"The lack of follow-up has left me disillusioned"

Dear Shimmyit

Thank you for taking the time to feedback on your experience which clearly had some positives but also areas where we could have supported and improved your experience.

Firstly it is great to know that your experience around your surgery was positive and the care you received from clinical teams was fantastic. The pre-operative, ward nursing, therapy, surgeons, anaesthetists and theatre teams pride themselves in providing excellent care and patient experience.

Currently the ward teams follow up all elective patients 48hrs after the day of discharge with a telephone call asking specific questions around your pain, wound and mobility. Each patient should also be advised on discharge to contact the ward directly if they have any concerns which can be managed by a nurse or directed to a therapist or a member of the surgical team. This can be either done over the telephone or the patient can be asked to return to the ward for further assessment or treatment. In the event there is an emergency situation the patient can access the Emergency Department.

The Mymobility App is offered to all patients undertaking elective orthopaedic surgery for pre and post operative information, exercises and communication. It specifically focuses on elective hip and knee surgery and is another system that can be used by our patients to maintain direct contact with the clinical team to ask advice. This service however is not monitored during the out of hours I.e. (evenings, weekends and bank holidays) and does not suit all patients particularly those who do not have digital access or some level competence with technology.

Going forward I am very excited to inform you we have recently recruited to our advanced care practitioner (ACP) position, their focus and a key priority of this role will be to develop a follow up service for our elective hip and knee patients which I believe will directly enhance the whole patient journey.

Finally can I apologise on behalf of the team that your personal experience left you feeling disillusioned. If you would like to discuss your experience further and still need assistance please contact us on the email address below and we will happily telephone you and support where we can.

Thank you again for taking the time to share your experience, we really do appreciate all feedback which can help us review what we do, how we do it and how we can improve and develop our services for the future.

Kind regards and wishing you a continued recovery

Donna and Jo (orthopaedicprojectnurses@nhs.net)