Directorate of Trauma and Orthopaedic Surgery

The Trauma and Orthopaedic department is actively engaged in research and teaching for elective and trauma surgery. There are 20 Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeons. Apart from trauma care, there are subspecialities in lower limb, upper limb, foot and ankle and children’s orthopaedics. Members of the department regularly attend or lecture at national and international orthopaedic meetings.

There is involvement in regional and national education and teaching:

• Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh
• Faculty of Surgical Trainers
• Faculty of Peri-operative care
• Health Education North West
• Locally in the Trust.

Education is a departmental priority. ELHT is the largest Orthopaedic specialist training registrars training unit in the North West. There are regular ‘in house’ and regional teaching sessions for the trainees.

Several consultants have been  awarded  membership or fellowship of the Faculty of Surgical Trainers as a reflection on their commitment to surgical training. The department has  a national profile in delivering or supporting medical education.

There are strong educational leads from the department within the trust (Surgical and Anaesthetic divisional educational lead) and with the University of Central Lancashire (MSc postgraduate course [Musclo-skeletal medicine], medical student teaching, medical student speciality/year leads). Regional teaching for the Trauma and Orthopaedic Specialist Training Registrars (StR) is well supported in the department with past and present training leads for foot and ankle and paediatric orthopaedic surgery in addition to regular lectures for the upper limb and lower limb educational modules.

There are national educational links to the orthopaedic surgical trainees: a co chair of the Trainees’ Committee of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh. Educationally, individual consultants in the unit have been awarded the North West Orthopaedic Trainees Association ‘Orthopaedic Trainer of the Year’, North West region, accolade on three occasions. There are educational links with the Universities of Central Lancashire, Lancaster, Salford and Edgehill, including consultants being Honorary Lecturers, Senior Lecturers and Professors.

Several Consultants lecture or are involved in educational courses overseas, for example in India and the Far East. This includes telesurgical presentations to India (live operating from ELHT streamed to educational meetings in India).

Several members of the department are actively involved in national and international examinations. Intercollegiate and Royal College  MRCS, FRCS (T and O) examinations:  UK, Eire, Qatar, India, Hong Kong and Singapore.  ELHT has hosted the Intercollegiate MRCS part B OSCE examination on several occasions and the  FRCS (T and O) examination on two occasions (2012 and 2015).

There are many innovative and ‘state of the art’ surgical and non-surgical techniques routinely practiced in the Trauma and Orthopaedic unit:  arthroplasty (hip, knee, shoulder and ankle), arthroscopy (knee, shoulder, ankle),  osteotomy (hip, pelvis, knee – children and adult), foot and ankle (including the diabetic foot), complex hand/shoulder and assessment and treatment of complex syndromal, genetic, dysplastic and neuromuscular disease in children. These are led by consultant sub-speciality groups that meet regularly to discuss difficult or complex cases. Most elective surgery is undertaken in the integrated Orthopaedic Elective Unit in Burnley General Teaching Hospital.

The unit provides a comprehensive trauma service for inpatients and outpatients in an integrated unit at Royal Blackburn Teaching hospital. It is the busiest trauma unit in the North West (outside the specialist trauma centres), running between two to three trauma consultant led operating lists per day. These are supported by several consultant led fracture clinics. There are experts in upper and lower limb fracture fixation using intramedullary nailing, plate fixation and external fixation techniques at our Surgical Trauma Unit at the Royal Blackburn Teaching Hospital.

The unit is supported by highly experienced occupational therapists, orthotists, plaster technicians, outpatient nurses, inpatient nurses, physiotherapists, paediatric physiotherapists, advanced nurse practitioners and trauma nurses. The concept of the surgical team is important. Pre-operative schools for knee and hip arthroplasty, combined with enhanced recovery programmes have reduced inpatient stays. The elective unit has scored highly in patient relelated outcome measures (PROMS).