NHS secures bone cement rescue package so joint surgery can resume
The NHS claims to have obtained a rescue pack of alternative medical cement to enable joint surgery to continue.
After the health service's main supplier encountered a significant manufacturing issue last week, hospitals were advised to postpone treatments, including knee and hip replacements.
The NHS was expected to have only two weeks' supply in stock and so was focusing on emergency patients and the most complicated cases on the waiting list.
However, NHS England claims that the shortfall has been covered now that a new supplier has been discovered and that an existing supplier has agreed to increase its deliveries.
"This shortage has been very worrying for patients and surgeons, and we're thrilled that the NHS has now been able to purchase this 'rescue box' of alternative bone cement to ensure that trauma and elective care can continue throughout the United Kingdom.
According to him, the NHS will be in touch with patients who have had their operations cancelled and that they will be rescheduled as soon as possible.
Heraeus Medical, which supplies about three-quarters of the NHS' bone cement, had to temporarily suspend production at its main site in Germany last week.
When it was upgrading its manufacturing processes, it said it had experienced a critical machine failure. For two months, it is predicted that it will cause disruption in supply.
The product is used in more than 1,000 operations per week, including in joint replacements and to care for elderly patients with fractured hips.
There are 850,000 patients on the waiting list in England who require planned medical care for their joints, the most significant of any speciality.
However, the NHS has now got enough bone cement from Dutch manufacturer Zimmer Biomet for ten to 12 weeks, with the first stocks already in the region.
Johnson & Johnson, one of the NHS's other suppliers, has confirmed that it can also increase its deliveries.
The extra supplies will also be available to hospitals in other areas of the UK that have been affected by the outbreak.
"The alternative bone cement has been widely used since 2008 and has been evaluated by surgical experts who confirm that it has the same chemical components and material properties," according to Fergal Monsell of the British Orthopaedic Association.
"Patients can therefore be assured that it will have no effect on their surgery outcome.
This government's top health priority is lowering NHS waiting lists,
Zubir Ahmed said, And although it's encouraging news that disruption has been minimised, our attention is now on rescheduling those procedures that have been postponed.
