Equipment

What we hope to provide to patients:

Main means of support for eligible beneficiaries:
Communal, code-protected area at KCH with supplies of stock items for patients, for example:

• pin cleaning dressing packs and antiseptics
• pin caps
• nuts and bolts for various frames
• spare spanners
• physiotherapy accessories (e.g. Therabands, toe slings).

Coffee and tea making facilities would hopefully create an environment where patients could meet each other and learn techniques for coping with the taxing and often prolonged treatments involved. Simple adjustments are often required: shoes and clothing may need adjustment to fit over frames. Simple tips such as putting cling-film over soup or drink containers to allow patients to carry them from the kitchen to the dining area whilst using crutches, can change the quality of life substantially at what is a very difficult time.

Some adjunctive therapies for these patients are currently not available to NHS patients. Whilst surgeons continue to campaign across the UK for funding of these therapies, they remain unfunded in most centres.

Examples include pulsed electromagnetic field devices (PEMF), low frequency ultrasound (LFUS) and growth factor therapies (such as bone morphogenetic proteins – BMPs).

External stimulation of fractures, by PEMF or LFUS, has been shown to be effective. This approach may avoid the need for surgery altogether simply by the patient wearing a lightweight, painless device for a small part of each day.

BMPs avoid the pain and disability inflicted by the site from which bone graft is harvested (commonly the iliac crest of the pelvis) and may improve healing rates for fractures. These are currently unfunded by many trusts.