"Fracture of neck of right femur, 20/04/2016"

My wife was admitted to DMH 20th of April, was operated on the 21st when a repair was undertaken. She remained in DMH till 26th when she was transferred to Weardale Community Hospital for recuperation. She was discharged to home on 2nd May. Sylvia attended DMH for follow up the team on 31st May when she had an X-ray. All appeared to be well. She had a further visit and X-Ray on 12th July again all seemed to be well. By now Sylvia was walking unaided.

On 14th Sept she had a bone density scan with satisfactory results.

It was around this time that Sylvia began to have pain in the right hip area and on 11th Oct she had a further X-Ray and she began to use a walking stick again. We enquired of the consultant around this period why a hip replacement was not undertaken when she was initially admitted on 20th April. We were informed that for the type of fracture the policy was to repair rather than replace.

On 22nd Nov and after further X-Ray's when the results appeared to be somewhat unclear, it was decided to refer Sylvia.

She saw the consultant on 22nd Dec. After examining Syvia, including manipulating her leg they arranged for an MRI scan, however they stated that regardless of the X-Ray and MRI scan results a hip replacement would be necessary, Sylvia had the MRI scan on 12th Jan 2017 and had further X-Ray's on 3rd Feb and 17th Feb when she was again seen.

On 19th May she had a further X-ray and they arranged for an aseptic injection to the right hip. This procedure took place at DMH on 23rd Oct when Sylvia was advised that she was suffering from Osteo Arthritis in the right hip.

On 6th Dec Sylvia was advised that she would have to undertake two operations, firstly to remove metalwork from her leg and the second operation to replace the hip joint. The doctor also told Sylvia and myself that had they been involved at the outset when Sylvia suffered the fracture they would have replaced the hip joint immediately.

Sylvia is now quite severely disabled, in great pain, having to use two walking sticks and is only able to walk for short distances on level ground. She now faces a prolonged wait for two operations which would not have been necessary had she had a hip replacement at the outset.