Duke has hip surgery after missing Easter church services
THE Duke of Edinburgh has been admitted to hospital for hip surgery, Buckingham Palace has announced.
The 96-year-old arrived at King Edward VII’S Hospital in London yesterday afternoon before a scheduled operation today. It involves a problem with his hip that has been troubling him for around a month, The Daily Telegraph understands.
The Duke, who has retired from royal duties, has been absent from various events over the past week, most recently the Easter matins service at St George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle, on Sunday. He also missed the Royal Maundy service at Leicester Cathedral last Thursday because of his hip problem, despite being named as a guest in the order of service. And last week, he pulled out of an official engagement with the Queen and the Duke of York, according to reports.
The Duke of Edinburgh was last admitted to hospital in June, after becoming ill with an infection arising from a pre-existing condition. He spent two nights at King Edward VII’S hospital as a precautionary measure.
Peter Kay, a professor of orthopaedics at Manchester University and a council member of the Royal College of Surgeons, said the most common reason older patients were admitted for planned hip surgery was a hip replacement, usually due to osteoarthritis or a fracture. He said between one and two per cent of hip replacements were performed on people in their 90s and that the mortality rate had halved in the last few years to just 0.25 per cent.
“You have to make sure the patient is fit and well but, generally speaking, you will be in hospital around five days and spend six to eight weeks using crutches before walking independently and carrying on with normal life,” he said.
The Queen Mother underwent a hip replacement on her right hip at the same hospital aged 95 in 1995 and another, on her left hip following a fall, aged 97 in 1998.