Bridlington Hospital celebrates successful first year of Orthopaedic surgery

Bridlington Hospital has celebrated its first anniversary since elective orthopaedic surgery relocated from Scarborough Hospital last April.

The first orthopaedic procedure was performed at Bridlington Hospital on 28 April 2014.  Since then until the end of April 2015, a total of 1,915 operations took place – that’s 817 joint (hip and knee) replacements. Over 40 percent of these patients were discharged and back at home just 24 hours after their operation.

All elective orthopaedic surgery is now delivered at Bridlington, with only trauma (emergency) cases taking place at Scarborough Hospital. Since relocating to Bridlington, not a single operation has had to be cancelled.

The Trust has also just found out that it is one of four Trusts in the Yorkshire and Humber region chosen to take part in a research project which will look at why Bridlington Hospital performs so exceptionally well in terms of hip and knee replacements.The study is being led by Professor Rebecca Lawton who heads the Quality and Safety research team at Bradford Institute for Health Research based at Bradford Teaching Hospitals and is being funded by the CLAHRC (Collaboration for Leadership in Applied Health Research and Care) Yorkshire and Humber.

Paul Rafferty, Directorate Manager for Orthopaedics and Trauma, said: “We are delighted to have celebrated our first year at Bridlington Hospital and to have undertaken so many operations. When we made the move we hoped that having our own space away from a busy acute hospital would allow us to provide an uninterrupted service and that has proven to be the case.

“We no longer have to cancel elective operations because of the demand for beds for emergency admissions, which is providing a much better experience for both our patients and consultants. Patients can expect to come into their local hospital to have their planned operation on the day that they are booked in for. 

“By relocating the service to Bridlington and creating an orthopaedic facility designed with our patients needs in mind, we have also been able to provide patients with a much better service which is reflected in the fantastic feedback we continue to receive.

“We will continue to build on the success of our first year. Our vision is to develop an Orthopaedic Centre of Excellence at Bridlington, and to use the Hospital to its full potential.

“It is great news that we have been chosen to participate in this research study and to have been highlighted for our performance in this area.”

To find out more tune into the BBC iplayer to hear the feature which was broadcast on BBC Radio Humberside on Monday 22 June >> listen here at 1.15 and 2.15. 

Photo caption: Staff on Kent Ward proudly show off their visitor's book.

23 June 2015