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after care after orthopaedic treatment

Story from nhs.uk

"after care after orthopaedic treatment"

About: Royal Berkshire Hospital

I have recently had a left hip replacement operation.

The pre-op assessment and care during my inpatient stay was excellent.

However, there has been absolutely no follow-up apart from a request to rate the surgeon.

I was merely given a list of exercises - when I went to have the dressing changed ten days later, there had been no communication from you to the surgery.

I did have some blood pressure problems immediately after the operation but there has been no follow-up.

I find myself wondering whether this is an entirely satisfactory state of affairs, particularly considering a lot of patients will live alone like myself and who may be more vulnerable than myself.

Should there not at least be a telephone call before the six-week check-up - which I have yet to attend - to ascertain that all is well?

Could this be done by volunteers?

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Responses

Response from Royal Berkshire Hospital 5 years ago
Royal Berkshire Hospital

Submitted on 06/08/2018 at 11:57
Published on nhs.uk at 12:06

Dear Pamela

Thank you for taking the time to share your experiences with us.

We are delighted that the clinical care you received has been excellent; this is what we strive for as a team so it is lovely to hear when it has been achieved.

We are sorry that you haven’t felt quite so well-supported since your discharge. Our normal process is for our patients to have an outpatient appointment with one of our specialist physiotherapists 6-8 weeks after surgery. We are sorry that this was not fully explained to you. We have checked and you have been booked into this clinic in August by the Redlands Ward administrator and a letter posted to you to confirm this.

You and your GP should have received an electronic discharge summary on the day you left our care. We are investigating why this hasn’t arrived, as our system shows that it was sent. We will send both you and your GP a duplicate copy in the post today.

Your suggestion of a follow-up call is a great idea but one that will need more exploration. It is a little more complex than asking someone who is not trained to recognise problems or understand complications to initiate actions. You should have been given information during the normal discharge process on aftercare and what to do if you experience any complications. We are really sorry we didn’t get this aspect of your care right and one of our team is going to telephone you to ensure that you have the information regarding your follow-up appointment. Please do not hesitate to contact the team on the ward or in CAT 5 (0118 322 7415) if you need any further support.

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