The British Orthopaedic Association (BOA) have issued a statement for patients who have been waiting to have routine non-emergency orthopaedic surgery.

There is a useful FAQs section on their website which addresses many questions relating to COVID-19 and its effect on orthopaedic services.

Mr Kosuge is pleased to announce that The Princess Alexandra Hospital (PAH) NHS Trust have resumed routine non-emergency orthopaedic surgery:

• By collaborating with the local private provider, Rivers Hospital, orthopaedic operating for PAH patients commenced in June, albeit with reduced capacity.

• More recently, operating at The Princess Alexandra Hospital has resumed and this will help increase capacity so that we can reach as many of our patients as possible.

The effect of the ‘second wave’ of COVID-19 on these services locally is unknown at present but the ‘BOA are keen to ensure that in a second wave the normal care of our patients is only suspended as a consequence of absolute necessity.’

Patient Reported Outcome Measures (PROMs) are information collected directly from patients through questionnaires completed at various pre- and post-operative intervals. Mr Kosuge collects PROMs for his patients who undergo hip and knee replacements. His latest data for hip and knee replacement patients at Rivers Hospital are as follows:

Oxford Hip Score	Mr Kosuge	National*
Pre-operative	18.9	17.6
Post-operative (6 months)	42.3	39.9

Oxford Knee Score	Mr Kosuge	National*
Pre-operative	23.3	19.0
Post-operative (6 months)	40.2	36.2

Mr Kosuge is delighted to report that the scores of both his hip and knee replacement patients are higher than national averages at six-months post-operation. These results are not possible without the excellent team of anaesthetists, nurses, physiotherapists and administrative staff Mr Kosuge works closely with. In addition, Mr Kosuge cannot understate the hard work invested by his patients as this is also key to the success of an operation. Mr Kosuge recommends the pre-operative patient resources Joint School and Versus Arthritis which he believes can help contribute to the positive outcomes of operations.

For more information about Mr Kosuge’s outcomes.

*NHS Digital Finalised Patient Reported Outcome Measures (PROMs) in England for Hip & Knee Replacements. April 2018 - March 2019.