Trauma and Orthopaedic Surgery

About our service

The department of Trauma and Orthopaedic Surgery at the Trust employs nineteen Consultant Trauma and Orthopaedic surgeons. All our consultants have completed their training in Trauma and Orthopaedics leading to entry on the Specialist Register and have also completed additional training in a particular sub-speciality area. This includes the management of a wide range of trauma and elective conditions affecting the upper and lower limbs.

In particular, we manage upper limb conditions affecting the shoulder, elbow and wrist, and lower limb conditions affecting the hip, knee, ankle and foot. We manage both elective conditions (which develop over time) and traumatic conditions which are caused by injury. Elective conditions include instability and arthritis, whereas traumatic conditions include fractures and dislocations. We also employ a consultant podiatric surgeon who provides specialist treatment for particular conditions affecting the foot. If you have a problem with your hand, we do deal with some of these conditions although most hand problems are managed by our colleagues in Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery.

The trauma service deals with emergency presentations of fractures and other injuries to the upper and lower limbs (including approximately 550 hip fracture procedures annually), whereas the elective services we provide deal with planned operations for longer term problems such as instability and arthritis. This includes approximately 1,200 hip and knee replacement procedures each year.

Conditions we treat

Upper limb elective conditions

Shoulder instability, pain and arthritis.
Elbow instability and pain.
Wrist instability, pain and arthritis.
Hand conditions including Dupuytren’s contracture.

Upper limb traumatic injuries

Fractures of the clavicle, shoulder, humerus, elbow, radius and ulna, wrist and scaphoid.
Soft tissue injuries to the rotator cuff, biceps tendon and tendons in the wrist.

Lower limb elective conditions

Hip pain and arthritis including primary and revision hip replacement.
Knee pain and arthritis including unicompartmental, total and revision knee replacement.
Knee instability including knee ligament reconstruction and arthroscopic procedures.
Knee pain and malalignment including osteotomy.
Ankle pain and arthritis including ankle replacement and fusion.
Ankle instability including ligament reconstruction and arthroscopic procedures.
Ankle and foot malalignment including fusion and osteotomy.

Lower limb traumatic injuries

Fractures of the hip, femur, knee, tibia and fibula, ankle, talus, calcaneum and foot.
Periprosthetic fractures around hip and knee replacements.

Key achievements

Our hip fracture service is rated amongst the best in the country by the National Hip Fracture Database in achieving best practice in the management of these injuries. During 2020, we managed 550 hip fracture admissions and achieved best practice in 82% of cases. This includes comprehensive patient assessments, multidisciplinary team involvement and prompt surgery either on the same day or the day after admission.

Our elective performance data is analysed by the ‘Getting it Right First Time’ initiative and we also submit data to the National Joint Registry. Our results indicate that we are better than the national average in providing safe day case surgery to our patients for most procedures. Additionally, our rates of early revision for procedures including anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction and total hip replacement are better than the national average indicating that patients can anticipate a reliable outcome in these procedures.

Consultant contact details

Upper limb surgery

Consultant	Secretary
Mr Vijay Deore	01924 542406
Mr Bernd Ketzer	01924 542495
Mr Mathew Varghese	01924 542495
Mr Venkateswaran Balachandran	01924 816152

Hip and knee surgery

Consultant	Secretary
Mr Simon Jones	01924 542403
Mr Lutz Koch	01924 816128
Mr Aaron Ng	01924 542402
Mr Stefan Niculescu	01924 542401
Mr Malcolm Rawes	01924 542405
Mr Ajit Shetty	01924 542402