May 20, 2021 7.00 am This story is over 34 months old

Man receives the first key hole hip replacement at Grantham hospital

He was able to get up and walk right after the surgery
Paul Finnelly pictured before having the operation. | Photo: ULHT

The first ever key hole hip replacement was carried out at Grantham and District Hospital in Lincolnshire.

Patient Paul Finnelly, 60, was able to get up and walk right away after the surgery due to the new technique, which uses a much smaller incision without cutting any muscles.

It alleviates the need for the precautions following traditional hip replacements and allows a much shorter stay in hospital, as well as meaning patients having very little pain. It also allows wards to see more patients, especially as this type of hip replacement can be carried out as a day case surgery.

Paul is from London, but spent most of his life in Cornwall before moving to Lincolnshire. He originally went to his GP with an ankle problem, but after being referred to County Hospital in Louth it was discovered that he needed a hip replacement.

He said: “It is a very good feeling knowing the recovery isn’t as long or bad as it would be normally.

“Everyone has been so brilliant and I am so grateful to them all. I am most looking forward to being able to take the metal detector back to the beach, something I haven’t been able to do for several months.”

The key hole SuperPath hip replacement was carried out by Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon Prasad Antapur and his assistant Jody Blow. It was Mr Antapur’s first key hole hip replacement surgery and he is one of a select group of surgeons across the country to be performing it.

The surgery used pioneering techniques and specifically designed equipment from MicroPort and Mr Antapur is confident about implementing it for all hip replacement surgeries across United Lincolnshire Hospitals Trust (Lincoln, Boston and Grantham).

This comes at a time when ULHT is in the middle of returning services to pre-pandemic levels at what was its COVID-free hospital in Grantham. Plans to restore services, including the loss of 24/7 urgent care from June this year were previously given the go ahead.

Mr Antapur said: “The surgery was expected to be technically challenging, but it still went well. It took just over an hour and a half, an expected time on the first attempt.

“This minimally-invasive surgery allows patients to get back to their normal activities and all previous restrictions associated with normal hip replacement surgery are redundant.”

Julie Record, Surgical Ward Manager at Grantham hospital, said: “We have an excellent team here on Ward 2 and we are looking forward to more of these surgeries with a short length of stay. It is going to be a challenge but one we are looking forwarded to and excited by.”