Treatment boost for broken bones patients

FRACTURE patients in Oldham are the focus of a new service at the Royal Oldham Hospital.

The new orthogeriatric service has a team of doctors, nurses, trauma co-ordinators and therapists to ensure patients receive surgical treatment quickly and rehabilitation both in hospital and in the community.

Part of the remit is to work with the hospital’s falls service and to ensure people have had appropriate screening for osteoporosis to reduce the risk of further fractures. Physiotherapy will also be provided over the weekend., and a new dedicated consultant orthogeriatrician will work within the orthopaedic ward.

Consultant geriatrician Dr Raj Parikh has led the development of the service and will work with colleagues Dr Muhammed Awan and registrar Dr Andrew Watson.

Dr Parikh said: “The TASU has been designed to meet the needs of fracture patients. They are treated and managed as quickly as possible and we identify what we call a ‘golden patient’ every day. This is the patient who we think is best ready for theatre the following morning, so there is no delay in starting operations.

“Improving time to theatre is known to reduce mortality and decrease the length of stay and lessen the impact of hip fracture.

“We have also introduced weekend trauma lists in theatre as we found that patients’ recovery was often slowed down if they were admitted to the ward on a Friday, but had to wait until Monday morning to have their operation.”

According to the British Geriatric Society more than 300,000 patients go to hospitals nationwide with fragility fractures.