Poole Hospital's hip fracture patients waiting too long for surgery

The hospital was rated among the worst for waiting times, according to an audit for the Royal College of Surgeons, covering July 2009 to March this year.

It revealed that just over 60 per cent of patients – most of whom are elderly and vulnerable – had been operated on within the recommended two days compared to 80 per cent nationally.

The audit of 129 hospitals also revealed that only 31 per cent of patients at Poole were given a bone strengthening medication assessment – compared with 68 per cent nationally.

And just 1.3 per cent received a pre-operative assessment by a geriatrician – a specialist in medical care of the elderly, compared to the national figure of 31 per cent.

However, the hospital did carry out assessments to determine the likelihood of future falls on more than 90 per cent of patients, compared to 60 per cent nationally.

Report author, consultant orthopaedic surgeon Rob Wakeman, said hip fractures were “threatening to overwhelm” trauma and orthopaed-ic units and called on those that were “still under-performing” to follow the examples of best practice to improve.

A Poole Hospital spokesman pointed out that as the major trauma centre for east Dorset it operates on more hip fracture patients than any other hospital in England and that the audit period covered a record period for hip fractures during the recent cold snap.

She said the hospital was “working hard to improve the care these patients receive”.

She said since April over 60 per cent of hip fracture patients have had surgery within 36 hours of admission. And between April and July 87.5 per cent of hip fracture patients at Poole Hospital were operated on within 48 hours of admission or when fit for surgery. This figure is gathered differently to the RCS audit information, which was based on all admissions.

Initiatives, including additional theatre capacity, dedicated hip fracture operating lists and improved planning had led to the improvement.