A NORTH-WEST hospital which pioneered joint replacement surgery is still leading the field.

A Government report praises the role played by the Centre of Excellence at Wrightington Hospital, which treats many patients from the Bolton area.

Hip replacement with an artificial joint was pioneered at Wrightington in the 1960s.

Today the hospital performs more hip replacement operations than any other hospital in England and three times the number of any other hospital in the North-west.

A total of 700 hip replacement operations were performed at Wrightington last year. In addition, between 300 and 350 knee operations and 220 revision hip operations were carried out.

"Revision" is surgery to replace a replacement. A replacement hip lasts an average of only 10 years.

Less frequently performed operations at Wrightington, which is a national and international training centre, are elbow and shoulder replacements.

Last year more than 150 elbow and shoulder replacement operations were performed and 75 finger joints were replaced.

It is thought Wrightington performs more shoulder, elbow and ankle replacements than any other English hospital, accounting for more than half of these operations performed in the North-west.

Wrightington has particular expertise in corrective or revision surgery to replace an existing artificial joint and performs more than 80pc of the complex hip and new revision operations in the North West.

Surprise

Matthew Burch, commercial director at Wrightington, said: "I was genuinely surprised when I saw the number of joint replacement operations we perform in comparison with other hospitals throughout England.

"It is very satisfying to see the important role that Wrightington plays in our specialist field. The Trust has grown significantly in the last two years and we are hoping to secure investment for expansion to treat more patients in future."

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.