Written by Mr Philip Mitchell for Doctify
We spoke to the Medical Director of the South West London Elective Orthopaedic Centre (SWLEOC) to find out about the centre’s unique offering and special attention to recovery and the patient journey.
What is your position at SWLEOC?
I am the Medical Director at SWLEOC. This means I am responsible for Clinical Governance, quality and effectiveness of our medical/surgical service and relationships between the medical team and the management team. I am also a Consultant hip and knee surgeon, performing over 200 operations per year.
Can you explain the ethos behind SWLEOC?
The ethos of SWLEOC is quality in all aspects of care. By bringing together all the joint replacement, shoulder, foot and ankle and spinal surgeons in the region, we have a unique opportunity to standardise care, implement evidence based care on a large scale and benefit from the economic aspects of being a very high volume centre. We pride ourselves on being the busiest joint replacement Unit in the country, with the lowest infection rate and uniformly high patient satisfaction.
What makes SWLEOC unique?
The family atmosphere with everyone committed to providing the highest quality of care to our patients at SWLEOC is our unique defining factor. We are one of the few orthopaedic units in the Country where there has been a successful merger of services- testament to the team working strengths of our consultants. Our nurses, therapists and theatre staff devote all of their time to elective orthopaedic operations, our experience and activity make us a unique hospital in England.
What features and equipment does the facility provide particularly to aid patient recovery?
All of the operations we perform either involve implants with a well established track record or implants entered into scientific outcome studies.
We have the best outcomes programme in the UK, enabling us to monitor very carefully how our patient are getting on. On a personal basis for each and every patient this is essential for ensuring a successful outcome, and for our hospital, it enables us to optimise our care for everyone, making small incremental changes to what we offer on a continual basis. We continually strive to improve our outcomes.
Our Post Anaesthetic Care Unit (PACU) is the envy of orthopaedic units across the country. Here patients spend as long as they need recovering from the early effects of surgery before progressing to the ward and enrolling in our Enhanced Recovery Programme.
We are one of the very few hospitals in the UK to be awarded an “Outstanding” rating from the Care Quality Commission.
What kind of feedback do you get from patients who have been treated at SWLEOC?
Our patient feedback is wonderful and a continual source of inspiration. For example, we have received the following thanks recently:
“The utmost consideration was shown by all the staff involved in my care. I have been very impressed by the professionalism and kindness shown during my stay here. The staff are quite simply super. Food excellent and the entertainment centre is a really good idea.”
And also:
“Professional and very caring throughout my stay. Everyone deserves a medal, from the surgical team, nursing staff, admin staff and caterers and also the follow up team.”
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