Staff from the Acute Knee team in NHS Lanarkshire have received a Big Shout Out for the multidisciplinary approach to providing knee care for patients across Lanarkshire.
The team aim to get patients seen by the right person as quickly as possible, ensuring a diagnosis is made and treatment implemented in a timely fashion.
Oliver Bailey, consultant orthopaedic knee surgeon and clinical lead for the Acute Knee service, said: “I developed the Acute Knee Service with patient care at the forefront. This is a pathway driven service with patients at the centre, aiming for as quick a diagnosis as possible, get seen by the right person as quickly as possible, and get the right treatment as quickly as possible.
“We have three main pillars in this service. The first is improving patient outcomes, the second is research and audit, and the third is education and training.
“This requires a whole multidisciplinary approach with three consultants myself, Mr Bhattacharyya and Mr Hopper. We have excellent ESPs, knee specific physiotherapists, MRI availability within 48hours, MSK radiologists, and superb administrative personnel and management from Kirsty Mitchell and Marisa Madden. It really is a one stop shop for knee injuries. I am really proud of this team. We work really well together to provide an outstanding regional service that is the envy of other health boards”.
The Acute Knee Team are also involved in several research and education projects with universities.
Mr Rahul Bhattacharyya, consultant orthopaedic knee surgeon, said: “Research and education are two of the key pillars for us in this service. This is not only important for the patient outcomes, but also important for knowledge across knee surgery, both nationally and internationally. And we want to contribute to the knowledge within knee surgery around the world.
“Currently, within our Acute knee service, we are involved in three international trials. One is called METEOR2, which is looking at meniscal allograft transplantation for meniscal deficiency.
“It’s a very exciting time for us, not just within this centre, but also across the UK and internationally, to look at what results this trial shows to help patients. And this is a very, very niche area, so we want to see in future how this helps patients. The other two NIHR led clinical trials we’re involved in are called MOTION and REPPORT.
“MOTION is looking at high tibial osteotomy for patients who’ve got a worn out knee, particularly on the inside of the knee with medial compartment osteoarthritis. We are looking at whether realigning their knee by doing an osteotomy, which is like breaking part of their shin bone, or patient specific physiotherapy is beneficial for these patients.
“The third one is the REPPORT trial, which is looking at patients who have an unstable kneecap with recurrent dislocations, and if whether we can help them by doing a specific type of surgery which will involve putting the kneecap back in a specific position and doing some surgery to stabilise it, versus specialised physiotherapy.”
The team work closely with several universities and are working towards gaining University status.
Graeme Hopper, consultant orthopaedic knee surgeon, said: “We’re closely involved with all of the universities across the west of Scotland. We have students participating in audit projects, multiple clinical research projects and several areas of quality improvement.
“We’re developing a centre of excellence for knee surgery and hoping this will progress to the orthopaedic department in general. We’re aiming to obtain university status for the Orthopaedic department in the near future.”
The Big Shout Out praises NHS Lanarkshire teams for taking an innovative, creative, and patient-centered approach to working, and recognizes the unique contribution staff make to overcoming the challenges faced across the entire healthcare system.
