of the proximal phalanx.

‘The patient’s convalescence was stormy’ said Cobbett himself. However, after 8 months he had returned to work, being once again able to create the strong pinch grip so vital to his profession. His new thumb was warm, pink and growing a nail! He had no trouble picking up small objects, tying shoelaces or fastening buttons.

The patient case notes will be scanned at high resolution and catalogued, to enable easy access for study and will be available for online search via our Collection database. The fragile original documents will be stored in line with Museum and Archive standards for best practice in the BAPRAS office, along with the rest of the Collection. We are most grateful to Mr Pickford and the East Grinstead unit for their donation.

If you would like to see our material relating to Cobbett, or anything else from the BAPRAS Collection please email collection@bapras.org.uk

The BAPRAS Collection is constantly growing. We want it to represent all aspects of British Plastic, Reconstructive and Aesthetic surgery, including member experience in any sphere of plastic surgical activity, from any time period, and from any country. If you have something relating to your practice or professional experiences which you think should be preserved for study and posterity; or you have a story to tell then please get in touch.