St Helier Hip Fracture Unit tops the table for eighth year in a row

Elderly patients who are admitted to St Helier Hospital with a fractured hip are receiving some of the best care in the country, according to a new national report.

For the eighth year in a row, St Helier Hospital has exceeded many national averages in the annual National Hip Fracture Database report, which measures 174 trauma units across the UK against a number of key clinical standards and best practice guidelines.

The report, published by The Royal College of Physicians, showed that St Helier was the second busiest hospital in London for hip fractures, having admitted 417 patients for treatment in the year. Despite such high numbers of patients, our Hip Fracture Unit was the best performing hospital in London for the Department of Health’s Best Practice Tariff for excellence in hip fracture care – a measurement that takes into account eight different standards in hip fracture care, including time to see a senior doctor and time to operation.

Dr Nivi Singh, Consultant Orthogeriatrician, said: “A broken hip is a significant injury for older people and the road to recovery can be an uphill struggle – it’s therefore absolutely vital that patients get the expert care that they need as soon as possible. While it is always nice to see such good results in a national report, the real comfort and sense of pride comes from knowing that we are doing the very best for our patients and making a very real difference to their lives.

“I am incredibly proud that our team have consistently maintained such high standards, for eight years now, in the care we deliver to our hip fracture patients.”

Miss Andrea Sott, Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon and Divisional Medical Director Epsom and St Helier University Hospitals NHS Trust adds: “Our biggest strength is that we are a cohesive multidisciplinary inclusive and unified team. By working together in one place, we can make sure our patients get timely expert surgical treatment, consistent care, with reviews from senior clinicians and support staff throughout their stay.”

Some other encouraging positive results include:

99.5% had a senior review with a geriatrician within 72 hours of admission, compared to a national average of 90.3%.
88.8% of patients had surgery on the day of or day after admission, compared to a national average of 67.5%.

Furthermore analysis identified St Helier Hip Fracture Unit as having significantly fewer deaths than expected given the age and frailty of the patients.

Chief Executive, Daniel Elkeles, said: "This is a fantastic result and I would like to thank the hip fracture team at St Helier for all of their hard work. This will also be welcome news for local people too, as it proves, once again, that Epsom and St Helier hospitals provide patients with some of the best care in the country.”

”The model of consolidated care (where nurses, doctors, therapists and other support staff are all based on the same ward in the same hospital) offered by our Hip Fracture Unit has been so successful that it forms the basis for how we’ll provide care at our new Specialist Emergency Care Hospital at Sutton.”