Threetimes morepatients treated after fallingonice

The number of people treated by NHS Lanarkshire for broken or dislocated wrists, ankles and hips almost TREBLED as treacherous icy conditions hit before Christmas.

And the health board reports that staff carried out “a week and a half’s work in just three days”.

NHS Lanarkshire’s service manager for trauma and orthopaedics, Stephen Peebles, said: “The number of trauma cases is typically around 50 a week at this time of year. But we carried out an unprecedented total of 124 operations from December 15 to 21.

“We successfully managed this extremely large number of procedures because our fantastic staff really pulled together across University Hospital Hairmyres, University Hospital Monklands and University Hospital Wishaw.

“A total of 70 of the trauma cases were done in just three days – from the Monday to the Wednesday – at our inpatient sites for orthopaedics at Wishaw and Hairmyres.

“Additional capacity, over and above our standard weekend trauma operating theatres, was also in place at Wishaw on the Sunday.”

Among the clinical staff who faced the challenge was orthopaedic consultant David Howie, trauma lead at the University Hospital Wishaw.

He said: “The sheer volume of trauma generated by the recent icy conditions was remarkable. It caused a mixture of relatively standard hip, ankle and wrist fractures and a significant number of more complex fractures which take considerably longer time in theatre to fix and often require a surgeon with a specific skillset such as shoulder, hand and hip surgery.

“This increased volume had a significant impact on everyone involved in looking after these patients, from emergency department staff, radiographers, radiologists, on-call junior doctors and trauma liaison nurses to care of the elderly staff planning onward care and physiotherapists and occupational therapists working to get patients moving about and back home safely. There were many other colleagues involved as well.

“Many staff worked later and came in earlier to manage these extra trauma cases.”

To create the additional capacity for the emergency operations, orthopaedic elective procedures were postponed for three days. NHS Lanarkshire say they will be rescheduled as soon as possible.

Director of acute services, Heather Knox, said: “I’d like to pay tribute to all of the staff who showed exemplary team work in managing the increased pressure within emergency departments and the rise in trauma cases.

“I’d also like to thank those patients who had their planned procedures cancelled for their patience and understanding in these unprecedented circumstances.”