DISTINGUISHED surgeon Robert Bremner - who led the surgical team that operated on champion jockey Willie Carson after six horses rode over him - has died after a long illness, aged 92.

The trauma and orthopaedic surgeon for nearly three decades led surgical teams at first York County Hospital and then York Hospital before his retirement in 1985.

He carried out pioneering operations, including the hospital’s first successful elbow replacement surgery, and was known for his expertise in micro-surgery, especially in mending badly damaged hand tendons.

He was dedicated to both his patients and to York, turning down prestigious jobs at London hospitals, in Harley Street and in the United States to remain in Yorkshire – and to work for his beloved NHS.

His widow Ruth, whom he married in 1962 and lives in Crayke, near Easingwold, said: "He thought the health service was a wonderful thing and that every patient should be treated with the same care, consideration and expertise. His legacy is that he helped mend broken bodies and improved people’s bodies."

Among the many patients to have benefitted from Mr Bremner’s expertise was the champion jockey and television racing pundit Willie Carson, who in 1981 received appalling injuries that included a fractured skull after a freak accident in the Yorkshire Oaks in which at least six horses are said to have ridden straight over him.

A grandfather of seven, he is survived by Ruth and his four children.