Airdrie & Coatbridge Advertiser
Orthopaedic experts may be based at Monklands
The new Monklands Hospital could become the home of NHS Lanarkshire’s elective orthopaedic services when it opens in around seven years.
Health board officials have launched a public consultation on proposals to relocate all planned bone surgery such as hip and knee replacements to the planned Wester Moffat hospital instead of the service’s current base at Hairmyres in East Kilbride.
It runs until September 15, with board members then due to make a decision by the end of the year to inform the outline business case for the new hospital, which is then due to be submitted for Scottish Government approval.
Orthopaedic surgery was moved out of Monklands Hospital five years ago as NHS Lanarkshire worked on moving towards the “gold standard” of having distinct trauma and elective teams, initially by creating two larger teams at Wishaw and Hairmyres respectively, with the Airdrie facilities then being too small for the required number of beds and theatres.
Medical director Dr Jane Burns explained: “We believe that there are a number of benefits to having a state-ofthe-art elective orthopaedic unit at the ultra-modern new University Hospital Monklands when it opens.
“It would be large enough to conduct all the orthopaedic surgery currently provided at Hairmyres and the small
amount done at Wishaw [and] reduce or even remove the need for independent sector treatment. It would help cater for the growing need of the people of Lanarkshire for joint replacements.
“The new hospital will have the most modern clinical facilities and a single room for every patient, which is ideal for exercise and rehabilitation and has been shown to help reduce the time spent in hospital and lessen the risk of infection.”
Colin Lauder, NHS Lanarkshire’s director of planning, property and performance, added: “We need to decide now if provision of elective orthopaedic surgery will be part of the business case [for the new hospital] so that we can include plans for building and staffing the operating theatres, wards and other facilities needed.”
While Hairmyres currently conducts
most of Lanarkshire’s planned orthopaedic surgery, “lack of capacity” means that some operations take place at the NHS Golden Jubilee or independent hospitals and medics at Wishaw General carry out required shoulder and upper body surgery.
NHS Lanarkshire had a total of 4589 elective orthopaedic patients in 20182019, of whom 1544 were treated locally as inpatients, 1998 as day patients and 1047 were referred by the health board to the Golden Jubilee or independent hospitals for their operations.
The proposal to concentrate future services at Monklands would not impact on Lanarkshire’s existing orthopaedic trauma service, for urgent and emergency care, which is based at Wishaw General – and the health board emphasise that all three of its
acute hospitals will “continue to have consultant-led accident and emergency departments with access to emergency surgery and medicine, supported by critical care, diagnostics and outpatients”.
A virtual public meeting is being held at 7pm on August 26, and participants can register by calling 01236 713348 or emailing ortho.engagement@ lanarkshire.scot.nhs.uk with “public meeting” in the subject line and including name, daytime phone number, email and first part of their postcode.
The survey and project details are available on the NHS Lanarkshire website, and paper copies can be requested from Freepost RTEJ-HZLKAETZ, Communications Department, NHS Lanarkshire, Kirklands, Fallside Road, Bothwell, G71 8BB.