Ascot: Hip and knee op waiting times cut at new hospital

Waits for knee and hip operations have been cut since Heatherwood planned care hospital opened in March

A new planned-care hospital has reduced hip and knee operation waiting times since it opened last March.

Heatherwood Hospital near Ascot has performed more than 1,000 operations in 11 months, in a bid to tackle the record backlog left by the Covid pandemic.

The hospital has six operating theatres and can accommodate 48 inpatients.

Orthopaedic surgeon Rakesh Kucheria said there was no "fight for beds" at the hospital.

According to last year's national figures nearly one in eight people are waiting for operations or other types of care in England with 6.84 million people on the waiting list at the end of July.

Frimley Health NHS Trust, which runs Heatherwood, said it had a waiting list, including referrals, of 82,000.

The number of surgeries it has performed since opening are up 20% on the number of procedures carried out pre-Covid.

Orthopaedic surgeon Rakesh Kucheria said there was no "fight for beds" at the planned care hospital

Figures given to the BBC show prior to its opening patients often had to wait up to 90 weeks for a routine hip or knee replacement, but Mr Kucheria said now "most patients are getting their surgery within 52 weeks".

"We do not have to fight for beds, we do not have cancellations here, we can plough through lots of orthopaedic work through the winter," the surgeon added.

Tim Ho, medical director at Frimley Heath NHS Trust said unlike other hospitals with A&E departments Heatherwood was not affected by "the vagaries of emergency care".

"We can focus six days a week, morning to night operating and we don't have to manage emergency patients coming to this facility stopping our clinicians doing this elective work", he said.

Patient Pardeep Gill was returning home the same day as surgery to repair tendons in his shoulder

Historically, people having knees or hips replaced would spend an average of three to four days in hospital but Frimley Health said 40% are now discharged within 24 hours.

Pardeep Gill was due to return home on the same day as surgery to repair tendons in his shoulder: "It's been fantastic, it's been really good.

"I'm surprised, I feel really loved, every few minutes some nurse or consultant is coming to see me."

Jo West had a hip replacement at Heatherwood and said the experience had been "very efficient"

Patient Jo West said her hip replacement surgery "turned out very well".

"I thought it would be longer, but I think in Heatherwood they're very efficient," she said.

NHS England is investing in 37 new surgical hubs and opening more than 80 new theatres across the country as part of the government's drive to reduce waiting times.