Specialist Hip MOT Clinic at Vale Healthcare's Cardiff Bay Clinic

Led by Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon Mr Alun John, this specialist hip clinic, located in Cardiff and serving all of south Wales, is for patients that have already undergone primary hip replacement surgery.

Primary total hip replacement (THR) is a cost effective operation with high patient satisfaction. The majority of patients that undergo hip replacement are relieved of the pain and disability which has compromised their quality of life and even threatened their ability to live independently.

But follow up appointments after the hip replacement surgery vary from surgeon to surgeon, with some surgeons discharging patients after one year and few patients being followed up in the long term. This is not good practice, particularly as the prosthetic hip will begin to fail after 5-10 years, with many more failing after this time period.

British Orthopaedic Association recommendations

Hip MOT Clinic at Vale Healthcare's Cardiff Bay Clinic, led by Mr Alun John Consultant Orthopaedic SurgeonRecommended best practice from the British Orthopaedic Association is that after primary total hip replacement patients are followed up both clinically and radiologically in the years after their operation. The minimum requirement is an AP and lateral
x-ray at 5 years and at 5 years thereafter. Anyone who has undergone a total hip replacement and has not been seen for follow up within the previous 5 years should be referred to a hip surgeon.

Follow-up appointments…

Follow-up appointments will identify patients that are at risk, and allow for an exchange/revision operation to be planned before any further deterioration of the hip occurs. The latter situation makes a subsequent operation more formidable and less likely to succeed.

In order to have the best opportunity to revise the hip replacement, failure of the prosthetic joint must be detected early before severe bone loss increases the technical difficulty of the surgery.

Loosening of the implant, implant failure and bone loss can occur silently without the patient being aware of any symptoms. Detection of potential problems therefore relies on clinical and radiological follow-up.

Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon Mr Alun John

Mr Alun John is a Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon who specialises in hip revision surgery. Mr John runs weekly clinics at Vale Healthcare's Cardiff Bay Clinic, where he see's patients with hip conditions.

Mr John set up the Hip MOT Clinic at Vale Healthcare in order to treat those patients that have already had hip surgery, and require follow up appointments for both clinical and radiological checks of the hip replacement.

Find out more about Mr Alun John, Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon at Vale Healthcare

More information on Vale Healthcare's Cardiff Hip MOT Clinic