Combined trauma and orthopaedic service contributing to long hip replacement waits

Ther Trust’s Director of Acute Services, Geraldine McKay, explained that while in Belfast trauma patients are treated in the Royal Victoria Hospital and orthopaedics patients are treated in Musgrave Park Hospital, in the Western Trust they are all treated by a single combined speciality.

This “essentially unusual combination of trauma and orthopaedics”, she said, was contributing to wait times of up to three to four years.

The reason, Mrs. McKay, told members of the Derry City & Strabane District Council Health & Community Committee, was that when there is an increase in the number of more serious trauma patients, elective orthopaedic operations have to be cut back.