More than 200,000 hip and knee replacements are performed in the U.K. every year. They are usually performed only when conservative treatments such as physiotherapy, weight loss, and medications are no longer effective. The average length of hospital stay for knee or hip replacement surgery is currently 2.7 days.
The NHS guidelines recommend that most hip and knee replacements should be performed as day-cases, meaning patients leave the hospital on the same day as their operation and recover at home. However, fewer than 1% of patients are currently discharged on the day of their surgery.
Potential benefits of leaving the hospital on the day of the operation include faster recovery, reduced infection risk, improved patient experience, and shorter waiting lists for surgery, as hospitals can treat more patients with more beds becoming available. This approach can also create considerable cost savings for the NHS.
To address these challenges, the IDAPO study (Implementation of Day-case Hip and Knee Arthroplasty ensuring Optimal Patient Experience and Outcomes) seeks to understand why hip and knee replacement surgeries aren't routinely delivered as day-case procedures and to help hospitals implement pathways that benefit patients.
