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"My wife's recovery after a replacement hip operation."

About: Portsmouth and South East Division / Community Therapies – Havant, Hayling and Waterlooville Queen Alexandra Hospital / Trauma and orthopaedics South Central Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust / Emergency ambulance

(as a carer),

In October 2024, my wife -  who is in her 80s -  fell in the kitchen at home in the evening of. Apart from knowing that she was in great pain down one side we didn't know what injuries she had.

We phoned for an ambulance at 10pm because of her age, great pain from the fall and unknown injuries. The ambulance arrived at 8am the next day.

This length of delay is totally unacceptable in the circumstances.

She was taken to our local hospital QA Hospital, Portsmouth, where she had an x-ray the following day and was diagnosed as having broken her right hip. The partial hip replacement was carried out the day after the x-ray and was very successful.

Due to her age and physical disability, my wife was kept in hospital for 2 weeks, until she could demonstrate she was able to walk with a frame and go up a couple of steps. During this time she had regular physiotherapy sessions. As part of the discharge package we were given a walker and a toilet frame in addition to the necessary medications.

After my wife had been home for about 3 weeks she was visited at home by Julie, a community physiotherapist. Julie showed my wife some exercises that she should be doing to help with her mobility and balance. We were given an exercise sheet so my wife could practice before the next visit. In this initial period, my wife had problems sitting at the table to eat. Julie arranged for a perching stool with adjustable height to enable my wife to sit comfortably. The physiotherapy continued every 3/4 weeks until April, when she was discharged. By this time my wife was able to walk outside using 2 crutches. Julie was very compassionate and a very good teacher. She was good at assessing progress and gently pushed to move on to the next stage.

The good bits of this story: The hospital reacted quickly to diagnose the medical problem. A partial hip replacement operation was carried out the next day. The hip operation was completely successful. The aftercare in hospital was very good. The at home physiotherapy was excellent.

The bad bits: .It took 10 hours for an ambulance to attend an elderly,  disabled lady with unknown injuries following a fall.

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Responses

Response from Kay Bird, PALS Manager, Portsmouth Hospitals University NHS Trust yesterday
Kay Bird
PALS Manager,
Portsmouth Hospitals University NHS Trust
Submitted on 06/06/2025 at 09:13
Published on Care Opinion at 09:13


Good morning

Thank you so much for taking the time to leave this feedback about your wife's recent experience.

We have shared this feedback with the teams at QAH, and wish your wife well with her continued recovery.

With our best wishes

Kay.

PALS Manager, Queen Alexandra Hospital, Portsmouth.

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