Waiting list

I personally think the most important is to get a top class surgeon. You want someone who does lots of hips. Most hip surgeons also do knees. I found mine because everyone in the area raved about him and I would have gone privately to have him. I discovered he also worked for the NHS. I asked my GP if I could have him and I did. If you find the names of the surgeons at your local hospital you can find a lot about them just by googling in their names. I had a lateral posterior approach. After the op I could not believe that I actually had a new hip as it all felt the same. Some less invasive procedures can have problems such as nerve damage which is something else I was really worried about.

I think hip replacement is considered elective unless you have a fall and fracture the hip or something like that happens suddenly when it becomes an emergency. 250 referrals per week for hips sounds an horrendous amount for one hospital. I believe around 8,000 hips are done per year in Scotland. That is about 160 a week for the whole of Scotland. I wonder what they meant by referrals.

Here is an extract from the letter I got today

Good grief, that is crap! (I think I may be turning into Charlie Brown by moderating my language!!!) That is a ridiculous amount of waiting time. The NHS Scotland needs to be sorted out, it's not fantastic in England but that is shocking. x

When they say referrals, referrals for everything? That would make more sense. 250 referrals for hips just does not make sense based on the figures they quote in their annual reports.

I have read over the letter from the feedback centre again and t be honest they make me feel like i am a fraud or some sort of criminal.

I first reported hip pain 17 years ago and was told the usual story too young come back when your about fifty.

So i have put up with the inconvience of being limited to what I can do , Including sports, distance i can walk and damage done by pills.

I have decided that since both my hips are bad now I will ask for he double hip replacement on the grounds that i am not willing to go through all this hassle again, If it is not possible or he refuses, I will stand up shake his hand and say thanks for your help Goodbye and I will catch the next train home

Good luck with your appointment, I hope it all goes well. Let us know.

I will i was thinking about all the problems i have had getting this far and probably a few months would have to do it all over again thats why I decided to ask for them both to be done at the same time with the same surgeon etc

hope that makes sense

It will be interesting to hear what the surgeon says.

I refused to go into a hospital in Aberdeen but as you may recall i refused to go for personal reasons and the reputation.

Well this week a friend of mine was admitted to that hospital to have hi leg lengthened and the correct size of hip joint put in since they put the wrong one in the last time .

He was operated on this Tuesday and the results were amazing his legs are almost perfect in length and his new hip is making him more comfortable , He had the honour of having 2 professors doing the 6 hour op , he got home last night about tea time and low and behold he was blue lighted back in hours later with an infection

Maybe my instinct is right ?

Hi Billy, that is probably just bad luck I hope. There are lot's of commentators on here that have had problems, leg length, thigh pain, infections, but I try to comment on those I know about/relate to. The infection one is a tough one, my experience was that I had mrsi, strep test and temperature checks 5 days before my op, all clear even though I had a stinker of a cold. I was told to thoroughly shower the night before op, and was also given an infused sponge with antibacterial wash to shower when I got up before going to admissions, once in hospital, told I am second up at 9am and was given an iodine scrub to shower again, by this time I remembered my mum and granny's old adage, a bit of dirt never did anybody any harm, I felt like a prune, but did as told. Post op, no external stitches or staples and no dressing after 2 hours, this was the only thing that bothered me, but then I remembered mum and granny's words, fresh air does everything the world of good, you will heal/shake a cold/recover better. It's a shame that everybody's experiences can be so different, but back to another old adage, 'if we are all the same, we would not be individual' . Take heart Billy, and Good Luck

Helen x

You have given a good reply there 😃, I am just sitting waiting to see what my fate is going to be , could be quite a while now but some of it is my stubbornness

Hi Billy, strange night tonight, I presume its a black rather than a full moon, not that it matters, but I have a long time friend on my whatsapp and she is in a bad state when she has everything and I mean everything going for her and her young family, I have had a message from distant family at the end of their tether, I am no social worker, but I think there must be something in the air this week!! Chin up and follow instincts x